20th May 2017 | for Creatives | writing, genre, value the art, Donald Maass, categorization of art |
"At genre conventions the debate over genre boundaries is almost a sport. Only two conclusions seem to me certain: Genre writers don't get enough respect, and when they do they don't get much respect from genre writers."
"Perhaps in part because they have fewer rules to follow, they must rely more on universal techniques and stay truer to their inner compasses. Without genre crutches to lean on they must walk the walk of true novelists. You can call them genre-bending if you like, but I call them genre-transcending. While they may establish a new category, they are genuine fiction masters."
"They're the stars: the genre authors whose books sell vastly better than most; so much so that they're no longer labeled genre authors. They're brands."
"Today, genre bending and blending is more the rule than the exception."
"Out-of-category authors have begun a journey that I wish all novelists would take: a journey away from what is comfortable and convention-bound to fiction that is free, courageous, inventive, and influential because it's utterly unique. It's a place where novelists don't obey genre rules, but summon them when they're useful and bend them to their own purposes."
"Dickens used fantasy and no one ever called him a fantastic writer, it was all just writing back then. Why do we need borders in the middle of a book shop?
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