Genre? What Genre??

[endlessrarities]

I'm in pensive mood, on two accounts.  I'm reacting partly to a blog-entry by Claire Delacroix (writer of romantic historical fiction) on writing the dreaded book synopsis (http://www.delacroix.net/blog/?p=69).  In the course of this article, she analysed the components which make up the genre of historical time-slip romance.  The second item of interest was an interview with a bunch of young actors on the BBC News Channel which discussed the soaring popularity of the Vampire genre, following the success of the Twilight books. 

I find it impossible to write according to the rules of a specific genre.  I cut my teeth writing fanlit, but even then, I'd established my own style before I started getting it circulated more widely.  I always preferred to write for me, rather than aim at a target audience.   I was brought up on science fiction and fantasy; as a teenager, my favourite authors were Bradbury, Le Guin and Tolkein.  Later on, I became familiar with C J Cherryh's work, and I was hooked.  I still think there's no finer exponent of space opera.

I came late to historical fiction.  I only started reading it once I'd established my own voice in the genre.  But often when I read historical fiction I feel cheated, particularly with the Scottish stuff.  Everything revolves around Kings and Queens and History (with a Capital 'H').  In a way, it often seems a bit divorced from reality.  It fails to reflect the complexities of everyday life, which is precisely what I find so fascinating about history in the first place.  In the real world, people don't get up in the morning and say, 'oh, I think I'll make some History today'.   History is what happens when a bunch of folk just try to do what's best for themselves and their families in what can sometimes be a very hostile, difficult environment.  Sometimes these folk are royalty, but most of the time they're carters and stable-hands and cooks and country gentlemen. 

In my book, good science fiction and good historical fiction have a lot in common. I enjoy writing historical fiction because it allows me to view the Past differently, to go beyond the facts and extrapolate in a way I cannot do if I'm writing for an academic or professional readership.  When I started writing historical fiction, I thought I'd be a bit different, and write my history from the bottom up.  I took a fairly low-key (but real) historical character, do my best to recreate his life by following him through the historical sources and then I'd see how the big events played out through his powerless eyes.  In other words, it was historical fiction inspired by the mix of poltical thriller and space opera as practised by C J Cherryh. 

Big mistake.  Try marketing the thing, especially in Scotland.  One awfully nice publisher said something along the lines of 'this is great.  We'd take it if you wrote about somebody famous'.  The rest didn't really want to know at all. 

All this is by the by. My novel eventually found a publisher and while this has not been without its share of angst and frustrations, given current circumstances in the world of publishing, I ain't complaining.  Okay, I'm unlikely to hit the big time, but at least I've written something I enjoy reading and that reflects what I think the story is (and maybe even was) about.

When I embarked upon a brand new project , I was determined to do things differently.  I wanted to write genre in the form of a time-slip romance, but when I started to write it, it did its own thing and now it's more like a thriller.  But it isn't quite a thriller.  It's speculative, but it's not science-fiction.  It's not literary.  It's not historical fiction.  To be blunt, I don't know what it is.  If I was given ten minutes to pitch it to an agent, I wouldn't know where to begin.   

During the process of creation, the problem of classification has been immaterial, but there comes a time when you need to try and sell the thing and that's when the trouble starts.  When the publishing world is run according to the rules of marketing, something which slips between genres just doesn't work. 

Why can't I just write straight-forward genre?  Life'd be so much easier then.  Less challenging.  

On second thoughts, it would probably be less fun, too. 

Comments

[treenahasthaal.livejournal.com]

Just keep writing for you! : )

I love what you do, I'm incredibly jealous of your talent and I for one will buy your novel when it finally gets published. I loved it and fell in love with your character.

I love your new project, too. It's fascinating and edicational.

I write for me, too. Do what you enjoy and don't write what you think others will enjoy (don't get pushed either) or you'll end up not enjoying the creative process. Does that make sense?

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

It makes perfect sense. Now more than ever.

I really don't think I could write something and torture it into being something I don't like. I don't mind the controlled butchery of editing, but I see it as something more akin to a positive process like topiary!

There's a point where butchery becomes mindless bloodletting, and that's the point where you have to let go. Where you read your hacked-up prose and think, God, what happened? I liked it much better before.

Unfortunately, I think I'd have to reach that stage if I was going to get published commercially, so in the long-term I'll maybe give it a miss.

[bellakara.livejournal.com]

Ah, see, nothing is guaranteed to make you more demoralised than listening to other writers! The other day I was reading a blog by a feminist speculative fiction writer who was going on about a forthcoming all-female issue of Realms of Fantasy. RofF, like most of the big speculative fiction mags, doesn't score too highly on women writers, and presumably not on gays either, etc. An all-woman issue by itself is not going to solve the problem, it's just a way of saying, 'Well, there was that issue we did in 2010, so how can we be prejudiced?'. What's interesting though is that this writer puts some of her work on the net, then says to the reader, pay what you think it's worth. Quite a few of her books are electronic downloads too, Kindle or whatever. I wonder if that's how you deal with a niche market - she's feminist, gay or bi (don't know which), and actually very well thought of. She clearly has her fans. Every time she posts a blog, the comments rack up into the fifties and sixties or higher. Especially on anything feminist or anti-feminist.

By the way, literary agents are losing money now because publishers are not looking for new writers so much, but celebrities, and agents aren't usually involved in that. There's also the tumbling advances, and the fall in books sales, etc, owing to the recession.

[bellakara.livejournal.com]

By the way, when I said other writers, I meant that Delacroix woman and not your friend above!!

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

Feminist fantasy seems like a contradiction in terms (with the exception of Tanith Lee and Marion Zimmer Bradley).

I had the misfortune to read a bit of 'Conan' once. Bleaugh!! Put it this way, the women were not particularly convincing. They were nubile, scantily clad and they squealed a lot.

Put it this way. It's not going on my 'Must Read' List