Why do books rapidly finish if HEA

[Roses26]

Hi! I have reignited my love of reading in the last couple of years and have enjoyed reading romance books since the summer. I hadn’t previously read many like that before. I have read chick lit type books before but I’ve read far more romance books lately both open and closed door and quite a few are probably for 20-35yo which I’m at the top of! I think as I’ve gone back to work after having had a baby I enjoy books which are less taxing to read and are happy. I guess I’ll move back to the more literary fiction type stuff when I’m in a different phase of life.

I’ve noticed so much more how the books are formulaic and in the last few chapters there’s an issue between the couple and it’s often frequently resolved and wrapped up in a chapter with their happy ever after starting.

why! Why don’t the authors put a few chapters to draw the ending out? Is there a reason within editing, publishing and writing for it? I just find it frustrating when an enjoyable book is wrapped up so quickly it almost happens on a page. I guess I just want a little more from the characters. As I say, I’m reading quite simple books, the sort you’d read on a weekend, take on holiday, some popular on booktok.
just wanted to understand the hows and whys of writing and why this happens.

when I think to reading Harry Potter as a child for instance, the endings weren’t that rapid and they’re books for children.

You said yourself that these books aren’t very taxing, but you’re also saying you’d like them to be more taxing?

That's the formula that works and sells I suppose. Big romance readers obviously enjoy that formula.

Do you want to give examples of books you like and then others might be able to recommend similar but more engaging?

Genre fiction is formulaic. You could try self published works if you’re looking for something different, but it’s a roulette situation.

The trouble with genre fiction is that there is a lot of dross so you've got to find the good stuff. I don't read a lot of romance but Marion Keyes is very popular. I'm sure others have suggestions.

You could try some of the big selling novels. They aren't great literature but they've got a bit more to them than most genre fiction, they are very readable and a lot of people love them:
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Or you could read some of the literary fiction that is very readable, e.g.:
Old Baggage by Lissa Evans
Small Island by Andrea Levy
Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

I know exactly what you mean OP. I'm in that young children phase too and I read lots of romantic fiction. I find the fake dating or forced proximity stories better for this because the characters spend lots of time interacting throughout the story. I recently read Snowed In by Catherine Walsh which didn't leave me disappointed at the rushed ending.

As an author, I can tell you exactly why:

To be a romance, it has to guarantee a HEA/HFN (Happily For Now). Otherwise it may be romantic, but doesn’t qualify the romantic genre. And happy is boring, plot wise. Conflict is what engages the reader - be it a problematic in-law, evil twin brother, ghost lurking or a stalker hunting the main characters, the will they/won’t they of obstacles in the way of the relationship. If more obstacles come up, that’s a second book. Readers, in general, don’t want chapters of mundane happy living. That doesn’t keep them eager to turn the page.

From what you say, it sounds like the final issue between the couple comes after they have already travelled whatever plot journey the book set for them, and they just have to surf one last misunderstanding that has been dropped in simply for the sake of genre compliance? A bit like the end of a horror film when everything seems resolved and safe but the monster/ghost/ serial killer pops back up to give the audience the little 'unexpected' obligatory encore?

If that's the case then it wouldn't be surprising if the author was bored to tears by the job of stitching in something so extraneous and predictable. I wouldn't blame her for galloping through it as fast as possible.

I think you just need to read better books.

My two questions would be:
1.What's HEA?
2.If you want more complex endings, why don't you try more complex books? I'm guessing those are churned out rapidly by writers not terribly interested in literary merit, just intent on paying their bills.

HEA: Happily Ever After

It’s a requirement for a book to be a romance novel, HEA or HFN.

And authors work darn hard on them. The romance genre literally supports the publishing industry.

Give how few traditional authors can afford to support themselves solely by their books, being able to pay their bills is nothing to sneeze at.

I mean, why do you work, if not to pay bills? Not every author wants to write ‘fine literature’. Personally, I have zero interest. I enjoy writing fun, entertaining books that people enjoy. I’ve often said that some books are like exquisite fine dining but mine are more like McDonald’s. Fun, accessible and almost everyone has had it at least once. I genuinely can’t think of a woman I know who hasn’t read a Harlequin/Mills and Boone novel at some point.

I genuinely can’t think of a woman I know who hasn’t read a Harlequin/Mills and Boone novel at some point.

I haven't! And honestly I don't think many women I know have either. It feels a teens bit insulting to imagine that reading that stuff is closely aligned with being a woman.

All respect to you for writing them, Chubby. There is nothing wrong with being a skilled manufacturer rather than an artist. It is funny that we are snobby about heavily formulaic novels and yet we accept heavily formulaic TV drama as the norm.

But every time I glance into commercial genre fiction I do feel surprised that people enjoy it. So many people have the idea that literary fiction is harder going, but in most cases the various skills that turn novels into literature also make them way easier, not harder, to read.

I just reread Jane Austen whenever I fancy a bit of romance fiction.

I love Jane Austen and have read her books, letters etc many times. Once upon a time I used to read quite classic complex books for pleasure. However life changes. Nowadays I am not ashamed to read romantic novels for comfort. It's just the stage I'm at. Of course there is a load of rubbish printed, but actually I have found some that are excellent.

Thanks @ChubbyMorticia . Some of the better lightweight novels I've enjoyed must have taken a lot of craft to seem so effortless.

I'm guessing those are churned out rapidly by writers not terribly interested in literary merit, just intent on paying their bills.

@MsAmerica , I think that might be the rudest, most dismissive thing I’ve read in a long while.

People write for many reasons. They rarely do it for money; weekend work at Aldi is a much more reliable income.

I imagine they do it because they like telling stories, because they enjoy the process, because they think they have stories worth telling, or any other factor. “Churn out rapidly to pay bills, devoid of merit” is a very unpleasant way to view what they do.

If you’ve never read one, how can you dismiss them as being manufactured vs art?

Seems like you’re judging based on prejudice vs knowledge.

And, FTR, I don’t write them atm. I veer toward genre blending, spec fic.

But I have very good friends who do write them, do a brilliant job, love their work and they’re no less authors and artists than any other author. I can’t begin to express how insulting that statement was. Have you written a novel? Gotten an agent, then sold to a large publisher? Because I feel like if you understood how much work goes into every single book, you’d have more respect for the authors creating them rather than being so dismissive about a genre you’ve never even read.

I never said it was a hallmark of womanhood. I said I PERSONALLY don’t know any woman who hasn’t read them. And since I don’t know you, that still stands.

I don’t consider myself snobbish at all. Quite the opposite. I’ve read Austen, Atwood, Dickens, Alcott, Shakespeare, Byron, etc. I also read King, Maas, Koontz, Saul, Schwab, Black, Thomas, etc. Pretty much everything except high fantasy or hard sci-fi. I don’t WRITE literature, it’s not my jam as an author.

It's worth remembering as well that the distinction between literary and genre fiction is a fairly recent one. Was Wilkie Collins writing literary fiction or page turners? What about his good friend Dickens? Or Dumas?

There has, however, always been snobbery about art produced by women, for women. Jane Austen spoofed the contemporary literature dismissed that way in Northanger Abbey, women's art is called craft rather than art, fashion is considered frivolous, books written by men are taken more seriously than those written by women, they are reviewed more and win more literary prizes (and cost more to buy than those written by female writers).

I genuinely feel like that’s why romance, despite it literally carrying publishing in terms of sales, is mocked, dismissed, etc. It’s largely written by women, readers largely are women.

Yet without romance to profit from? The publishing industry would crumble.

Even if you look at self publishing, romance genre outsells everything else. By a wide margin.

Absolutely. Just compare the plaudits and recognition the likes of David Nicholls or Nick Hornby get vs Marian Keyes being dismissed as chick lit.

Yes, of course. Not every writer aspires to write great literature, and not every writer is capable of it.
But I think you have to match your expectations to the writer. I like the comparison to food.

@JingleB, you're so indignant that it makes me wonder if you're a writer, too.
It may be dismissive, but it's not rude.
I will disagree. I think most writers, especially of these kinds of books, do write for the money. Now, I'm not claiming they do it for a lot of money. I'm just saying they do it because it's probably pleasanter and more prestigious than working at Aldi.

I’m not a writer. I’m a reader. I’m just not so damned rude about people who create things for a living.