This week I was a featured guest on L. A. Lewandowski's Blog
'Culture and Cuisine Club.com'
Check it out and see what 'real writers cook'... and eat. http://cultureandcuisineclub.com/?cat=9
Bon appétit
T.D.
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This week I was a featured guest on L. A. Lewandowski's Blog 'Culture and Cuisine Club.com' Check it out and see what 'real writers cook'... and eat. http://cultureandcuisineclub.com/?cat=9 Bon appétit T.D.
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 Value Fulfilment (or Lack Thereof) by T.D. McKinnon Posted to Indies Unlimited May 5, 2013 The subject of writing a post (theme, content et cetera) has come up several times of late. When our own EM covered the subject (How to Write a Blog Post) I made the comment: “It doesn’t matter what blog, post/article I have to write I always leave it until the day before it’s due (waiting for inspiration) and then (panic stricken) write about the first thing that comes into my head.” I guess I’m one of the ‘seat of the pants’ kinda guys. The following post is no exception (Oh thrilling…). I woke up this morning feeling good for some reason. It didn’t last long. An unhappy child for various reasons, I cut my education short to join the army; not because I was keen to be a soldier, but because it meant getting away from my home environment. That decision led me on a whole other flight plan; after numerous career changes, with a modicum of success in each occupation, I was left feeling unfulfiled and unsatisfied with my life. Writing was something I always did, to keep my head straight, and something to which I was always going to one day focus on totally, when I got everything else out of the way ( Hmmm yes…). Well anyway, here I am… A Writer. I love being a writer and after some stops and starts – practicing my chops and garnering some much needed enlightenment – I believe I am a good writer, with something to say. So, now I keep writing; except for the times when I am too down to write, which happens occasionally. I have completed five books (I’m hoping to make it seven by the end of the year: I’m working on an historical fiction and a sci-fi novelette), so far only three of the five have received reviews, which for the most part have been excellent. Until last week I had received only one bad review (one star) from someone (a reader) who didn’t attach their name, and I kind of thought it was someone with a personal axe to grind: I made a few enemies in my past life (the nature of the game)… Paranoid???!… Nah! Last week I got my second bad reader review, on Amazon, for a book of mine that has previously averaged five star, really wordy, upbeat reviews. No name on this second negative review either, just initials – I’m currently sifting through my memory banks; perhaps I can track this person down and… Ahh… yes, getting a little carried away there… only kidding… no… really… I was only kidding! Usually, a fairly upbeat kinda guy, I am not affected by serious lows or intoxicating highs; however, as I said, I was feeling positive when I awoke this morning and then I remembered the recent two star review, on top of that I came to the realisation that my financial situation could be infinitely better. Well, I began to experience what could be termed depression. So, what is depression? Is it simply the absence of joy? Some psychiatrists would tell you that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance; others would say it’s caused by a view of the world taken through a set of negative beliefs that cause the body to create the chemical imbalance. Both statements, equally unhelpful, could be said to be true. However, getting out of the chicken and the egg scenario, reality is simply reality; a lack of value fulfilment within that reality, for whatever reason, causes depression, which can then become self perpetuating (clinical depression: where the chemicals continue to be out of balance). Depression (Manic or otherwise) seems to be prevalent among those considered to be artists: painters, sculptors, writers, or those from any of the many and varied performing arts. Those individuals who should, you might think, experience more value fulfilment than most, seem to suffer more from the lack thereof. Or is it simply that the more value fulfilment is realised, in its absence, the more it is missed. The artist, writer or otherwise, is constantly striving for perfection on their own terms, as well as always putting themselves, and their art, out there for all the world to see, to criticize or acclaim; the problem with that is ‘you can’t please all of the people all of the time’. So, I believe that, in order to survive as a writer, or creative being of any kind, one needs to develop the armouring to deal with the world at large.  How is your value fulfilment going?
 Genre Snobbery by T.D. McKinnon Approximately nine years ago, after sending a manuscript to just about every mainstream publisher, I was eventually told that the only way I would find the right publisher and actually have my work looked at seriously was to present my material through a literary agent. I then went about systematically, submitting the manuscript to every single literary agent I could find. Take into account that this was at a time when everything had to be submitted in hard copy and very few agents could be located through the internet; it is enough to say that it was not an inexpensive exercise. The tone of the responses varied greatly; from, what sounded like, a well intentioned, personally written rejection: • “While I can see that you have something worth pursuing and, with a definite trend in that genre at the moment, a potentially successful book; unfortunately, this agency only handles literary fiction. We do wish you every success with your literary endeavours and finding suitable, literary representation.” That may have been the nicest rejection I ever received; the following being two of the worst: • “Not for me!” was returned to me, scrawled across my carefully written request for representation. • “I don’t handle genre!” printed on an inch wide strip of paper. Mostly though, if they answered at all, they were, quite obviously, standard rejection letters. Before, my approaching literary agents experience, I wasn’t really aware of the level of snobbery at large within the literary industry. Genre classifications The difference between the genres is often fluid, not always clear, as they frequently cross over, and some of the genre distinctions still confuse me a little; with the help of my fellow IU members, I am beginning to get my head around them. The easy ones are the ones that have had handles forever and a day. Writers in the following genres please forgive me, there is obviously more to them than my one short sentence descriptions but it gives a general, if somewhat vague sort of picture. Science Fiction: a genre of fiction with more or less plausible content such as settings in the future, with futuristic technology, space travel, parallel universes, aliens and paranormal activity et cetera. Fantasy: mostly has a fantastic element, the characters often have magical qualities; generally good versus evil and usually, although it may take five books to get there, good triumphs over evil in the end. Mystery: typically has a puzzle to unravel, that the protagonist and the reader get to work out together. Horror: may be subtle or overt, spine tingling or utterly terrifying, and good doesn’t always win out over evil. Romance: is romantic; a romantic love story of some description where, after trials and tribulations, there is some kind of happy resolve. Thrillers: are thrilling in some way or other, with a fair degree of tension most of the way through the story, tension that is usually, but not always, driven by action. I’ve barely touched on the preceding few genres and they have worn those labels for at least as long as I can remember. There now seem to be an ever-growing splintering of the genres, including Paranormal, Supernatural (and I’m not even sure whether these two are the same or different), Speculative Fiction, Magic Realism (and I know for sure they aren’t what I once thought they were) and many more, and that’s without getting into cross genre labels like: Paranormal/Romance and the like. Genre fiction is generally described as plot driven, and often dismissed by literary critics as being pure escapism, clichéd, and of poor quality prose; so much for literary critics. The term, ‘literary fiction’, only came into common usage in the early 1960s, and was used principally to describe literary works that critics regarded as having literary merit, compared to say popular fiction, which they regarded as without any literary merit. However, with these ever splintering genre categories, ironically, literary fiction is, more and more, being referred to as the genre of literary fiction. Now that has me more confused than ever. Literary Fiction, supposedly, focuses on narrative to create introspective character studies, cares less about plot than the inner story of the characters, and with elegantly written, lyrical, layered prose unhurriedly drives the plot along. What I truly believe is that, while once literary authors and genre authors walked very different paths, where never the twain would meet (except when the literary writer produced a book of genre fiction hiding behind a pseudonym), they are now, sometimes uncomfortably, shuffling along the same trail. For instance, personally, I love to get into my characters’ heads, and I’ve even had my writing called character driven. I know there are many genre writers who do the same, because I read them. And while I am definitely not a poet, although there are plenty of genre writers who are, I do however rejoice in silent acclaim when my prose flow effortlessly and even, on occasion, waxes lyrical. By the same token, many, so called, literary writers are writing in various genres now; does that then mean they forget all their highbrow ideas of narrative introspection and flowing prose?… I don’t think so! In fact I know they don’t because I read them. I could never, by any stretch of the imagination, as a reader or a writer, be referred to as a literary snob; but I do enjoy my genre fare well written, with depth of character portrayal. Conversely, I do enjoy my literary fare with some pace and plot. So although the book sellers and distributors will continue to slot us into genres for the sake, they say, of easy access for the reader; if we are to continue improving our lot, as writers, as authors, is it not about time that we ended the snobbery. After all, if it is written in words it is, quite literally, literature. I mean good writing is good writing and that is the only thing that should define us, is it not?  |
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AuthorT.D. McKinnon is the author of books about his personal survival of childhood abuse, as well as works in the genres of speculative literary/fiction, historical fiction and action/thriller. Archives
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