Do you read only one genre, or are you like me,
someone who dips in and out of anything they fancy from the classics and
literary fiction to steampunk? Genre novels feature a protagonist, an antagonist,
a conflict with a rising arc of tension and a resolution, so why differentiate?
One reason could be because, as humans, we attempt to
classify everything around us – it’s our way of making sense of the world, although that doesn't explain why genre novels are considered the poor relative to literary fiction. Aristotle first delineated the classifications of drama and poetry, yet his
divisions carried no implications of superiority or inferiority.
One indisputable fact is that no-one can see inside
another’s mind, or completely understand what another is feeling. So I do wonder how can one person say that
their enjoyment of a novel classed as ‘literary fiction’ is greater than
someone else’s pleasure in a crime, fantasy, romance or any other genre novel?
I suggest the answer is they can’t. Defining one as escapist, and therefore trite,
and the other as an expression of the human condition is subjective opinion, and biased when those who adjudicate also set the rules. Is it that we’re still dominated by the cultural hegemony
of the advantaged classes with their legacy of class-based hostility
towards the masses?
It’s well documented that social groupings retain
their status by excluding others perceived to be of lesser status. In my humble
opinion the literary vs genre debate bears much of these signs. ‘Those
who know best’ - the academics and critics whose reputation and jobs depend on the
status quo remaining the same - lament the lack of intelligent writing, depth of
characters’ inner lives and dominance of plot in genre fiction. I agree that many
genre books are not worth reading. Ditto for literary fiction; a chapter
consisting of nothing but a tortured soul’s musings about the frost on the
inside of a window pane has the potential to render even the most tenacious reader unconscious.
Putting others down is a bullying tactic aimed at
keeping them in an inferior position. When genre writers are praised yet told
their books will never be seen as great literature, this attitude implies that
art created for the masses must naturally be more limited than that intended
for an elite. Describing genre as a guilty pleasure again hints at the unsuitability of these books to take their place at the literary table.
But times change. In 2003, the American National Book
Foundation awarded Stephen King the prestigious Medal for Distinguished
Contribution to American Letters; Hilary Mantel won the Man Booker prize twice,
first in 2009 with her historical fiction Wolf
Hall, and again in 2012 with its sequel, Bring up the Bodies; Peter Temple won Australia’s valued literary
Miles Franklin Award in 2010 for his crime novel, Truth.
For me literary fiction is another genre, and one
which like a petulant child seeing someone else in the limelight
(genre/commercial novels do sell more – i.e. a lot more people read them) refuses
to congratulate them – or join in the fun. Not considering literary fiction as
a genre keeps it elitist, and allows it to stay in its lofty tower looking down on the rest
of us.
Genre is good for writers and is a great marketing
tool as it enables writers to find readers, and readers to find books. The best
genre writers bend, hybridize and invert genre – which makes for exciting
literature. So when asked what kind of books you write, there should be no more shame-faced head hanging, avoidance
of eye contact and mumbling of your answer as you say – I write
genre novels.
Writing
Update
I’m eternally grateful to my beta readers and must practice patience while I wait for feedback, but I’m suffering. When will I see you again, I sob into my pillow
at night hankering for my novel. I miss you! One of my readers told me he has suggestions for where I can
slow the pace. This is good news as leaving readers gasping for breath for the
entire book isn’t one of my goals. Tomorrow I’ll start a read through looking to
make sure I have a balanced variation between dramatic and static scenes so as
to improve the rhythm of the pace.
Chapter 3 of Planet
Unknown is edited, but I’m too impatient to move the WIP forward to do more
at the moment, and have switched it to the back burner.
I’ve had some positive feedback from a graphic artist
friend on the proposed cover for The
Unforgiveness of Blood. Yeah, at least I’m making progress in one area!
Today’s
Haiku
LOVE
is skin on skin love –
at that place where mine and yours touch
do we become one
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To all story lovers out there, good reading, and to those of you who
write, good writing.
