I am not opposed to romance as long as it is realistic, pertinent, and smart...not too sappy, but honest expression of emotions/feelings are nice.
Exactly. But it begs the question of what is realistic, because I've read and seen romance handled in ways that have always struck me as completely exaggerated or complete wish fulfillment.
The kind of romance I like is the kind that isn't jam-packed with emotional complication - romance that isn't back and forth love/hate. If there has to be a complication, then it has to be real, something I can relate to, something that doesn't make me want to smack the character's upside the head. To use a cliche example - poor guy and rich girl fall in love, but rich girl's parents try to set her up with a rich guy because they don't like poor guy. That type of thing. I don't like character A outwardly refusing to like character B because they annoy them, while inside character A actually likes character B but refuses to acknowledge those feelings for most of the story. Now, I'm not saying that kind of romance is wrong. I'm just saying it's not the kind of romance I like. What can I say, I'm a bit of a fluffster ;)
Exploration of emotions and feelings, though, have a tendency to drive me nuts no matter the romance type. They have a way of going incredibly sappy and sticky sweet, or over the top angsty. Being a "less is more" type of person, it frustrates me. Thus another reason why I try to keep any romance mild in my own fic, to avoid the risk of the story taking a turn that has it drowning in sap.
Re: kriadydragon fic fan
Exactly. But it begs the question of what is realistic, because I've read and seen romance handled in ways that have always struck me as completely exaggerated or complete wish fulfillment.
The kind of romance I like is the kind that isn't jam-packed with emotional complication - romance that isn't back and forth love/hate. If there has to be a complication, then it has to be real, something I can relate to, something that doesn't make me want to smack the character's upside the head. To use a cliche example - poor guy and rich girl fall in love, but rich girl's parents try to set her up with a rich guy because they don't like poor guy. That type of thing. I don't like character A outwardly refusing to like character B because they annoy them, while inside character A actually likes character B but refuses to acknowledge those feelings for most of the story. Now, I'm not saying that kind of romance is wrong. I'm just saying it's not the kind of romance I like. What can I say, I'm a bit of a fluffster ;)
Exploration of emotions and feelings, though, have a tendency to drive me nuts no matter the romance type. They have a way of going incredibly sappy and sticky sweet, or over the top angsty. Being a "less is more" type of person, it frustrates me. Thus another reason why I try to keep any romance mild in my own fic, to avoid the risk of the story taking a turn that has it drowning in sap.