{"id":2375,"date":"2009-04-17T00:00:22","date_gmt":"2009-04-17T00:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shilohwalker.wordpress.com\/?p=2375"},"modified":"2009-04-17T00:00:22","modified_gmt":"2009-04-17T00:00:22","slug":"guest-bloggersmeg-benjamin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/2009\/04\/guest-bloggersmeg-benjamin\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest bloggers&#8230;Meg Benjamin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Still getting through all the guest bloggers who helped me out on vacation&#8230;say hi to Meg~<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\">__________________________________<\/p>\n<h2>The Weepy Reader<\/h2>\n<p>A while ago on my on blog, I addressed the problem of crying in public places while reading a romance novel. In particular, the problem of crying on a plane and thus terrifying your seat mate, who becomes convinced that she\u2019s sitting next to a loon. Since then, I\u2019ve thought a lot about the whole idea of weepy readers perhaps because I\u2019m a chronically weepy reader myself (great name for a reviewing blog there\u2014The Weepy Reader).<\/p>\n<p>The question is, why do we cry when we read? What inspires it, and what doesn\u2019t? As I\u2019ve said a couple of times elsewhere, I\u2019m a sucker for stories about suffering kids. If the hero or heroine had a sad childhood, and that sad childhood is described in detail, I\u2019ll be sniffling before I\u2019m done. Take Linda Howard\u2019s After the Night. The heroine\u2019s miserable childhood is described in the first third of the book, and it\u2019s so miserable I always find myself skimming that part (yeah, I re-read the book every couple of years). On the other hand, that description is absolutely necessary since it sets up the rest of the book and explains the extreme hostility between the hero and the heroine (at least initially). And yes, I also get weepy when the heroine confronts that hostility and resists it.<\/p>\n<p>The thing is, this tendency for readers to sniffle when reading romance is sometimes used as a criticism of both the genre and the readers. \u201cSentimental\u201d critics sniff. \u201cMelodrama.\u201d For me, the problem with these criticisms is that they overlook the point that sentiment and melodrama are perfectly okay, as long as they\u2019re appropriate and effective for the story. I remember once hearing a writer (I think it was Larry McMurtry, but I could be wrong about that) say that it\u2019s easy to make a reader cry\u2014you have a child with a dog and then you kill the dog. Bingo, instant tears! What\u2019s harder is to make a reader cry because of the basic situation in the story. I think Mary Balogh is a master at this, as I\u2019ve said before, but she\u2019s certainly not the only one. Linda Howard is another. So is Loretta Chase, although she does mainly comic historicals\u2014there\u2019s always something in Chase that makes me tearful, even if it\u2019s just the painful experiences the heroine or hero has had to endure before they get to the point where they\u2019re funny (try to read Not Quite a Lady without tearing up\u2014I dare you). Being able to inspire tears is the mark of a writer who creates characters you believe it, so why is that considered a point against the book?<\/p>\n<p>I suspect at least some of this scorn is caused by the fact that the sniffling readers of romances are women. I don\u2019t know how many men tear up when they read, but I\u2019d guess it\u2019s far fewer, given all the cultural taboos against crying men (and it\u2019s probably less likely you\u2019ll tear up reading Dean Koontz than, say, Julia Ross). It\u2019s sort of like the little boys in the elementary schoolyard who jeer at the tearful little girls.<\/p>\n<p>But here\u2019s something really weird (or really pathetic, depending on your point of view)\u2014I also tear up at my own stuff. I mean, I know these people aren\u2019t real. Heck, I created them! I also know exactly what happens in the story so their travails aren\u2019t much of a surprise. It doesn\u2019t matter. When my hero in Venus in Blue Jeans murmurs, \u201cSo long, babe,\u201d thinking he\u2019s lost the heroine, I still tear up. Ditto when my heroine in Wedding Bell Blues gives her wedding toast, thinking the hero is leaving in the morning. Go figure.<\/p>\n<p>So, okay, enough about me\u2014do you cry at romances? If so, what makes you do it? And have you ever felt sort of embarrassed to be doing it in front of strangers? Just asking.<\/p>\n<p>Meg Benjamin<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.MegBenjamin.com\">http:\/\/www.MegBenjamin.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\">__________________________________<\/p>\n<p><em>Yep-I&#8217;ve cried reading a romance before.\u00a0 Not often.\u00a0 But I have.\u00a0 Not really embarassed to do it, either.<\/em> \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Still getting through all the guest bloggers who helped me out on vacation&#8230;say hi to Meg~ __________________________________ The Weepy Reader A while ago on my<a href=\"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/2009\/04\/guest-bloggersmeg-benjamin\/\" class=\"more-link\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Guest bloggers&#8230;Meg Benjamin&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10161045129738658_54762468447":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_bluesky_dont_syndicate":"","_bluesky_syndication_accounts":"","_bluesky_syndication_text":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23],"tags":[555],"class_list":["post-2375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-bloggers","tag-guest-bloggers"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - 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