If I Were A Born Man
All right. So a while ago I posted in my weblog and on my Amazon Plog about the ending to WFTD and why I went with the “right” ending instead of the “happy” ending. The overwhelming response was positive, despite some people thinking I was personally attacking them as readers. (Which, as I’ve reread what I wrote, I don’t think is the case at all.)
But something came up on the Amazon Plog, courtesy of reader CShady, that made me stop and think. And I quote:
What confuses me is some of the reviews are giving Working for the Devil low marks because it didn’t end the “romantic/happy” way they intended. That irks me because it’s almost like forcing the writer into the supernatural romance genre. Since it’s a female protagonist with a possible romance, then it should end with the girl getting the girl, and maybe a very hot, steamy romance?
Now, I sometimes wonder if Saintcrow was a male writer, would this even be an issue. If Working for the Devil was written by a male would ending be more expected? More accepted? Since she’s female in an urban fantasy genre, should her stories be automatically “pre”-expected to fit within the pattern of Hamilton’s, Harris’s, etc. story lines, since those writers favor supernatural stories with strong romantic angles?
Okay, that’s might be going a little too “out there”, but I have thought about it. (Amazon Plog)
Huh. I hadn’t thought of that, to tell the truth. But if I was a male writer, would there not have been such a brouhaha over the ending and my freely-expressed opinion?
Hmmm. I have to think about this.
Related posts:
August 10th, 2006 at 1:42 pm
I don’t know about the male vs. female thing, but I have seen WFTD shelved in the romance section at bookstores. Not always, but often enough to make me stop, go “WTF?”, and move them.
Readers generally don’t check the spine on the books they’re reading, so if they picked it up thinking it’s paranormal romance, then yeah, they’d probably be rather upset at the ending. I also think these days, because of the paranormal romance trend, there are a lot more romance readers branching out into fantasy, particularly urban/near future, and they have different expectations than most fantasy readers.
Just my 2c.
August 10th, 2006 at 5:43 pm
Personally, I think it’s less a gender issue and more that Dante is a crossover or mixed genre book–it has well developed romantic threads but is also a kick ass –urban? futuristic?– fantasy. So going by the genre conventions of romance, the HEA could be an issue
Plus the RWA does a pretty good job of advertising that the HEA is a requirement and presenting it as such to the world at large.
I also think some of the HEA complaints are really unfair b/c not all the books are out. I don’t think you can or should expect each book in a series to have an HEA. Do they not realize there are more books coming? Do they want a deep complex read or a superficial romance?
In the end, I would just say the readers who are upset are emotionally invested in Dante. They care and so they are vocal. This is good, Dante means something to people, but the way they express that is not always ideal.
M
August 11th, 2006 at 12:14 pm
I’m with dememtedm on the point about longer story arcs. WFTD is not a stand-alone piece. Which means that the story’s not over til it’s over (when the series is over), so the romance element doesn’t have to be concluded at the end of the book. If people want everything resolved at the end of each book, there’s lots of other books they can read. I like long (multiple book) story arcs, like unpredictability, and like complex characters/relationships. Danny isn’t going to change enough in one book to bring the predictable conclusion to bear. Lili’s gender isn’t the issue!
August 13th, 2006 at 11:01 am
Dear Lilith,
I will be honest and hope I don’t offend anyone. I rarely read books by male authors in the area’s of urban fantasy. Simon Green would be an exception and in Sci Fi it’s a different thing altogether. I confess I’d rather read a book about a female lead if it’s written by a woman. That’s just the way it goes. On how a book ends, I’d have to agree with everyone else that said that this is one book in a larger arc. I can enjoy the books that it will take to complete this journey. It may not still end in a “romance” but ultimately, it would be nice to have personal growth for Dante so the emotional currency we spend as readers makes sense. Oh yeah, and Hope. Hope is always good too.