Writing Wrongs

February 06, 2006

I went looking for snark. The snark was not forthcoming. Usually, after I check in with my friend (some who blog daily, others who don�t), I head over to Miss Snark for a helping of snark with my coffee. Alas, she is taking a much-deserved break. I went looking for new cover snark over at SBTB, but none has been posted yet.

I may need snark more than I need coffee.

Ever notice synchronicity?

A star fall, a phone call,
It joins all,
Synchronicity.

No, not the Police song. But when a topic/event pops up in one area of your life, you notice it in another, or all over. The other day, a friend on a loop I�m on wondered aloud (or in writing, I guess) about the possibility of literary romance. Then on a totally unrelated site, where I�m the only link (with luck, neither the missing or weakest), another group is discussing literary and genre fiction and the difference between them.

I�ve been thinking about this. I don�t think it has so much to do with themes, or subject matter, or attention to language. You can find all that in genre fiction. I don�t believe literary fiction automatically = pretentious and obscure or genre = shallow and silly.

I think what it has to do with is comfort zone. You can address the BIG issues in genre, you can raise the stakes and all that, but if you step outside certain parameters, people get pissed. Boy, do they get pissed. And I�ve done it with both romance and mystery, so I should know.

And I think, in general, the comfort zone is okay. If I pick up a thriller, I know what I�m going to get, and that�s cool (but it�s why I tend toward what�s often called �literary thrillers� because I like surprises, at least when I read).

So could someone write a literary romance? I think of all the genres, romance probably has the most �comfort food� type of novels, and yeah, many are fluffy and silly, but then you have mysteries where pets solve crimes; so really, romance doesn�t have a lock on what�s fluffy and silly.

Could it done? Or maybe it already has been done (and if so, pass along titles, please). Or maybe it�s something I might try to write. As soon as I�m done with Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Matrimony that is.

Charity Tahmaseb wrote at 9:03 a.m.

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