Today’s post on how to transcend genre in fiction is authored by Igor da Silva Livramento, friend and fellow writer, academic, and creative-writing advisor. He’s also a composer, music theorist, and producer. You can find him on LinkedIn, and also take a look at his blog and his page on Bandcamp.
In today’s entry, I will discuss (albeit quickly) something that has bothered me for a long time: The genre/literary fiction split. I’ll try to propose solutions for that, including some writing exercises to get those creative juices flowing on our way to transcending genreBy the way I phrased it, you may notice I consider literary fiction a genre too. Food for thought, eh?.
The light, the composition, and the colors of this photo, all point in specific directions in terms of affective response. Genre isn’t very different. But just as we can transcend the qualitative nature of affective responses in a photo, so we can transcend those of genre(more…)
I often refer to “intended audience” in my posts, somewhat assuming we all know what it is. And it’s partly true that most of us have a vague idea. But the proverbial devil is in the details, and in this case understanding what an intended audience is – and why you should care as a writer – can make a hell (no pun intended) of a difference.
Let’s start with the vague idea most of us have about this concept that every author should know about. So, what is the intended audience of a book?
It’s the kind of reader expected to read the book.
And so, we might say that the intended audience of romance fiction is not really upper-class professors of philosophy – though, you never know – but, say, lower-middle-class, middle-aged women.
All this is extremely generic – we haven’t reached the… devil yet – and very superficial. It mostly revolves around marketing considerations, in the sense that it offers an estimate on who is likely to buy a given book.
But the most intriguing aspects of establishing an intended audience have to do with artistic considerations instead, and they are much more complex. Crucially, they are also the most useful for a writer to know, and that’s precisely what I’ll share with you in this post.
Establishing an intended audience is not only a marketing decision. It’s also a complex part of the creative process.(more…)
As you might have noticed from previous reviews, I’m a great fan of Japanese literature. I’m also a great fan of Haruki Murakami as well as Kafka (one of Murakami’s inspirations). And so, Kafka on the Shore felt like a great fit. Alas, it’s probably the most disappointing Murakami story I’ve read.
Why that is will be interesting to analyze, as there are important lessons to learn about how to write symbolism, among other things.
In a nutshell, it takes quite some… skill to alienate your readers from the perspective of symbolism in a context of magical realism.
