Genre Fiction

[Softouch911]

Two reasons I've heard:

"It's a good read."

"It works."

I'll let wiser minds explain.

ST

 

[Guest]

*ahem*

I think that many stories start genre-driven. It's a good tool to both write and market. However, when the story trancends the genre you have literature. It's up to the author to use the tools he has to allow his vision to sit apart from the rest.

Trope is a new one to me so I'll shut up now. *sheepish grin*

 

[wanderwonder]

Although I am guilty of this myself from time to time, I wonder if anyone really has the right to dismiss those masters of genre simply because they are good at what they do? I'd never walk into the romance section of a bookstore without a gun to my head, but I don't think I could practically corner a market like Danielle Steele has. Some of us write for our own pleasure, some of us write for the pleasure of our readers (a lot of whom may not have the means nor education to appreciate Literature, or those who like me sometimes just want a book they don't have to think about). Which authority declares one exalted and the other damned?

 

[Softouch911]

A point well-taken -- where there is a formula, there is a craft. And who ridicules a good crafter who has won success?

Perhaps part of it is some jealousy. There is also the recognition that "there is more" possible.

And that is true, too. Sometimes, and not in all of their books, some "mere" craft writer of formula fiction will write something that transcends the limits on them and something exciting happens that is also popular, even a phenomenon.

Among the wasteland of endless (and forgettable) TV sitcoms, a few -- like Lucy, or MASH or Seinfeld -- stand as groundbreaking (and unforgettable). And among those few, there are a few "episodes" that rise to the excellence demanded of "literature," perhaps.

What authors would you nominate from popular novels? From Romance? From Sci Fi? From Westerns? From Apocalyptic? From Mystery? .....?

And from those authors, which of their books truly stand as exceptional?


Just a thought.

ST

 

[wanderwonder]

I reread my previous post, and am reminded that the difference between art and craft is originality. I suppose it's comparable to summer camp, when we all made boondoggle lanyards and those God's Eye yarn thingys. What genius came up with those ideas, I'll never know. But their work has been turned into a craft—all reproductions look the same. Now lanyards is just something those campers "know how to do," because it has become standard.

On the other hand, what about those artists who copy great works so closely that they can sell them as forgeries? I assume that no forgery has been proudly signed by the artists, but have not those artists a gift? What about musicians? We have very few classical composers these days, but a multiplicity of people who can play their pieces perfectly. Are these pianists, harpists, flautists (I just wanted to use that word) less great because their music is not original? If Mozart could both play and compose, why can't Yo-Yo Ma, Murray Pariah, Anna Netrebko? I go round in circles.

Author nominations. Hm…that's a toughie. The only name that's popping into my mind is fantasy author Jaqcueline Carey. I love her books, and I don't even get into BDSM. And unlike George R. R. Martin, Ms. Carey doesn't make me feel as though all hope is lost (honestly, George, do my favorite characters always have to die?).

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Although I am guilty of this myself from time to time, I wonder if anyone really has the right to dismiss those masters of genre simply because they are good at what they do? I'd never walk into the romance section of a bookstore without a gun to my head, but I don't think I could practically corner a market like Danielle Steele has. Some of us write for our own pleasure, some of us write for the pleasure of our readers (a lot of whom may not have the means nor education to appreciate Literature, or those who like me sometimes just want a book they don't have to think about). Which authority declares one exalted and the other damned?

I don't think anyone's putting down genre writers. We're putting down bad genre writers, of which there are a lot, because bad writers flock to genres. If you don't have a lot of originality or ideas, you're going to write what you've read, and so - lo and behold - you produce a romance, or sci fi, or detective story, etc. and the ranks of the genre swell.

Another way to look at genre is to consider it formula writing, and no one minds it that way. If a writer has a big hit like Danielle Steele, she sticks with the same formula for her next 30 books. She's doing what works for her and working in her own, self-defined genre, but no one considers that bad.