Particularly romance, in some ways -- there's rarely any surprise about who the heroine's Designated Love Interest is going to be in a romance novel, and even in a series where there is some question (Will the heroine choose guy A or guy B?) it's generally a choice btween two characters who are both introduced as potential romantic leads early on in the series. If you get to book six and the heroine suddenly goes off to live happily ever after with guy C who's just appeared in this instalment, there's usually reader outcry (dieMicahdie. Diediedie and take the ardeur with you).
I think a lot of the appeal of certain kinds of romance plots for some readers is knowing the who from the get go and concentrating entirely on the how and the when. Not "will they fall in love?" but "when will they realize that they're in love?"
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Particularly romance, in some ways -- there's rarely any surprise about who the heroine's Designated Love Interest is going to be in a romance novel, and even in a series where there is some question (Will the heroine choose guy A or guy B?) it's generally a choice btween two characters who are both introduced as potential romantic leads early on in the series. If you get to book six and the heroine suddenly goes off to live happily ever after with guy C who's just appeared in this instalment, there's usually reader outcry (dieMicahdie. Diediedie and take the ardeur with you).
I think a lot of the appeal of certain kinds of romance plots for some readers is knowing the who from the get go and concentrating entirely on the how and the when. Not "will they fall in love?" but "when will they realize that they're in love?"