I learned that my children's stories would "not be acceptable" about the first week I began school.Our school has one of the best writing departments in the country and, naturellement, the literature snobs it attracts are of the most severe nature.
For me, I was lucky to discover this before I submitted my first story. Phew.
As a self-protection device, I became exceedingly good at writing what both my peers and teachers wanted to read. I escaped the scathing peer critiques and managed to bumble through fours years of a writing degree as one of the few condoned and approved by the tight knit "elite" clique. As long as I kept writing what they considered, ahem, "lit-trit-chure."
Of course, the toll this took on me I still can't measure the impact of. I lost the ability and I can not write anymore. I'll let that underscore itself.
The thing was, they ate up the exact same devices over and over again. Obviously I got good at it because it was a clear pattern which I could then repeat over and over. The types of writing they tended to like could have well been called a genre. Gasp.
I'm a huge literature snob. I enjoy and frequently read post-modernist authors, dense Russian novels, or whatever smattering of classical writing might be on offer. I was never been much for "genre" fiction and looked down my nose at it for years. But mindset of these people wasn't aimed at the writing, it was largely about peer groupage and self-presentation. Ah, both lovely reasons to write! It pushed me far into the favor of the genre fiction's court and brought about an overall readdressing of my literary values.
So, when I next sit down to pen a story about... drawing maple syrup in the forest with...my estranged father... in the falling winter snow... while coming to terms with my male sexuality... (how easy it is!) I'll market it under genre: This Looks Good Sitting on Your Coffee Table.
So, long live writing for fun and passion! I'm afraid others will have to carry on the torch in my place.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
regna
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-21 07:55 am (UTC)For me, I was lucky to discover this before I submitted my first story. Phew.
As a self-protection device, I became exceedingly good at writing what both my peers and teachers wanted to read. I escaped the scathing peer critiques and managed to bumble through fours years of a writing degree as one of the few condoned and approved by the tight knit "elite" clique. As long as I kept writing what they considered, ahem, "lit-trit-chure."
Of course, the toll this took on me I still can't measure the impact of. I lost the ability and I can not write anymore. I'll let that underscore itself.
The thing was, they ate up the exact same devices over and over again. Obviously I got good at it because it was a clear pattern which I could then repeat over and over. The types of writing they tended to like could have well been called a genre. Gasp.
I'm a huge literature snob. I enjoy and frequently read post-modernist authors, dense Russian novels, or whatever smattering of classical writing might be on offer. I was never been much for "genre" fiction and looked down my nose at it for years. But mindset of these people wasn't aimed at the writing, it was largely about peer groupage and self-presentation. Ah, both lovely reasons to write! It pushed me far into the favor of the genre fiction's court and brought about an overall readdressing of my literary values.
So, when I next sit down to pen a story about... drawing maple syrup in the forest with...my estranged father... in the falling winter snow... while coming to terms with my male sexuality... (how easy it is!) I'll market it under genre: This Looks Good Sitting on Your Coffee Table.
So, long live writing for fun and passion! I'm afraid others will have to carry on the torch in my place.