09-15-2010, 02:40 PM
As a footnote to Alice Chell's recent thread about the past, I'm curious . . . How many readers on this forum discovered Gothic Romance after it had ceased to be a popular genre? In other words, of the 450+ members here, I wonder how many came to appreciate the genre only within the last 10-15 years?
If the members of this forum represent a cross-section of the Gothic Romance readership in general (and I think it's safe to assume they do), then it would seem significant to me if a considerable portion of them were latecomers to the genre (those who started reading Gothics a decade or more after they ceased to be published). To me, this would mean that the genre is not really dead, merely dormant. If a genre continues to find new relevance among new readers and fans, it probably has larger relevance to the larger potential readership, and future generations of readers, ignored by the publishing industry's current focus. It might mean that there's hope for a resurrection of the genre at some point.
How many aspiring writers on this forum feel cheated by the apparent lack of a marketplace for Gothic romance nowadays, that if only they'd been alive and writing in the '60s or '70s, they might have contributed to the field? Perhaps there's still hope for them too.
Am I being naïve in my optimism?
If the members of this forum represent a cross-section of the Gothic Romance readership in general (and I think it's safe to assume they do), then it would seem significant to me if a considerable portion of them were latecomers to the genre (those who started reading Gothics a decade or more after they ceased to be published). To me, this would mean that the genre is not really dead, merely dormant. If a genre continues to find new relevance among new readers and fans, it probably has larger relevance to the larger potential readership, and future generations of readers, ignored by the publishing industry's current focus. It might mean that there's hope for a resurrection of the genre at some point.
How many aspiring writers on this forum feel cheated by the apparent lack of a marketplace for Gothic romance nowadays, that if only they'd been alive and writing in the '60s or '70s, they might have contributed to the field? Perhaps there's still hope for them too.
Am I being naïve in my optimism?