more gender stuff was [LMB] Legacy bound galleys & breakpoint

[marna at marna.ca]

Despoiled (!) as there is now no TSk stuff here.

Also i`m on an unfamiliar laptop, please pardon my typos.

Lois said:

> That said, I do think the women audiences seem to require more
> characterization.   Like ladies of the past, they want their new friends
> to have been *properly introduced* before the conversation commences.
> Not just interchangeable headless bodies.
>
> For added bonus points, explain hurt-comfort, and Bob's your uncle.  Or
> maybe Roberta's your aunt...

I`m not sure that one true readerly explanation for HC exists, but I have
a sense of some of the technical reasons it`s become a trope, I think.

It`s a common axiom that women want romance with their porn, and that`s
not untrue, but I think it is incomplete.

What seems to be a requirement, along with characterisation, is a) strong
emotion and b) a sense of something at stake. Doesn`t have to be love.
Hate will do. Fear is okay, too.

And yet we don`t necessarily ALWAYS want to slog through the whole setup;
we`d like this all delivered in half a page or less, sometimes. This may
explain why fanfic in general is so handy and beloved, aka `because I
don`t want to write the battle scene, so I`ll lift one from canon and
start the story ten mintes later.`

Hurt-comfort WITHIN fanfic and you can get from zero to sweaty bits in
half a page... particularly as it lets you sort of handwave a bit of
probability, as EVERYone knows adrenalin and endorphins often make people
do dumb things.

It`s not all of it. But I bet it`s some of it.

Also, adrenalin fueled sex is kind of fun to read, as long as we`re
sharing. :)

Marna.

PS the port travelled very well.