I've never done NaNo, mostly 'cause I've got several projects of over 60,000 words sitting on my hard drive. 30,000 is where I usually burn out, though--because I get bored of what I'm doing, not because I don't have 270,000 more words to say. Before I am insufferably loquacious.
Amazing - someone else who doesn't like the conflict/reconciliation model of romance.
There are many like us in the world! I started thinking about this a lot in my main fandom, Buffy. In the show, Buffy instantly falls for this guy Angel. During their relationship they run into a lot of obstacles and had lots of problems with each other, but deep down they will always love each other. Buffy's other big love interest is Spike, whom she hates at first, with whom she fights and quarrels and has a lot of hate!sex with. For the most part people either ship Buffy with one guy or the other. The reason I bothered to describe this is I really think it highlights a fundamental divide in women's approach to fictional romance.
I say fictional, because those who prefer the conflict/reconciliation model don't necessarily prefer bad boys or those with whom they don't get along irl, and vice versa. I think a lot of your reasons for why the conflict model would never work irl are really valid, but I'm not sure that's actually why I don't prefer that model. It's just...what I like.
I'm not sure narrative has to be boring or uninteresting if the two lovers just *like* each other from the start.
Oh definitely, it doesn't *have* to be. But another trend I've noticed about women's preferences re: fictional romance is the plots driven by internal obstacles vs plots driven by external obstacles. Some people like to argue that the conflict model is ALWAYS about internal obstacles and that the like-each-other-from-the-start model is ALWAYS about external. I disagree, but it does seem to me that it often happens that way. Which sucks, because I prefer internal obstacles being the reason a couple can't get together, rather than external circumstances. This is why I don't really like Romeo and Juliet, even though that couple has right-off-the-bat affection.
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Amazing - someone else who doesn't like the conflict/reconciliation model of romance.
There are many like us in the world! I started thinking about this a lot in my main fandom, Buffy. In the show, Buffy instantly falls for this guy Angel. During their relationship they run into a lot of obstacles and had lots of problems with each other, but deep down they will always love each other. Buffy's other big love interest is Spike, whom she hates at first, with whom she fights and quarrels and has a lot of hate!sex with. For the most part people either ship Buffy with one guy or the other. The reason I bothered to describe this is I really think it highlights a fundamental divide in women's approach to fictional romance.
I say fictional, because those who prefer the conflict/reconciliation model don't necessarily prefer bad boys or those with whom they don't get along irl, and vice versa. I think a lot of your reasons for why the conflict model would never work irl are really valid, but I'm not sure that's actually why I don't prefer that model. It's just...what I like.
I'm not sure narrative has to be boring or uninteresting if the two lovers just *like* each other from the start.
Oh definitely, it doesn't *have* to be. But another trend I've noticed about women's preferences re: fictional romance is the plots driven by internal obstacles vs plots driven by external obstacles. Some people like to argue that the conflict model is ALWAYS about internal obstacles and that the like-each-other-from-the-start model is ALWAYS about external. I disagree, but it does seem to me that it often happens that way. Which sucks, because I prefer internal obstacles being the reason a couple can't get together, rather than external circumstances. This is why I don't really like Romeo and Juliet, even though that couple has right-off-the-bat affection.