Romance in fantasy

[chrispenycate]

Originally Posted by dreir

*applauds Chris and Saeltari*

Which is why I'm sticking with what I said earlier, no matter what anyone else says! (Yes, I am a romantic, too.. always have been and always will be )

- Dreir -

Oh, no; in real life (remember where that was?) I'm definitely part of the obsessive minority, having reached an effectively fairly ripe age without a single romantic interlude since adolescent fumblings.

But I recognise that the majority of humanity is not cut out for hermetic isolation, and when characters demand a quantity of interdependence, I fake it (significantly more difficult for the male of the species, which could explain why the majority of romance writers are women; certainly they show no evidence of being less hardheadedly practical than their male counterparts)

I do observe the behaviour of the more ordinary members of humanity, and their requirement to be part of something larger than themselves (family, clan, nation, gang, church, race…) but don't entirely understand it.

But my gene weeds itself out of the species fairly fast; I love children, but have never found anyone I could exist around long enough to produce any. End of story, end of homo non-romanticus.

[Blackrook]

I think the essence of romance is that it excludes sex. Once a couple has had sexual relations, the romance part of the story is over.

[Boneman]

What? Better to travel hopefully than to arrive? Or come, even?

[chrispenycate]

Originally Posted by Blackrook

I think the essence of romance is that it excludes sex. Once a couple has had sexual relations, the romance part of the story is over.

There I beg to disagree. I can cite several couples, both literary and real life, where the romance has continued well after the immediate physical hungers have been slaked, indeed sometimes after physical demonstrations of the desire felt by one for the other have become impossible in some cases. It is not only unrequited lust that can raise the more elegant embodiments of human passion.

Admittedly, the romance is generally locked up with the slice of wedding cake and the bridal accoutrements; but this is not a natural law, merely a high probability. Some innocence is remarkably hard wearing.

[BSCVadhan]

Originally Posted by daisybee

Okay so my latest tale involves a male and a female, as the heroes I guess you could call them, but I have realised as I am writing that my plot has no romantic overtones whatsoever. Good for me, as if I could write a decent romance my efforts as a teen would have actually got finished but it got me thinking.

Nearly all fantasy tales I can think of have some element of romance in them, whether as a main event or a tagged on happy ever after.

Is romance a required element of fantasy?

I think it is. Romance is a necessary ingredient but not necessarily the main theme for a fantasy tale...it may not end in a 'happy ever after'. Most fantasy tales that dont have a strong romantic undercurrent dont usually have the depth needed. I believe that Pathos is important for Fantasy tales...but then I may belong to an older school of thought!

[dreir]

Originally Posted by chrispenycate

There I beg to disagree. I can cite several couples, both literary and real life, where the romance has continued well after the immediate physical hungers have been slaked, indeed sometimes after physical demonstrations of the desire felt by one for the other have become impossible in some cases.

Indeed. I think Blackrook had been drinking when he made that post.

Btw, Chris, I thought that little fella in the pic was your grandchild??

- Dreir -

[chrispenycate]

Originally Posted by dreir

Indeed. I think Blackrook had been drinking when he made that post.

Btw, Chris, I thought that little fella in the pic was your grandchild??

- Dreir -

Grandnephew; my niece's boy (one of my brother's daughters; he has four)
I also have a grand niece, through my sister. Only me that's misogynistic.

It just means I only get to see either of them once a year (well, I might manage twice this year as his mother and father get married in August).