Columns: Tag – Fiction
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Writing Quips and Tips
Genre doesn’t dictate quality
I recently saw this brilliant response to a criticism of chick lit. Michelle Gormon is a chick lit writer herself, published by Penguin. Her article appeared in The Guardian.
“Critics cite many reasons in their dismissal of the genre, reasons that ostensibly aren’t rooted in literary snobbery. ‘The problem’ with chick-lit, I’m told, is that it doesn’t deal with the real issues that women face. Well actually, some of it does. From sibling rivalry to infidelity, addictions to poor body image, a woman can take her pick within the genre if she wants to. And the rest of it? It’s meant for pure indulgent enjoyment, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
“But why insist that chick-lit reflect the issues facing its readership when no other genre is measured by the same yardstick? It isn’t expected of science fiction, crime, mystery, historical fiction, or even most literary fiction. Women didn’t flock to buy We Need to Talk About Kevin thinking, ‘Gosh, my son is in prison too for picking off his classmates with a crossbow. That’s the book for me.’
Writing Quips and Tips
It’s hard and lonely - and Oprah’s unlikely to be involved
People have funny ideas about creative writing.
Either, they believe anyone capable of stringing two words together can put together a 90 000-word novel. (“She writes really good proposals / sales documents /memorandums”.) If they just put their mind to it.
“If only we had the time you do.” (Spoken with a rueful sigh.)
Or: “Old Jimbo’s retiring in September. He’s going to write his book.
That’ll keep him busy for October, but what he’ll do from November I’m just not sure.”
Writing Quips and Tips
Characters - in life and on the page
There’s a story about a novelist whose characters borrowed heavily from life. He wrote a moving account of a family dominated by an overbearing matriarch.
He was most concerned about his mother’s reaction. Would she forgive him? Would it split the family, and make him an outcast?
Shortly after it appeared, his mother summoned him. Sweaty palmed, he appeared to receive her judgment.
Writing Quips and Tips
Writing about it is a lot like having it
If you’re self-conscious about sex in real life, you’ll be so on the page. You’ll hide coyly behind the frills of metaphor.
And if you’re over-confident, you’re likely to charge at the task and batter it with clinical description. Either way you’ll be cringy.
Since we were on the subject of sex in literature, (Last week’s blog on why no one writes about sex anymore), it occurred to me that sex in life is a lot like sex on the page. And learning to write about it can show us quite a lot about having it.