Comments on: Genre Fiction: Wizards? Private Eyes? Space Aliens? http://litbits.tengrrl.com/2011/09/14/genre-fiction-wizards-private-eyes-space-aliens/ Just another WordPress site Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:00:07 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.2 By: Christopher Coake, University of Nevada, Reno http://litbits.tengrrl.com/2011/09/14/genre-fiction-wizards-private-eyes-space-aliens/#comment-248 Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:00:07 +0000 http://blogs.bedfordstmartins.com/litbits/?p=5285#comment-248 Hear, hear. My feeling is that the stories which tend to last are, at heart, good stories–and the reason generic conventions are so compelling to readers is that these conventions all tend to bolster powerful storytelling. Authors deny that at their peril.

I’ve often wondered why it’s fine and honorable for poets to write sonnets, but it’s somehow seedy if a fiction writer tries to write a mystery story. A good artist can always make good work by reacting to a known quality, by bringing a little unpredictabilty to the predictable. In terms of fiction, isn’t that a way for writers to really hit readers closest to home?

]]>