Fantasy: why do I write in this genre?

Truth becomes fiction when the fiction's true;

Real becomes not-real where the unreal's real.

The above quote is from the Chinese classic, Dream of the Red Chamber, and if you look at Wikipedia's list of top selling books of all time, six out of the top eight are fantasy, or have strong fantasy elements, so I'm not alone in being a fan of the genre. But why is fantasy, and I'm using the term loosely as there are many sub-genres, so popular?

I'm taking it as a given that genre delineation is a marketing tool used to direct readers to a particular type of book, because all stories, irrespective of genre, share the same basic requirements: a protagonist, a plot, and a setting.

Human protagonists experience a range of emotions, which enables readers to engage with them, and even those that are not, for example, robots or little furry animals, exhibit some or all of the same feelings. Whether your character is Leopold Bloom, Bilbo Baggins, Scarlett O'Hara or Miss Marples, readers must want to follow their journey, and find out what happens to them. A character's relationships, and their success or failure in this area of life are part of the emotional appeal of a story.

The term plot is used to describe the sequential events that take place within a story, and follows the standard dramatic arc of increasing internal and external tension, climax and resolution. From folk tales and myths to Greek tragedy, through Shakespeare's comedies to modernist novels, you find this convention. The reader's expectations about character and plot are present whether you read or write crime/detective, magic realism, rom-com, fantasy, fan fiction, or the genre known as literary fiction, and if you tick these boxes, you have a chance of satisfying readers.

For me, the setting of a fantasy novel offers a greater opportunity to bend the rules, although sub-genres such as urban fantasy or postcyberpunk, take place in the world as we know it, or use elements of our world with plenty of gritty kitchen sink realism thrown in. We owe a great debt to the myths and folklore of our ancestors, which we are adapting and passing on to the next generation. Tolkien's use of Norse mythology in Lord of the Rings springs to mind.

A more tricky aspect of genre writing is the framework created by established books which generates limitations. Fairies, elves, and space explorers are generally good, whereas trolls, goblins, and aliens are the standard baddies (except E.T. of course). On the other hand, you could have fun playing with these accepted norms, and feature a teenage troll worried about his complexion, although I'm sure the robot who constantly cracks bad jokes has been done. It's a delicate balance for genre writers to follow these conventions and yet introduce something new and original. If a writer is successful in doing so, their contribution is added to the cannon for later writers to follow.

As a reader and a writer, it's the otherness of fantasy that is its greatest appeal to me, and because the genre is generous, it can include romance, mystery, and be a thrilling tale of suspense on as epic or small a scale as the writer wishes. Sometimes the further we travel in our imagination away from the external world perceived by our senses, the more understanding we gain.

Writing Update:
In January I'll start outlining book three of my urban fantasy trilogy, Samsara, (Books One and Two are available), and until then, I'm editing a science-fiction/fantasy nanowrimo novel. Some years ago, I wrote a fantasy novel, and digging the manuscript out from the depths of a drawer, and reworking it is on the to do list. Although I've written in other genres, I keep returning to fantasy and my first love—sci-fi.

I was very happy to be interviewed earlier this month by the fantasy author, Kellie Steele, and you can find the interview on her website, as well as information about her debut novel, White Ghost and the Poison Arrow.

Useful Links:
http://kellie-steele.weebly.com/blog/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_writing_genres

Today's haiku:

snow lies on the ground

one red apple left hanging -

blackbird finds a feast.

Join me on Twitter at: @teagankearney

Thanks for visiting my blog, and please do leave a comment.

To all story lovers out there, good reading, and to those of you who write, good writing. 

WHAT'S WRONG WITH GENRE?

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

Useful Links:

This article comes highly recommended!

http://entertainment.time.com/2012/05/23/genre-fiction-is-disruptive-technology/ 
If you’re unsure of what genre your story falls under, this is a fairly comprehensive list of genre categories.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_genres

I’d love it if you popped over to Wattpad and read any of my posted stories...just click on the links to the right.

Join me on Twitter at: teagankearney@modhaiku  

Thanks for visiting my blog, and please do leave a comment.

To all story lovers out there, good reading, and to those of you who write, good writing.

LOOKING AT GENRE

As I’m writing a genre novel for the NaNoWriMo, it seemed a good time to look at genre. The Oxford Dictionary defines genre as 'a particular kind or style of art or literature'. Since Aristotle people have discussed how creative writing falls into different categories, and today we generally group writing into the three main divisions of fiction, poetry and drama - with each group containing many subdivisions.

The genre novel versus the literary novel, and the blurring – or not – of the lines between the two is a discussion I’m sure will continue, and which I’m not going to address. Literary fiction or genre novels, the writers of both have one thing in common - they want people to read their books. 

When someone chooses a book, they often have a particular idea in mind of the kind of book they want to read, and genre performs an active role in meeting those expectations. Readers are smart and know the codes inherent within a genre, and writers can use these to increase anticipation. However, it isn’t incumbent on the writer to meet all of those expectations – and this play between reader and writer enhances enjoyment of the story. Genre should be viewed as a great tool for writers with distinguishing features they can deliberately use to their advantage. 

Many stories are what is termed cross-genre, where themes and elements from two or more different genres are blended together. For example, a spy novel may have a romance element (Bond always manages an affair or two), there are futuristic thrillers like Philip K. Dick's  Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and crime novels do very well set in the past, as demonstrated by Lindsey Davis, author of the Falco detective series set in ancient Rome. So which genre a story belongs to is not always clear cut.

Knowing the codes of a particular genre can present a risk in that if you stick too closely to the prescribed formula, you may end up with a story lacking in originality that isn’t the one you set out to write. On the plus side, if done well, you’ll find there are readers already out there, eager and waiting for your story.

Writing Update

My attempt to complete the NaNoWriMo challenge of writing 50,000 words during the month of November continues, and my life revolves around achieving my quota each day. My brain is a bit of a mud pit first thing in the morning, but a few megajolts of caffeine clears the sluggishness, allows a thought or two to surface, and I start writing.

I have to admit, without an outline, I would struggle to maintain the pace (I am managing the quota - and a little bit more) but I’m hoping this month will give some long term strength to my writing muscle. I cut a chapter deciding I didn’t like, or need it, then couldn’t think of anything to put in its place, and put it back! 

When I wrote my outline, I decided I to have a battle – which is coming up in the chapter after next. A battle! What was I thinking of? And although it’s not the climax, it’s an appropriate increase in the dramatic arc. But battles really aren’t my thing, and although I know there is writing advice for battle scenes out there – I’m going to read a little Homer, (the ancient Greek, not the modern TV one) as The Iliad has some great battles – not a lot of interior monologue – but great detail on the action.

So with a bit of luck, if I keep my head down, and my fingers tapping those keys, I might even be finished next week! Yeah!

TODAY’S HAIKU

suits drink coffee, talk

profit – outside a homeless

man sits with his dog

Useful Links:

This is a comprehensive list of genres:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_genres

And for anyone wishing to find out more about the NaNoWriMo:

http://nanowrimo.org/

Join me on Twitter at: teagankearney@modhaiku

To all story lovers out there, good reading, and to those of you who write, good writing.