I think I've finally gotten used to romance terminology. I kept gritting my teeth whenever I heard references to the hero and heroine, and the mandatory HEA dismayed me. And I know these can be problems for other genres, but I've never encountered so many TSTL characters or as much discussion about head-hopping as I have in romance circles — I suspect because both the hero and the heroine's perspectives are important throughout the romance.
It reminds me of when I joined the corporate world and had issues with people talking about how much bandwidth they had to work on projects, or suggesting during a face-to-face meeting that we take a topic offline. I resisted for a while, but the point of language is communication, so if the other people will understand what I mean, why not use the word? I'm not going to say, "the female love interest of the main protagonist, who gets the POV in some chapters."
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Ahhh the tropes of the romance genre.
Learn the rules, and then ignore them. Just like anything else. *g* I guess it's becuase romance is so disdained in some circles that we work so hard at craft. And, it's also shorthand within the tribe, yanno?
Thank you for commenting on my steampunk in the Divas contest.
Eva
(Briana on Divas)
Yeah, I think I was doing things in the wrong order (ignoring the rules, then learning them). I've got it straight now. And interesting; I hadn't made that connection between romance's, well, reputation, and how intense the writers of it get.
And reading your steampunk entry was genuinely my pleasure.