The Importance of Audience

This last weekend, I found myself in a rather unlikely situation that caused me to later ponder the importance of audience in romance stories as well as the basic attraction that romance holds across time and culture. The situation, in a nutshell, was this; I found myself in a house of gay individuals, myself being the only female with one lone straight and attractive male across from me. Now, keep in mind that this male has found himself in what is essentially a post-apocalyptic, one male one female, lets repopulate the earth-situation. There is really no effort necessary in order for the inevitable happy ending to occur. At this point, the individual turns to me and says "I was in prison for two years." I reply with "Oh."


Here we have a fabulous example of just why exactly it is so important to understand your audience. Had he chosen practically any other story to start off with, this story-teller's night may have ended on an entirely different note. It was this thought that made me question the attraction of romance. It would appear that, based on my personal observations, everyone loves a romance. Why is this I pondered, and then I discovered a more difficult question - What stories do I know of that are not romances? The broad spectrum of romance suggests that even prison-boy's story could easily be considered a romance had it been told correctly. In what way then was it told incorrectly?


Does the fundamental flaw lie in the fact that the story began in the pit? All of the stories we have read thus far have begun with a relatively benin introductory period during which one's emotions are not taxed and reader is gently introduced to the winning qualities of the character so that an emotional connection may begin to form. This story, had no introductory phase. I was given no reason to feel sympathy for the main character. Additionally, because I have read many stories, I walked into the situation with a subconscious knowledge that a story's intro is likely to be one of its happier points - inevitably, one will be forced to follow the story into at least one pit. Thus, I believe that the two fundamental flaws of prison-boy's tale were that: 1. He began in the decent and 2. The human mind is so accustomed to the romance structure, that it refuses to accept a pit-first story. Instead, the mind concludes that one is simply about to enter into a very dark romance in which prison is a close cousin to "happily ever after".


It seems unfair that a single story should be judged from two opposing ends, but such is such is the human mind - a pitfall of contradictions and suspensions of disbeliefs, without which the joy of the story would be impossible.