Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Relationship Drama

I'm really not into relationship drama. Luckily, I'm usually spared most of it.

As I've previously stated, in what little I pass of off as a social life, I don't spend a great deal of time around women. Partly because I really can't deal with relationship drama. When I'm around a woman who starts whining about how her man doesn't do this or how he did that-- I guess the socially acceptable response is to commiserate?-- either way, I can't get into it. And I have no interest in listening to a woman who's waffling on whether to stay with this man-- whether she should listen to her heart, her head, or her pussy.

My vote is that head should prevail, but I'm an extremely rational person. To a fault at times. I can understand rational choices far better than emotional or even sexual ones. But relationships, particularly from the female side, seem to be low-- if not lacking-- rationality. I don't expect the characters in a book to stop and think about their relationship. I expect them to continue on, loving and having sex until something brings there relationship to a crashing halt. It builds tension and character, or so I hear.

I understand that when emotions are high, it's hard for people to think. I'm guilty of that myself at times, but once the emotions ebb at all, I retreat to my defult setting to overthink things. As portrayed in fiction, women seem to be incapable of thinking when the man they are loving, struggling with, etc is in the same county. This ruffles my feathers.

Either fiction has overdramatized the relationship dramas that women have, or I'm even farther removed from most women than I thought.

And, I've come to realize that this hyperemotional, irrational sort of female character that populate ficiton (and is made worse by a man she likes/doesn't want to like/ hates is near) is one of the hardest parts of finding good female characters to read.

I can really see why guys would be less inclined to read female protagonists if what I've been finding of late is truly an accurate survey of what lines the shelves in the mystery section. Particularly the hardboilded section.

I don't care for relationship drama in real life and I don't want to read it. I'm hoping I can compromise and find a book with a small amount of relationship drama. In exchange, I'm hoping for a damn good case with a strong, smart female lead. I've got some more library books. Maybe one of them will work out.

1 comment:

Travis Erwin said...

I'm no fan of drama queens either. Not in real life or fiction.