I fully agree with your idea about science fiction and fantasy having replaced the regular adventure market. Both of those genres are more heavily male-read although women go for romantic fantasy. As a former bookseller, I noticed that most men went for nonfiction, but the true lovers of story are still looking for adventure in some form. Even in general fiction, men heavily leaned toward Clive Cussler and other thrillers.
Yes—I noticed the same thing when I worked in a library. Men tended to check out nonfiction, thrillers, and the occasional serious/older literary fiction or classic.
I think that many men like the background descriptions within a story to be accurate, so that they can combine the joy of a story with the educational benefits of nonfiction.
To tap into that, Tom Clancy actually hired a researcher to make sure that the military details in his thrillers were accurate.
Louis L'Amour famously claimed that "When I write about a spring, that spring is there, and the water is good to drink." I'm not sure that that was always true, but it's interesting that his publisher saw that as a positive selling point.
True. Some women can be more forgiving of errors because they like the journey the story takes them on. It drives me insane to read inaccurate historical fiction, though…you can’t just move battles around at will in a war!!
As a girl who always had more of a bent toward "boy's stories" (and would 100% rather face off against some monstrous antagonist than run the gamut of petty squabbles at a girls' boarding school), all I can say is that your stories rank right up there with the vintage fiction that I reach for when I'm tired of too many modern sensibilities trying to drape themselves in the garb of the past. Very few writers seem to really capture the spirit of the era they're writing in in a way that makes them almost indistinguishable from a book written in the period, but you are definitely one of them, and I think everything you've pointed out above is part of the reason why. ❤️
I count it one of the highest compliments I can give a historical fiction writer, but you have definitely earned it! (I think it was Some Christmas Camouflage that sealed the deal for me.) 🥰
This is great post, Elisabeth! So thoughtful. I sympathize deeply with some of the frustration of the disappearance of the "adventure genre." This used to be a genre! There was an abundance of them back in the day and their absence is keenly felt. (It's one of the things my sisters and I were trying to address with our e-zine, Worlds of Adventure).
I was actually thinking about this issue the other day before I even saw your post: and I have to admit, I did wonder if it was some kind of education / emotional shift in men themselves, as well: because it used to be very common for men to read classic literature: indeed, it was veritably the domain of men, as authors and readers, for a long time. It was not only normal to read (and write) classics, it was expected. I do wonder what caused that change.
I do think there has been a cultural shift. One would have to do more careful study to trace it accurately, but off the top of my head I’d theorize that literature and literary pursuits have come to be regarded as much less important and less “serious” than they used to be in our society, and so perhaps taken less seriously as a profession or occupation for men.
I am a woman who has loved adventure novels all her life, especially classics and historical adventure novels. That's part of the reason Louis L'Amour appeals to me, and part of why your books do as well. I'm always on the hunt for adventure novels hidden in other genres, and I found it in the western genre.
I grew up on Louis L'amour stories and still absolutely love them. On the points you raised: in an essay I once read, thriller author Lee Child explained that he purposefully patterned his Jack Reacher stories after old chivalric romances (not necessarily love stories in this sense, although there's often a damsel to be won). It definitely worked for his writing, considering how successful he's been. Possibly that approach is tapping into the same idea?
About a year or so ago, I wrote an essay on the primary themes of shonen manga--friendship, effort, and victory. I was primarily responding to what I felt was a need for more *boy*-oriented fiction, but I think what you're talking about overlaps pretty well with this. It really is about the challenge. That's what they mean by Effort and Victory--the character has a goal, and they will face any challenger to get it. So something like My Hero Academia isn't just about watching heroes fight villains; it's about seeing how far Midoriya is willing to go to be the hero he wants to be.
It's why I describe the original Rocky as a shonen anime--he has friendships (Mickey, Adrian), he has effort (his training), and he has a victory he wants to achieve (prove himself against the champ). I think it's also why I think of Tombstone as the perfect "Dudes rock" movie. You have a bunch of guys being bros, trying to clean up the town, with one of them constantly fighting a life-threatening illness to do it. Or The Lord of the Rings: at its core it's a story about a job that simply must get done, and the impossible odds they face to get it done, and the deep, steadfast loyalty to one another that gets it done.
I'm partly coming at this having been involved in comic book fandom in the 2000s, when the industry was starting to face up to the fact that it wasn't doing enough to appeal to boys, girls, or women (or even, frankly, men who don't care about superheroes). And the answer was largely that if there were comics for any of them, they were too hard to find. You had to go to a comic shop staffed by social awkward males and sift through racks and boxes of Marvel and DC superheroes, which at that time were trying too hard to be Adult in jarring, uncomfortable ways. By then my tastes had shifted toward manga, so I could easily sympathize with someone who'd run into that kind of curation and feel that it simply wasn't For Them.
Good thoughts! The ironic thing is that what you describe is, in a sense, the basic recipe for good conflict in any type of story (i.e. pursuing a goal), but I think what’s missing in many modern stories is…I don’t know if I’m putting this very clearly, but a sense of idealism. An ideal of strength of character and virtue to strive for, alongside or as part of the material goal.
There is (or was) also such as a thing, I think, as romance written by and for men. The premise is typically that the hero has some kind of difficult and/or dangerous mission to perform, and needs a strong female partner to help him in this endeavour. In a Western, this mission often, but not always, involves raising cattle and/or horses. Early science fiction simply transported this scenario into space.
Key elements of the plot are the Commitment, where the heroine agrees to this partnership (this may be marriage itself, agreeing to a proposal, or something more subtle occurring before or even after marriage), and what one might call the Act of Service, where the heroine proves her value by helping the hero in some significant way, up to and including saving his life.
So, for example, in Nevil Shute’s “Landfall,” the heroine solves the mystery of who sank the British submarine that the hero is accused of sinking, and braves Admiralty House to argue in his defence. In the same author’s “Pastoral,” the heroine (in spite of having refused an offer of marriage) bicycles 14 miles to arrange a fishing expedition in order to improve cohesion within the pilot hero’s flight crew, thereby reducing the chance of fatal mistakes.
A few EGF stories appear to me to resemble “male-oriented” romances of this kind, but written from the heroine's point of view. There is no shortage of spunky women volunteering for a difficult life, for example, like the “Mustanger’s Bride” in the story of that name, and in “Dakota Clothesline” we have an Act of Service that involves saving a life. This similarity may be why the stories appeal to both men and women.
Such good points! I think the Western and the wilderness or war adventure story are particularly suited to that kind of romance/partnership, but with a little thought it could be adapted to other genres too.
Yes indeed! And that kind of romance/partnership story may be particularly suited to the "wife of a pioneer," but there are many different ways of being a pioneer.
I fully agree with your idea about science fiction and fantasy having replaced the regular adventure market. Both of those genres are more heavily male-read although women go for romantic fantasy. As a former bookseller, I noticed that most men went for nonfiction, but the true lovers of story are still looking for adventure in some form. Even in general fiction, men heavily leaned toward Clive Cussler and other thrillers.
Yes—I noticed the same thing when I worked in a library. Men tended to check out nonfiction, thrillers, and the occasional serious/older literary fiction or classic.
I think that many men like the background descriptions within a story to be accurate, so that they can combine the joy of a story with the educational benefits of nonfiction.
To tap into that, Tom Clancy actually hired a researcher to make sure that the military details in his thrillers were accurate.
Louis L'Amour famously claimed that "When I write about a spring, that spring is there, and the water is good to drink." I'm not sure that that was always true, but it's interesting that his publisher saw that as a positive selling point.
True. Some women can be more forgiving of errors because they like the journey the story takes them on. It drives me insane to read inaccurate historical fiction, though…you can’t just move battles around at will in a war!!
As a girl who always had more of a bent toward "boy's stories" (and would 100% rather face off against some monstrous antagonist than run the gamut of petty squabbles at a girls' boarding school), all I can say is that your stories rank right up there with the vintage fiction that I reach for when I'm tired of too many modern sensibilities trying to drape themselves in the garb of the past. Very few writers seem to really capture the spirit of the era they're writing in in a way that makes them almost indistinguishable from a book written in the period, but you are definitely one of them, and I think everything you've pointed out above is part of the reason why. ❤️
That is truly a compliment—I'm honored.
I count it one of the highest compliments I can give a historical fiction writer, but you have definitely earned it! (I think it was Some Christmas Camouflage that sealed the deal for me.) 🥰
I heartily agree!
This is great post, Elisabeth! So thoughtful. I sympathize deeply with some of the frustration of the disappearance of the "adventure genre." This used to be a genre! There was an abundance of them back in the day and their absence is keenly felt. (It's one of the things my sisters and I were trying to address with our e-zine, Worlds of Adventure).
I was actually thinking about this issue the other day before I even saw your post: and I have to admit, I did wonder if it was some kind of education / emotional shift in men themselves, as well: because it used to be very common for men to read classic literature: indeed, it was veritably the domain of men, as authors and readers, for a long time. It was not only normal to read (and write) classics, it was expected. I do wonder what caused that change.
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
I do think there has been a cultural shift. One would have to do more careful study to trace it accurately, but off the top of my head I’d theorize that literature and literary pursuits have come to be regarded as much less important and less “serious” than they used to be in our society, and so perhaps taken less seriously as a profession or occupation for men.
I am a woman who has loved adventure novels all her life, especially classics and historical adventure novels. That's part of the reason Louis L'Amour appeals to me, and part of why your books do as well. I'm always on the hunt for adventure novels hidden in other genres, and I found it in the western genre.
You shared such interesting thoughts here!
I grew up on Louis L'amour stories and still absolutely love them. On the points you raised: in an essay I once read, thriller author Lee Child explained that he purposefully patterned his Jack Reacher stories after old chivalric romances (not necessarily love stories in this sense, although there's often a damsel to be won). It definitely worked for his writing, considering how successful he's been. Possibly that approach is tapping into the same idea?
It does sound like it!
About a year or so ago, I wrote an essay on the primary themes of shonen manga--friendship, effort, and victory. I was primarily responding to what I felt was a need for more *boy*-oriented fiction, but I think what you're talking about overlaps pretty well with this. It really is about the challenge. That's what they mean by Effort and Victory--the character has a goal, and they will face any challenger to get it. So something like My Hero Academia isn't just about watching heroes fight villains; it's about seeing how far Midoriya is willing to go to be the hero he wants to be.
https://open.substack.com/pub/wordassociations/p/on-shonen-fiction?r=1epnd0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
It's why I describe the original Rocky as a shonen anime--he has friendships (Mickey, Adrian), he has effort (his training), and he has a victory he wants to achieve (prove himself against the champ). I think it's also why I think of Tombstone as the perfect "Dudes rock" movie. You have a bunch of guys being bros, trying to clean up the town, with one of them constantly fighting a life-threatening illness to do it. Or The Lord of the Rings: at its core it's a story about a job that simply must get done, and the impossible odds they face to get it done, and the deep, steadfast loyalty to one another that gets it done.
I'm partly coming at this having been involved in comic book fandom in the 2000s, when the industry was starting to face up to the fact that it wasn't doing enough to appeal to boys, girls, or women (or even, frankly, men who don't care about superheroes). And the answer was largely that if there were comics for any of them, they were too hard to find. You had to go to a comic shop staffed by social awkward males and sift through racks and boxes of Marvel and DC superheroes, which at that time were trying too hard to be Adult in jarring, uncomfortable ways. By then my tastes had shifted toward manga, so I could easily sympathize with someone who'd run into that kind of curation and feel that it simply wasn't For Them.
Good thoughts! The ironic thing is that what you describe is, in a sense, the basic recipe for good conflict in any type of story (i.e. pursuing a goal), but I think what’s missing in many modern stories is…I don’t know if I’m putting this very clearly, but a sense of idealism. An ideal of strength of character and virtue to strive for, alongside or as part of the material goal.
There is (or was) also such as a thing, I think, as romance written by and for men. The premise is typically that the hero has some kind of difficult and/or dangerous mission to perform, and needs a strong female partner to help him in this endeavour. In a Western, this mission often, but not always, involves raising cattle and/or horses. Early science fiction simply transported this scenario into space.
Key elements of the plot are the Commitment, where the heroine agrees to this partnership (this may be marriage itself, agreeing to a proposal, or something more subtle occurring before or even after marriage), and what one might call the Act of Service, where the heroine proves her value by helping the hero in some significant way, up to and including saving his life.
So, for example, in Nevil Shute’s “Landfall,” the heroine solves the mystery of who sank the British submarine that the hero is accused of sinking, and braves Admiralty House to argue in his defence. In the same author’s “Pastoral,” the heroine (in spite of having refused an offer of marriage) bicycles 14 miles to arrange a fishing expedition in order to improve cohesion within the pilot hero’s flight crew, thereby reducing the chance of fatal mistakes.
A few EGF stories appear to me to resemble “male-oriented” romances of this kind, but written from the heroine's point of view. There is no shortage of spunky women volunteering for a difficult life, for example, like the “Mustanger’s Bride” in the story of that name, and in “Dakota Clothesline” we have an Act of Service that involves saving a life. This similarity may be why the stories appeal to both men and women.
Such good points! I think the Western and the wilderness or war adventure story are particularly suited to that kind of romance/partnership, but with a little thought it could be adapted to other genres too.
Yes indeed! And that kind of romance/partnership story may be particularly suited to the "wife of a pioneer," but there are many different ways of being a pioneer.
Wonderfully written and very thoughtful