The importance of genre

One thing that really got and still gets on my nerves is how much flak genre writers get. I did not know that they are, for some reason, lesser writers than any others. Now I have always read genre but I have also read the high-bow lit and non-fiction, as my book review readers know, I read everything under the sun. But genre is where my heart is. I do not have some great story about reading Dune or any other of the classics that won me to genre more of I just read what was interesting and genre is interesting. And for some reason I have always just written genre maybe because adding fireballs to anything just makes it better.

Now the reason that I believe genre is important because there is where we talk about our issues. Genre is where we can as a people group talk about the scary things in life. Think about it. Where do we talk about race, gender, or any unfairness in life? We do it in genre because if we try to talk about in 'real life' it is too scary because it is real. But if we put it in space or riding dragons then it is okay because it is not real. We are not talking about race or gender or any real life problem because it is in space. Or about elves or anything that makes it not real. I do not know what is so magical about making a real problem not real because it is in a not real setting but it works. I know that problems are scary and they are big and they are really more than one person can handle or fix but I just do not get the sideways look as changing. But it works. Suddenly we can talk about real problems that we have a world-wide people.

I realize that not all genre does this. Sometimes the elves are just elves but that does not change what genre has done for us as a whole. I write this knowing that I have never written about any of those important problems and I think that most people have not either. That does not make their work any less. Now the reason that fine literature looks down on genre and its writers, I think, is this- because they sale. The plots are not unusually groundbreaking, the writing is not bad but not up high-brow standards, but for some reason it sales. That is the greatest annoyance to those who write fine lit and they just do not get it. This is just my opinion so take it for it is worth but genre writers are the ones who are not afraid to talk about the bad things in our world and how we can deal with them. Thanks for reading and see you next week.

Theme

This will be the last of parts of story blog posts. Not because I have written everything there is say about them or that I have added some great new thing to the conversation but I just out of parts to write about. So I do not know what I will be writing about next week; so I'm back to be being a pantser. My last post is on Theme. Theme is something that I think every writer and reader should be aware of. Theme is more than just the basic idea of a story but is something that aids the plot. Theme is mostly seen in poetry. It is something I use when I am writing my poetry because it is a good way to help your poem get where you want it to go.

Now my poetry is mostly dealing with my grief but my stories are more about isolation. About the hero/heroine being forced out of their natural society into a larger world with a mission to do. Theme is a great way to get started when you are writing a new story. I did not notice that about my writing until I started talking about with a fellow writer. My friend is a writer and she is an editor, so we were talking about what we were working on at the moment. So I was talking about a new story and she looked at me and said; 'You know everything you write about is really about being alone and finding yourself...'. She just trailed off from that. That got me to thinking. She is right, everything I write about in my fiction is about being alone and learning to overcome that.

So if you want to get a good idea about theme and how it works watch an M. Night Shyamalan movie. Now I know he gets a lot of flak about his twists and the very sad Avatar movie but I'm not kidding. For example Lady in the Water is about hope, Signs is about faith, every one of his films is about some basic theme. Now I am not saying take writing cues from him but he does tell a great story. If you want your story to have some emotional pull having a theme is a good way to do it.  You should think about your theme if you are smarter than me. Books that have a theme that I have read recently- Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (hope), The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce(self-acceptance), pretty much all the classics have themes and maybe that is what makes them classic. Thanks for reading and I will write you next week.

Point of View

Hello dear readers. This week's post I am going to discuss Point of View or POV. POV is the way that the story is told. I will try to give good examples of them in the next few paragraphs; also these descriptions are just my way of understanding the following terms. The Internet is a wonderful resource so please look up the terms for yourself if you have any questions or please leave me a comment and I will response. There are three main expressions of POV. First-person where the reader is trapped within the eyes of one speaker. Second person where the story uses the 'You' pronoun to tell the story. Third person where the reader can see things that the main characters cannot. Within third person there are two more types. Third person close where the reader follows one to two characters through out the story. Omniscient third person is the other where the reader knows things that not only the characters not know but they have access to information that may not even exist yet.

First person POV is the I POV. Novels that use that are telling the story from the perspective of only one character. That can be good or bad depending on the writer. One of my favorite authors who uses first person is Edgar Allen Poe. Poe uses POV to help create the horror and suspense of his stories. Because the reader cannot see what is going on in the other room we have the narrator's fear in our minds. Other books that use first person are- The Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost, The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey, and many more than I have read and have time to list. Something to notice about first person is that it is used in every form of literature.

Second person POV is the You POV. Now this is not used very much for good reasons. This is how it looks- You wake to the sudden sound coming from the kitchen. You feel your heart pounding as you slowly get to your feet. You moves as quietly as you can to the closed door between you and the sounds. You pull open the door when'. You get the idea don't you reader? Odd to read but if used wisely it can be effective. I can think of only one series of books that use the second person and that the Choose Your Own Adventure Series. I have only read one fanfiction that used the second person. I do enjoy it when I read it but it is very easy to mess it up. It is a useful tool in the planning of works or at least it works for me because it gives me a different way to look that the characters, plot, setting, everything about the story.

Third person POV is one that is used the most in the writing. It gives the reader a birds eye view of what is going on.  Of the two ways to do third person there is close and omniscient. Third person close is where the reader follows one to two characters as the story goes. Omniscient gives the reader gods view of the story. The reader can not only see things that the main characters cannot see but they have access to information that the characters may never see. As I said it is the most common way to tale a story but that does not make it the best. I could name many stories that use it but if you do not know any please go to your local library and just pull out a book. More than likely you will get one that uses third person close.

So those are the most common ways to tell a story. I like them all, I have read them all both well done and not. I personally write in third person omniscient because I like to have the most information about the world. What is your favorite? Thanks for reading and see you next week.

Plot

Plot is what I would like to discuss with my readers today. Plot is generally seen as the most important part of any story. Now I am not saying that plot is not important but I do not that think that it is the most important. But first I will give the reasons why I think that plot is important then I will discuss why I do not think that plot is the most important element of any story.

Plot is not just the story going from point a to point z. Plot is main reason that new readers will pick up a new book. It is normally what sales a book to an editor or a publisher. Plot is the thing that most writers have at the start of the writing process. By that I mean I have an idea about an interesting story; for example a fussy little man who solves crimes because is he so fussy about details that he sees everything. Now Ms. Christie did not just stop there but that is more than likely where she started with just an idea about a story. Now I realize that you may think that the idea is a character but I see it as the start of the plot.

Now I think that plot is seen as the easy how to make a sale. Any and every plot can and has been sold. It has been published and it has done well. But why do some plots do better than others? That is something that only a reader can decide that. I think that it comes down to a few things. Luck is a big one, unfortunate for me because I only have bad luck, but there is something to it. Then there is the combination good characters, pacing, and plot to make something really special. But do not let your plot drive the bus. There is a charming children's book called "Don't let the pigeon drive the bus". Basically the story is about a pigeon who wants to drive the school book. He keeps begging and begging to but only bad things will happen if he does. Now replace the pigeon with the plot and you have one of my writing classes. The plot can be interesting and awesome but if the plot drives the bus then you will have characters acting ways that are not believable or worse yet the reader will just not care about the characters. If the reader does not care about what is going to happen to the characters then they will put the story down. They will talk about how it had a great idea but they really could not just get into it. I have heard and said that very thing myself many times before. It is a sad thing for a good plot to have weak characters.

I leave you with this saying from me. Strong characters can carry a weak plot but a strong plot cannot carry weak characters. Thanks for reading!