'The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco'
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Question for the reading hive mind:
Why is a romance/love story written by a woman so looked down upon while a love story/romance written by a man is considered stunning work of sensitivity and a revelation?
(And yes, I deliberately reversed the terms separated by a slash.)
You say that like it's a bad thing.
Because men are special flowers and women are that damned "horde of scribbling women."
Barb, you saw the Brontësaurus commercial, right?
Why is a romance/love story written by a woman so looked down upon while a love story/romance written by a man is considered stunning work of sensitivity and a revelation?
Because a man expressing emotion (whether via the written word or spoken word) is considered an act of God, while women -- well, you know *women.* We're ALWAYS spewing all of our silly little emotions EVERYWHERE, because we're such emotional creatures who can't control our crazy hormonal fee-fees! Just because a woman writes a book full of emotions is no big thing, because it's just a different venue through which the silly little woman can spew forth her silly little feelings. A dime a dozen, women's feelings are.
But men's feelings! My god, more rare and precious than unobtainium! And should be heralded and treasured as such!
...or so I assume. But my fee-fees might be clouding the issue.
I would think a good part of it would be novelty and that gives it a marketing angle to play upon--oh hey, this is written by a man, that's different. Doesn't make it fair, but don't most things in publishing come down to money?
A dime a dozen, women's feelings are.
Can I have my $45,761,907.20 now, please? Thanks.
Barb, you saw the Brontësaurus commercial, right?
I did, Tom-- it's been making the rounds of all the writing blogs and twitterverse. I think what makes it so funny, aside from the spot-on parody of the children's toy commercials, is the fact that there's still more than a few grains of truth to how publishing works/thinks.
Because when a woman writes a romance, it's assumed that she's writing a wish of hers. When a man writes one, it's assumed he's not, and instead is attempting to tell the truth of the human condition.
Also, I've heard a lot of guys say that women can't write men, so the male characters in romance novels aren't realistic. (Because generalization is AWESOME).
People never tell me that. But I think "My, you have a good grasp of the male point of view," was code for "You're gross and swear a lot," Which now I'd accept as a fair cop, but I was much more insecure then.