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Greer said:I like that term, too. There certainly are a number of authors who are writing for the academic community -- but again, to go back to what James was saying, are they irrelevant? Many of the major shifts in story-telling over the past hundred years have been first developed by authors who,if they were writing now, might be labeled as such.
aruna said:right now I think I've hit the lowest point But hey, after that it goes up again!
roger said:Sharon
To the first part of that, I say, 'Sorry to hear that'; to the second, 'I'm sure it will!'
It's strange isn't it, most unpublished writers think they just have to get published and that will be it. Whereas the truth is far more complex and painful. I wish you luck with your latest book. Was that the one you had in NOVEL II in writewords? I really enjoyed what I read.
Would you still use a manuscript consultant, by the way? I think you said in one of the posts above that your first manuscript was referred to an agent by an independent editorial assessor, or I may be getting muddled up.
Roger.
James D. Macdonald said:Think of publishing as Coney Island. See all those people running around having fun? Those are the readers.
The MFAs are all gathered in a circle in the parking lot. Each one is clutching his One Perfect Grain of Sand. They're showing their grains to each other, exclaiming about the color, the lustre, the size, the shape, of each grain.
They're having fun, they aren't hurting anyone, but from the point of view of the guys playing volleyball, splashing in the surf, or trying to pick up chicks, they're irrelevant.
Me, I'm a guy with an ice cream stand by the beach.
Greer said:Why is it any more pretentious than PhD, MA, MS, BFA, BA, MBA, etc?
Much of it, I think, can be explained by the scorn with which many of those self-described literary writers regard genre writing, especially when they proudly declare that they have never read that crap because it's all crap and they don't read crap.Greer said:I truly don't understand the vitriol against MFA programs or their writers.
I have heard them first-hand (in at least one instance, such a comment came from a professor, in response to a question about why there were no courses studying genre fiction), and I agree that they were from frustrated writers. That's why I indicated that these were self-identified literary writers. I suspect those who feel more secure in their choices, intelligence, and abilities don't worry so much about reading the "right" kinds of books.Greer said:Have you really heard, first-hand, writers of literary fiction make these statements (about genre writing being crap), or is this yet another stereotype? Because I know this is the stereotype. I suspect if you did hear these statements they were by frustrated, not very successful "literary writers." I've noticed they seem to be the ones the least gracious.
I've heard such statements first-hand from some mainstream writers (I wouldn't call them literary writers), and also experienced the prejudice behind the statements through participation in an MFA-style creative writing course, in which the professor (an academic fiction writer) told me that if I wanted a serious writing career I'd have to drop the genre "stuff" and return to the real world.Greer said:Have you really heard, first-hand, writers of literary fiction make these statements (about genre writing being crap), or is this yet another stereotype?
victoriastrauss said:I've heard such statements first-hand from some mainstream writers (I wouldn't call them literary writers), and also experienced the prejudice behind the statements through participation in an MFA-style creative writing course, in which the professor (an academic fiction writer) told me that if I wanted a serious writing career I'd have to drop the genre "stuff" and return to the real world.
- Victoria
Oh yeah. I've gotten that too, and from people who ought to know better. Or the flip side--readers who are surprised to encounter metaphors and symbolism in a fantasy novel.Susan Gable said:I've had people tell me that I'm "too good of a writer to write romance." (Gee, thanks, I think.)
A few years ago, Shawna McCarthy ran an editorial in Realms of Fantasy centered around a letter she received from a young man that said he didn't understand why they had to read those boring books by Steinbeck and Shakespeare and all when the Dragonlance books were soooooooooo much better. Shawna's reply boiled down to, "You don't know what the hell you're talking about and it would be a damned good idea for you to pull your head out of your rump and learn something about literature." Just about that snarkily, too, bless her.victoriastrauss said:Or the flip side--readers who are surprised to encounter metaphors and symbolism in a fantasy novel.