I like stories where people are always in comas or becoming amnesiacs or dying and then coming back to life and endings where it turns out it was all just in the narrator's head. I like time travel and alternate universes and I don't even mind if it isn't consistent or doesn't make sense (though it is preferable). I like 'it was all just a dream' endings and melodramatic characters and split personalities and axe murderers. I'm not talking stories that are borderline ridiculous here, I'm talking all-out preposterous soap-opera-worthy novels. I want things to blow up that logically wouldn't. I want someone to inexplicably develop the ability to read minds.
This is a terrible thing to admit to and will probably forever damage your opinion of me. But gosh, folks, aren't crazy stories a lot of fun? I try and write at least semi-realistic stuff, but only through a lot of effort. I mean, I really want to throw in a mind-reader and aliens and amnesia, but I'd rather write well. When it comes to what I read and watch and so forth, though, much as I love those literary novels about first-world problems, I don't have a whole lot of desire to read novels that are super-realistic because life is super-realistic and really, no novel is going to be as vivid as real life. Also realistic stories are always more depressing than ridiculous ones. (Okay, a little realism is nice. And good writing is always excellent. But when it comes to escapism I think you really need crazy-weird plotlines.)
Does everyone secretly love really preposterous novels and TV shows and movies? Or are you all cultured ladies and gents who watch art-house films and read literary fiction and have never seen a soap opera in your life?
