How do you like Romance in your fiction? (romance, not sex)

~Beyond the Border~ > Sara's Audio-Visual Import-Overflow Retail

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Ghaleon:
Recently, it has just occured to me t hat despite not liking Romance-oriented fiction, or even caring for Romance in Television shows, movies, books, etc that I like. I find myself strangely wanting it in my videogames (provided I like/care about the characters in question).

For example, I like Worf and Dax in Startrek, but I don't give a flying hoot about the Romance in their stories, ditto for all the married couples of characters I like in Raymond Feist, or David Gemmel, or George RR Martin. It makes no difference to me. I don't feel elated when I see it blooming for the first time or nothing. It's just kinda filling text to me.

But for some reason, I feel my heart aching during the scene in Xenosaga when Fei goes to Elly's house for the first time. Or During many of the character-specific portions of Eien no Aselia, or the stuff between Welks and Alicia In Valkyria Chronicles. Hell, even that scene in Sengoku Gensokyo where Alice and Marisa are fighting about the nature of Magicians (even though Romance doesn't really exist in that one) tugged at my heartstrings.

I don't watch anime (nanoha and Rozen Maiden are the only 2 I've seen), but I felt a similar feeling when Shinku loses her arm in Rozen Maiden and Jun is keeping her safe in that house. Now doll->Human probably isn't romance exactly, but there is clearly love there on both parts. The funny thing is, All the examples I listed, while the characters in question aren't poorly designed or anything, I don't really think they are developed more significantly or better than countless other characters in other forms of fiction that I've read/seen where I do NOT care about romance. Am I a weirdo? Is romance in Games/anime somehow more effective at making you care for some reason for other people? It's not that I think their stories are better (Personally I think books by George RR Martin and Raymond Feist pretty much clobbers any form of story in a game I've played so far), or like the characters more than some of my faves in books. I don't know what it is!

Matsuri:
I'm a bit of a romance fanatic, and I sometimes tend to focus on said relationships in a story, even if they're second to the story itself.

However, that is not to say that I dislike friendship-based relationships in stories, either. A well-written, close friendship will always seem more interesting to me than a bland, clich? romantic one (even though I still tend to be a sucker for those, too)

._.

Silent Harmony:
For someone with basically zero experience with romance, I'm a hopeless romantic when it comes to fiction in basically any form. The two, though, may be less exclusive than I care to admit. However (again probably due to inexperience) I often feel that romance is handled very poorly in fiction. I can't explain why, but a lot of times it either feels forced or way way way too sappy. My all-time favorite manga is a seinen romance with a premise that I'd usually hate with a passion (loser single male, near-jailbait female, living together, yadda yadda) but was handled extremely well. Most, however, feel like an excuse for sex, especially in male-oriented manga and anime. Shoujo, in comparison, is where I feel a lot of sap pours forth (maybe I'm being mean though).

I have read too few books lately, but a lot handle it well. Some equate it with sex, but most that I've read are deeper than that.

Anyways, most of my favorite fiction to this day has some sort of romantic ties within it, even if they're a very small part of the story. Fanfiction included.

andrewv42:
I don't like romance that's described too ambitiously or with too much attention being directed to the purported feeling of love. I find it interesting when an attachment to a person begins to develop within a character, though, in addition to their own reactions to this sudden emotional revelation, and how they choose to act to either encourage or destroy it.

Moerin:
Romance, like any other subject, is good as long as it's written well. Unfortunately, there happen to be even more hack writers in this genre than just about any other. And even if you just look at non-romance-centric fiction, there are a lot of writers who, whilst they ecel in other fields, crash and burn horribly when it comes to writing romance.

...Which is a shame as, although I'm not a fan of the romance genre as a whole, seeing well-written romance in my media is one of the things that turn me into a squeeing schoolgirl. :blush:

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