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Blogs by Janice B. Scott
Genres 5/14/2011 1:13:39 AM
Publishers and agents are strongly committed to genres, making it difficult for authors to have their work accepted if it refuses to fit neatly into a genre.
Why is this, and is it a good thing? I wonder whether you find it strange that publishers are so strongly committed to genres?
Ian is presently reading "The Sea" by John Banville, which won the Man Booker prize in 2005. he's finding it a great read - very well written - but he says it doesn't easily fit into any particular genre.
In my view, it's very encouraging that a non-specific genre book has achieved such a high accolade as the Man Booker prize, but it raises the question of why publishers and agents usually refuse to consider novels which don't fit.
As a modern society, are we so insistent on everything fitting neatly into little boxes that we refuse to take seriously anything outside those boxes unless it's so exceptional that it grabs out attention with both hands and refuses to let go?
If so, why is this? Is it perhaps some reaction to the fast pace of life and its uncertainty? Is modern life so close to chaos that we need boxes and certainties, especially in our leisure activities? Does our escapism need to be regimented in order to make us feel safe?
Even this blog invites me to place my work into a category. I've chose "Publishing", but am aware that it doesn't fit comfortably. There are 67 categories from which to choose, yet not one of them really fits my random thoughts.
Of course, the big question for me as a writer is whether I write what I want to write, knowing it will never fit neatly into a category, or whether I change my type of writing to conform to a publisher's requirements.
Well, the next novel is a murder/mystery, so I leave yopu to judge for yourself!
