Reynard said:
I disagree wholeheartedly. If you read modern fantasy (basically 90% of everything post-Tolkien), it is basically a form of romantic litertaure. Not only do women read fantasy far more than men do (men read more science fiction), but women write fantasy far more than men do. On top of it, most big fantasy writers, like Robert Jordan, got their start writing romance. Even if you ignore modern fantasy fiction, the classic "fantasy" of the middle ages was called Romance for a reason, and even pulp writer like Howard and Leiber brought love and sex into their stories.
I said romantic angst. There's lots of angst in the fantasy market, and there's lots of romance in there, but the two only seem to overlap in certain ways. There's more than enough pining over a lost/unattainable love, but there's little in the way of "can't live with them, can't live without them". This is probably my minority preference here, but I don't find stories that end with True Lovers overcoming external adversity that... well, I'm not going to say they can't be good, or that they can't be angsty, but I just prefer the types where the characters problems are all caused by one or both of them having internal issues that go at cross purposes to romance.
On the subject of what creates romantic angst, I don't think people acting stupid or miscommunicating is necessary at all. Perhaps the people involved simply cannot be together, because of social, racial, otr even geographical boundaries. Perhaps a lover was lost a long time ago and now has ben reincarnated, but has little interest in continuing the relationship (see the current run of Hawkman by Geoff Johns). There are innumerable ways to create romantic tension without resorting to tired movie cliches.
Again, I beg to differ, even though more people will probably agree with your take.
We've all seen our share of fantasy literature, we all know that True Love finds a way. As such, I wouldn't find an elf and an orc whos respective races keep them apart to be that romantically angsty; we all know that in the end, they'll elope and live Happily Ever After. Now an elf and an orc who were each properly indoctrinated, and who balance their "I'm wildly attracted to everything about this person" with deeply conditioned "I'm attracted to a filthy, disgusting orc/elf! What's wrong with me?" have angst, since they can't as easily dump what's holding them back.
And BTW, I find the "lovers who have to overcome outside adversity" far more cliche than people who want two mutually exclusive things, and/or want something impossible. (Well, OK, there's enough "My True Love is dead" out there, but relatively little "My True Love decided that she doesn't feel the same way about me and wants to see other people". Granted, a dead lover is a more significant plot-piece, but angst is a generally adolecent thing, and the latter is definately more angst producing, simply because you have more repeated reminders and fewer excuses.)
jgbrowning- Some people happen to like angst from a distance. I guess for the same reason that people like movies or other things that make them squeamish or otherwise discomforted. It can be quite interesting from an artistic point of view. Besides, WWGS has become rather successful at putting out games with a heavy angst content, so at least in that we know there's a market.
