I teach a novel writing class at a community college. Most of my writers are younger and as a result most of my writers write books that, to quote the New Yorker, ‘that have that embarrassing little Saturn-and-spaceship sticker on the spine.’ In other words, they write science fiction or fantasy. In some literary circles this is a bad word. Unfortunately there is a ton of pretentiousness around the idea of what a person writes that makes it a problem to mix company. In fact I had a student drop the class because there were too many people who weren’t writing ‘real fiction’ and he supposedly was.
Those kind of hang ups are personal and often deeply based in an inability to appreciate what they don’t understand. Likewise many of these kids won’t ever step into a Jane Austen novel because that style is abhorrent to them. Perhaps pretentious isn’t the proper word to use.
Writing is deeply personal and reflective of the needs and desires of both the writer and reader. Often readers want to escape into a world where they believe they will be comfortable letting their emotional guard down enough to feel something for the characters. Letting down your guard is hard enough, but to do so in a situation where you so obviously don’t feel comfortable is another thing entirely.
Some Thoughts:
- Try balancing good intentions with desire, curiosity, and what is obviously in your heart. What do you get?