Karen Knows Best

I Really Hate…

Sunday, February 8, 2009
Posted in: Uncategorized

Books where the heroine and hero don’t meet within the first 100 pages.

What the f*ck is up with that?

17 Comments »

MichelleR
February 8
10:22 pm

I don’t know, but I don’t think it can be defined as romance in that case. I mean, there is certainly interest in value in a story where you see how the people had a journey to meet one another, but doing so violates one of the basic tenets of the genre.

Nonny
February 8
10:32 pm

It doesn’t bother me if it’s in a book outside of the Romance genre, or has been listed as “romantic elements”. In-genre, though? WTF?

Mad
February 8
11:00 pm

Me too, Karen. Also books where the h/h only know each other because they live in the same building but never talked and as soon as they exchange first names they’re going at it in bed within the first 4-5 pages of the book always stump me.

Emmy
February 8
11:16 pm

You has been spoiled by Ellora’s Cave…not all characters meet, do the dirty, and pop out a set of twins in the first chapter.

Nonny
February 8
11:29 pm

Emmy, there’s a vast expanse between the H/h not meeting for over 100 pages and doing the nasty in the first chapter. I don’t mind, personally, if it takes a few chapters for the characters to meet. But 100 pages is, on average, the length of a novella. If it takes them that long to meet, in a Romance novel, that’s a bit off.

Love Ann Dougherty
February 9
2:45 am

Man-O-Man, did you call it!!! I totally freakin agree with you! I try to have a 38 page rule (I can no longer remember which book made me create that rule, but I do recall I was < 21 years old) — that if the book didn’t grab me by then — I’d give up.

Love Ann (Chicago)

Lori
February 9
4:44 am

Agreed.

Dawn
February 9
9:32 am

I don’t understand that. I’m assuming like everyone else that this was a romance? I’d certainly like the h/H to have met by chapter 2.

100 pages? Like Nonny said, that’s practically an entire book!

Tuscan Capo
February 9
12:29 pm

I don’t know. One of the best mystery books I ever read had absolutely nothing mysterious about it for around 150 pages. Yet it turned out an unforgettable read and I’ve come across the same scenario in horror novels, too. If these genres can stretch outside the limitations of the box I see no reason Romance has to remain confined.

Dee Tenorio
February 9
7:16 pm

Hey Tuscan, well, I can definitely tell you that if you’re trying to SELL a romance to a publisher, if your chars don’t meet in the first two chapters or at least acknowledge some knowledge of each other…you ain’t selling it to an established Romance pub.

Rule of thumb is generally not to go twenty pages–without a VERY compelling reason–without the characters interacting. Excuses include plot-requirements, like an abduction where the rescue is protracted for excellent reasons. And even then, they’d better be thinking a lot about each other.

From a craft position, if you can’t keep the focus of the story on the couple together, then you’re not targeting properly. Subplots are definitely allowed, of course, but only in a secondary sense.

Mysteries have different rules, because subtlety and misdirection and evidence gathering usually has to happen in an unobtrusive way. Five bucks says the back half of that book you mention only works because of the info imparted in the first 150 pages. 🙂

Dee

Nonny
February 9
11:39 pm

Tuscan…

I’m blanking on the name, but there is a romance by a very well-respected genre author in which the hero and heroine do not meet for some ridiculous length of time. Yet, the book has been a phenomenal success. (I think it may be something by Diana Galbadon but I could be TOTALLY wrong on that score.)

There are always exceptions. Most people can’t pull them off, however.

Karen Scott
February 9
11:49 pm

Nonny, do you mean Linda Howard’s Son Of The Morning by any chance?

I loved that damn book. I have to say though, the romance was totally secondary to the story, because of the length of time it took for the H and H to meet.

Nonny
February 9
11:50 pm

Karen, that might have been it! 🙂

Karen Scott
February 9
11:51 pm

By the way, it was a romance. Supposedly. Not only didn’t the hero and heroine meet for an age, but it was a total snoozefest too. Two hours of my life I wont be getting back anytime soon. Sigh.

Karen Scott
February 9
11:59 pm

Nonny, If I recall correctly, I believe the hero was from another time? The heroine witnesses a murder and she goes on the run to protect some valuable artifact or scrolls or something. She undergoes an amazing transformation whilst on the run, and actually she becomes the hero and the heroine of the book.

Is that the one?

One of my fave Linda Howard books of all time, it runs a very close second to Cry No More.