How many Mafia stories did you read?
Not really sure. I haven’t counted. I’ve started quite a few but only finished/kept up with 3.
What do you like in Mafia stories?
I honestly don’t know. They’re really cliche 90% of the time. The first one I read because I hadn’t seen one before. The second I read because the writing was better and the third one I’ve kept up with (but is unfinished) because of the directing.
What do you dislike in Mafia stories and why?
They’re so cliche. Also what the h_ll with the warehouse/docks? Like do they just hangout there? That sounds like a really good way to get arrested. Completely unrealistic LIs 90% of the time. Also, why is the gang in question always the “most powerful” and then gets sh_t on? There’s also always like five members. Ten max. They’re never realistic. The characters never react the way they should. The MC almost always gets pregnant/abducted/both at the same time. It’s fairly clear that most authors have just ignored the general history of organized crime in the US, specifically the mafia, specifically the Italian mafia (y’all know what I’m saying, I know), and most of them are set in New York. Someone mentioned this in a different post and it’s annoyed me every time I’ve seen it since: I hate how they have random words in different languages. (As someone who speaks more than one language and has lived in a country that does not speak my native language, I know it’s really weird for me to switch languages randomly.) Almost always, the MC has some creep (and it’s always a creepy looking guy) hitting on her at a club (that the LI owns) and y’all, sexual assault is not it. Also, there are almost always no repercussions for criminal behavior regardless of how overt it is. There’s more, but I’ve gone on for a while.
(Note: In the story I’m currently writing, there’s organized crime, so I’m not opposed to it as a theme.)
What do you want to see and don’t want to see in Mafia stories?
I don’t want to see cliches or literally anything I listed above. (But I’m going to see it anyway because Episode is cliche.)
I do want to see people actually doing research on organized crime and its history in whatever setting the story is taking place.