Writing Levels

In the discussion of literary vs genre fiction, two points were brought up regarding litarary fiction. One, is that it is especially important in literary writing to make every single word shine. Two, literary fiction should bring up existential questions.

Scott Bailey put it like this on Lady Glamis’ blog:

Literary fiction, as far as I’m willing to define it, is as much concerned with form as with anything else, and where the subject matter is the experience of life, and the purpose is to give the reader a chance to experience life in a broader way than before. Or, to quote C.S. Lewis, “passion is present for the sake of imagination, and therefore, in the long run, for the sake of wisdom or spiritual health–the rightness and richness of man’s total response to the world.”

I don’t consider myself a literary writer; I reserve the right to toss magic-wielding barbarian hunks and kung-fu ten-headed rakshasas at my heroes, as well as to marry them all off to live happily every after. However, there are aspects of literary writing I try to sneak into my books in between the gratiutious magic, sex and cannibalism.

Even a pulp fiction hack like me has to make every word count. Mary Lindsey addressed this in her blog. An early rejection told her, essentially:

Your story and characters are intriguing. I was disappointed that the writing didn’t live up to the premise.  

Ouch. (Note, she doesn’t have this problem any more!) This is exactly what I fear agents are thinking about my work. (My other fear is that they might say, “The writing is lovely, but the story makes no frinky sense.” Or even worse, “The quality lacking in the writing of this manuscript perfectly captured the hackneyed plot.”)

Writing quality is even more crucial if one is trying to slide existential questions into a plot-driven story. I suppose the difference between what I write and a literary novel (as I understand it) is that I seek to conceal weighty questions of Life and Death beneath a frosting of mind candy. This is the purpose of having Death as a living, breathing (and, in my story, mortal) character. You can accept the story on two levels. If you want, you can read it as an exicting action scene, in which a hottie in black leather fights off a bear.

There is also another level to the story — nothing so crude as a straight allegory, but hopefully a fairy tale or mythic level, like the folk tales from around the world. That’s what I hoped to capture, it’s what my writing ability may or may not be able to express. The best fantasies all work on many levels: The Earthsea Trilogy, the Lord of the Rings, The Curse of Challion, Harry Potter and several other favorites. 

Fairy Tales

There is also another level to the story — nothing so crude as a straight allegory, but hopefully a fairy tale or mythic level, like the folk tales from around the world. That’s what I hoped to capture, it’s what my writing ability may or may not be able to express. The best fantasies all work on this level: The Earthsea Trilogy, the Lord of the Rings, The Curse of Challion, Harry Potter and several other favorites.

Fairy Tales / Myths / Origin Legends are probably the oldest form of story telling. Most of them date from the days of purely oral culture, and so are simple in form, limited by what both speaker and hearer can  remember without notes and convey in one sitting. Modern fairy tales don’t need to duplicate this simplistic structure, but if one is trying to capture 

Questions With Which To Torture Myself

1.) Have I ruined the book trying to improve it?

2.) Is meeting Death incarnate and recieving a Magic McGruffin actually more cliche than what I had before?

3.) Are Books 1 & 2 the weakest in the series, and if so, why would anyone want to read the rest of the series? Is the tone consistant across the series?

4.) Am I handling the hero’s story all wrong? Is he drool-worthy?

5.) Should I keep in the explicit lovemaking scene or tame it down?

6) Does my plot make sense or is it completely nonsensical?

7) Is it okay that the book ends on a cliff-hanger — with the heroine’s magic unrevealed and the question of what to do with the Magic MacGruffin unresolved?

Literary vs Genre – the Analogy to Poetry

Lady Glamis is discussing the age-old question of litearary vs genre fiction.

Genre Writer: Genre books have plot. Literary works have pretension.

Literary Writer: Literary works explore life and language. Genre pulps are about bombs that go bang and bombshells that bang.

Genre Writer: Snob!

Literary Writer: Hack!

I know I have about as much chance of putting this dispute to rest as bringing peace to the Middle East, but here’s my take on it.

Writing a genre novel is like writing a sonnet.

Writing a literary novel is like writing free verse.

The sonnet has a lot of rules. It has to have a certain number of couplets, it has to begin and end in a certain way, it has to rhyme. It should also be meaningful, profound or beautiful.

Free verse has no rules, except it has to be meaningful, profound or beautiful. And — ironically — if it has couplets and rhymes, it is in danger of being mistaken for a sonnet, so free verse usually excludes such tropes.

Some poets mix forms. They might write a piece with the cadence and length of a sonnet, but no rhymes.

Here’s the point. It’s easy to write a bad sonnet, and it’s easy to write bad free verse. It’s difficult to write a good poem, no matter what form.

Let’s say you’re writing Romance. You have to honor the genre conventions: have a hero and heroine, focus on their relationship, end happily ever after. Genre conventions impose limitations beyond the obvious, as well. Lovemaking between the hero and the heroine must be passionate, sexy and arousing.

What? You want to write a love story where the two-minute insipid sex bores the heroine and she finally realizes her ugly, balding lover is also a jerk? Fine, but don’t get angry when you can’t sell it as a Romance. 

Here’s where the argument grows heated. Literary fans will sneer that real life is more likely to include unsatisfying sex and broken relationships than rich, handsome Dukes who are also sensitive lovers. Romance fans will point out they don’t read Romance to read about real life. At which point, literary fans will mutter, “Escapist,” under their breath.

This is true, in the same way that rhyme is a way of escaping ordinary prose and song is a way of escaping ordinary speech.

There’s also the notion that it’s easier to write genre literature. I don’t think so. Think about the purpose of a Romance — to make someone experience again what it’s like to fall in love. I bet if you cat scanned the brain of a Romance reader, you would see a faint echo of a brain in love. 

No wonder Romance is popular. Falling in love is one of the most wonderful sensations there is. Romance is easy to read, because the feelings it evokes are something we want to feel.

But here I disagree with Spin Regina who equates “easy to read” with “easy to write.” (“Eas[ier] to sell”? — maybe.)

Excellent fiction requires exquisite attention to form, no matter what the genre. It’s harder, in a way, to make a genre novel shine, because you have to do so within the restrictions of genre rules. Lots of people wrote sonnets, but it still took the genius of a Shakespeare or a Dickinson to make the sonnet transcend itself. 

On the other hand, if you have absolute freedom to write whatever you want, you have to have extreme self-discipline to create your own rules and structure. 

When to Revise, When to Relent

I know. I said no more rewrites of Book 1. I promised I would go on with the rest of the series.

And if this series is no good — then let it be. Start something new.

But I’m not rewriting for the sake of rewriting. Or just because I’m depressed my full was returned with a polite “it’s not there yet.” Well, okay maybe it is in response to the agent’s commens on the full, and to the advice I garnered from the Secret Agent Contest, and from meditating on High Concept. If I didn’t have respect for those two agents, I wouldn’t take their advice, but I do respect their opinion, so I’m taking a hard look at my story.

Mostly, however, it’s because I have a great idea how the book can be improved which is still in keeping with my original vision for the story. In fact, I think it captures the heart and soul of the story even better.

Yet, I am still trying to rewrite cautiously. There’s always the temptation to rewrite to the point one is writing an entire new book — in which case, why not just write an entire new book? I will never be completely satified with my book, because it will never be perfect. I have to relent eventually, and just let it be complete rather than perfect.

I’m still excited about the changes I’ve made. *grin*

What Happened to all the Followers?

When I peeked at my blog this morning, I saw that the two sweethearts who had decided to become Followers of my blog had awakened from their temporary insanity and unfriended my blog, or whatever you call it. I was sad.