Girls, What kind of stories do women like to read most?

[Anonymous]

I am a writer and would like some input as to the kind of story women enjoy most.

For example... Do you prefer when there is a romantic element to the story or not?
Do you lean more towards mythical as opposed to more realistic fantasy?
Do you enjoy a descriptive steamy story or do you prefer it to be less descriptive so you can fill in the dots.
Do you want suspense or action.

Let me know the kind of story you seem to gravitate towards most often.

[SomewhereElse]

I like Sci-Fi & Fantasy, but I hate Tolkien. George RR has a terrible writing style. Please, whatever you write, do not ever refer to a woman's period as her "moon's blood".

I like characters that are original and believable, and their character is slowly revealed through their actions, rather than literal descriptions of their character. Ian McEwan does this extremely well.

I hate reading physical descriptions of characters unless it is relevant to the story, especially if it comes up more than twice. I do not care whether someone's brown eyes sparkle or whatever. It's not a movie.

Most writers are bad at writing steamy scenes, but if it is well-written, sure, why not.

I read a lot of diverse stuff. Depends on my mood. For relaxation, definitely fantasy (D&D). I love alternative history, too. Robert Harris, that kind of book.

It's all down to preference in the end though.

[MinjiC]

I like to read Romance sometimes, Science Fiction, Horror, Gore, Comedy, Erotica. It isn't really the genre itself most of the time, the story has to be well written so that I am interested. Descriptive is too much sometimes. I can't read something where it lists everything a character is wearing or looks like each time a new character is introduced. Some mystery to the character is better, it's like wearing a pretty dress. If everything is on display and leaves nothing to the imagination, there's no excitement. If the dress leaves everything to the imagination, you probably look as sexy as a slice of bread.

[Asker]

Interesting... I have always been descriptive. So I will take that into consideration. Thank you.

[MinjiC]

Totally, you're welcome.

[Adadah]

My reading interests are pretty broad. I read romance to vampire/supernatural to LOTR/Harry Potter to steamy novels.

For me it's either a romance theme, I like bitter sweet stories and always cry at emotional parts. If not romance then something exciting like LOTR, Narmia or Harry Potter.

As for the steamy dirty ones I like a descriptive sex scene that can put a picture in my mind or draw me into the character but nothing too explicit. If it's too explicit I find myself reading the fist two or three sex scenes and then skim through the rest to get to the story. If I wanted porn I'd rather watch it than read it. But I can't stand lame sex scenens, I'd rather get hot and bothered than be hanging on the border of being turn on but not quite turned on lol.

[fauchelevent]

I like reading horror and fantasy mostly.

- I like reading stories where there's a romantic element as long as it's not the whole plot. Romance books are dull. Books with romance in them can be amazing. If something else is going on, some other kind of drama, and the romance isn't the main plot point, then it's nice.

- Yeah, I lean more towards mythical. I enjoy realistic fantasy too but I gotta admit that I love my mythical stuff. I'm an ancient history student so mythology has always kinda been my thing and I guess I enjoy seeing mythological creatures in stories, even if it is a pretty human-like vampire or something similar.

- Hmm... I think that it's generally best to be less descriptive.

- A hell of a lot of suspense.

[willow74]

Fantasy is amazing. Mythical creatures, magic, legend. The impossible becoming real.
Romance is nice but it's best kept as a side plot. There has to be more element to the story than just that. Some greater conflict.
Suspense AND action go very well hand in hand. Why have just one when you can have both?
And heavy description is nice when it comes to setting or characters. If it's an intimate scene, leave a little to the imagination or it becomes too much.
Best of luck to you!

[Anonymous]

Romance novels are usually ridiculous. I like good fiction with dynamic characters with a storyline about about how someone grows in life, history nonfic and well done thrillers, personally.

I'll read grit lit (Think Winter's Bone) and some good sci fi/fantasy (think LOTR) sometimes, too.

[BellePepper]

Ones with realistic and relatable female characters that aren't propped up with shitty tropes.

[Asker]

OK so what would you consider a shitty trope?
What would like to see as a realistic female character?

[BellePepper]

You're an adult man who wants to write characters and you don't know if your character is realistic or not or if it falls into too many tropes?

[Asker]

No I was asking you what you considered a shitty trope or what you see as realistic, because I get the feeling that you think a heroic, strong female character is realistic which I would have to disagree. I get the feeling you think a stereotypical helpless female is a trope and I would tell you that it's more likely the more realistic role.
It isn't sexist, it's realism. But that's why I asked you to elaborate.

[BellePepper]

Do you not understand what a trope is? The Strong Female Character IS a trope. Just like Helpless Woman is a trope. Do you need a dictionary or a guided tour of https://tvtropes.org/ or what?

[Asker]

Yeah it means a cliché, that doesn't answer my questions.
A helpless woman isn't a trope, if you look around you female victim hood is a daily reality be it real or fabricated.
But your snarky jabs tell me you are most likely NOT the demographic I am looking for.

[BellePepper]

Oh my god you do need a tour. tvtropes.org/.../DamselInDistress

[Asker]

Listen Anita Sarkeesian, women play victim in real life on a daily basis. Therefore using reality to push a story line just makes it believable. Using a website like tvtropes as a stand point is like calling buzzfeed or Jezebel a legitimate source of statistical data which is in no way biased or bigoted.

You are obviously not here to engage in helpful conversation. Your troll has been noted. Thanks for stopping by.

[BellePepper]

Oh my god XD

[Jxpxtxr]

I like the classics of literature and fantasy novels most (eg. Neil Gaiman's works) – anything that makes you think and broadens your horizons is good.
Please no romance!!

[KiwilovesChris]

I enjoy romantic fantasy. I also enjoy only hearing it from a single characters point of view.

[Asker]

Awesome. I have written a few stories in the 1st person narrative. Usually more steamy than romantic though.

[Eva2015]

Something with romance but it doesn't have to be a lot. Just a little bit is fine. I also like books with action or suspense cause otherwise it would be boring.

[Floppy]

You have so many double negatives in your sentences that making sense of all of it is too difficult to respond intelligently.

[Asker]

No one else seems to have trouble understanding "would like some input as to the kind of story women enjoy"... seems like you are just trying to be snarky, so I don't really need your opinion in that case.

[idkwtftoputhere]

I like horror and comedy books and anything written by Chuck Tingle and Carlton Mellick III