A lot of authors talk about the stigma attached to being a genre writer. No matter how successful a fantasy writer may be, it’s likely they have at least once been scorned by people comparing their work to that of “literary” authors. Readers too may have aspersions cast upon them if their reading choice is of the paranormal persuasion rather than something considered “high-brow”.*
Thankfully, fellow authors and readers within these genres are very supportive of each other, but it’s not unusual to hear authors admit that they don’t always tell strangers what genre they write in, or for readers to confess to hiding their book jackets when reading on the bus.
It can be a similarly lonely path for the editor who specialises in fantasy/science fiction.
When I first professed my desire to edit speculative fiction, the reaction from fellow publishing friends was lukewarm to say the least.
When I put together an ad for my freelance editing services, some people even recommended I avoid mentioning that I had specialist knowledge or interest in this area as it was likely I would scare off potential clients and publishers who might otherwise have hired me.
Several years down the track and while I enjoy editing many different forms, fields and genres, a significant proportion of my work falls into the speculative fiction category, and I am proud and excited to work with some incredible FSF authors, editors and publishers.
I am not sure whether things have changed over time, or whether the rise of social media simply means that fellow geeks, speculative fiction readers, writers, editors and publishers have all found a safe place to congregate, but I don’t feel as though I need to hide my “niche” interests.
Most of the time.
While I have, of course, found fellow editors who share my passion, generally speaking I know that if I am in a room full of editors outside certain circles, finding one who also edits fantasy is likely to be tough. Often during these gatherings, fellow freelancers tell me that they “always refuse to edit that stuff”, because they “can’t stand it”.** One person even turned her back and walked away upon discovering I edited this subject matter, such was her dislike of and disinterest in the genre – though we’d been talking happily enough about editing in general up to that point.
Most of the time, if I don’t know the person I am talking to, I know it is easier say only that I edit books; fiction, if pressed. Or mention other subjects I work on. It seems to be considered much more acceptable (or should that be respectable?) to edit literary fiction, non-fiction, or government material than anything as low-brow (or “escapist”) as speculative fiction, romance or crime.
But why is this? The basic editing skills are the same; you still have to consider style, structure, continuity, spelling, grammar, punctuation and all those other things.
In addition, with fantasy you might have to stay on top of a made-up world, which means you have to “learn” the culture/s and language that are part of the worldbuilding without any resources to check for research. You have to ensure the rules that govern the language and the world itself make sense and “work”. It makes for some very lengthy style sheets and very odd author queries.
I can understand that as an editor, if you don’t enjoy reading fantasy, you may not want to take on the task of editing it. But what I don’t understand is how an editor can look askance at the genre when it is clear how much work an author has to put in to develop and write such detailed books.
This week I was lucky enough to attend a recording of a TV special on fantasy books. It was no surprise to see a good proportion of the program devoted to the stigma attached to the writing and reading of fantasy, and the authors had some great points to make – not least about the complexities involved in writing such works and the fact that fantasy is the biggest-selling genre in fiction.
Several pointed out that fantasy is actually sneaking onto the general fiction shelves without people noticing. And there are great literary works out there that are best-beloved in spec fic circles, though scholars and critics would never categorise them that way.
Perhaps things are looking up. The last time I went to a general editors’ meeting, the wary revelation of my speculative fiction tendencies was greeted with only mild surprise and resulted in a discussion about editing fiction. Could it be the stigma is fading?
*Of course this impression is not restricted to FSF. Romance writers and readers (and presumably therefore their editors) get the same treatment. I remember a colleague once telling the office that she and a friend had decided to try and write a Mills and Boon, believing it would be very simple. They’d given up, having (unsurprisingly) found it was harder than it looked…
**I could argue that a lot of people don’t really understand what fantasy is – it’s not all dragons and wizards! But not liking FSF is fair enough. Not everyone likes crime novels either. Or romance. Or <gasp> literary fiction. (Whatever “literary fiction” means. Feel free to insert your own rant or vodcast of your interpretive dance on THAT topic in the comments…)
Tags: editing, fantasy, fiction, science fiction, speculative fiction, writing
This is such an interesting topic! I write science fantasy/speculative fiction and am so proud to be part of this group of ‘genre’ authors I blurt it out from every mountain top and soap box I find. I mean, it’s amazingly intricate and complex, encompassing such a wide range of sub-genres that it touches on every aspect of fiction, literary or otherwise. Prejudices are dissolving. Walls are coming down! I think we have authors like Doris Lessing, Tolkien, Margaret Atwood, Ursula K. Le Guin, JK Rowling and Stephenie Meyer to thank. Their work, especially Rowling’s, has flooded the markets, washing a lot of those demarcations away. They have done so much for spec fic. Paved the way, expanded readerships and opened doors!
There are still some old school ‘literary’ types out there, though — like you describe –that think spec fic is ‘less than’. Last year at a major writer’s festival, I had to begin each talk with a definition of speculative fiction, what it was, what it did, and what the possibilities were for readers and writers, and editors! Some people were very open and intrigued; others had already made their minds up.
I even have a friend, a spec fic author, whose agent was embarrassed of her genre. Her books are successful, but the agent actually tried to talk her into writing something ‘different’. They aren’t together anymore. . .
The point is, writers and editors of FSF need to feel supported and respected and that includes having support (like publishers, agents, copy editors and of course readers) who don’t just like the genre but love it! It’s hard to do ones best work without it!
Great topic. Thanks for posting.
Thanks for commenting, Kim! I couldn’t agree more. Lots of boundaries are coming down. Faster in some areas than others.
I think a lot of the people who write off fantasy tend to assume that it’s all books about dragons, or it’s all like Harry Potter – books really intended for children. They don’t realise how broad the genre really is and they’re not particularly interested in finding out more. Which is a shame because speculative fiction allows you to explore such philosophical and surreal concepts that other genres can’t.
What a terrible story about your friend and her agent. That is something I just can’t understand. Asking a successful author to write something different because of your own issues! Makes no sense to me, though it’s not the first time I have heard such a story. It’s like all the people who ask successful children’s book authors when they’re going to start writing “real” books. You’re right – it’s definitely best to work with people who understand and appreciate your genre. I think that goes for any genre, really. Probably any job!
I once went to a workshop where the speaker (a renowned expert!) was talking all about YA fiction. He didn’t have much positive to say about fantasy or speculative fiction as a genre and was even less impressed by the trend of adults reading YA fiction.
Then he showed us the latest YA bestseller lists from the USA. They were nearly all speculative fiction. And he was unable to really talk to us about them because it wasn’t a genre he was interested in or respected.
I felt as though there was a pretty powerful disconnect there because if I look back on the books I was reading at high school a lot of them were speculative fiction. And I am not talking about the ones I was reading for fun; I mean the ones that were specifically chosen for literary merit, because they were considered to have deep and important themes, educational importance. Some were classics, others were contemporary but they were undoubtedly speculative.
Also, this: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/08/entertainment/la-et-young-adult8-2010mar08
“Which is a shame because speculative fiction allows you to explore such philosophical and surreal concepts that other genres can’t.”
I couldn’t agree more. The people who cast off spec-fic as trivial really don’t get it. Some of the best exploration of social, political, psychological and cultral issues have been in spec-fic. That’s the reason I write it, edit and publish it… because of the possibilities which open when you ask ‘what if?’
We read books such as Animal Farm, The Chyrsallid, Z is vor Zachariah at high school- all spec-fic narratives… and others (I was too old sadly) such as John Marsden’s series.
After reading this, I thought about how genre is really just branding and like branding in any market, there is an idea of what is a ‘high class ‘ and what’s not. And for whatever reason genre fiction got classied as ‘low class’. Makes you wonder if its just sour grapes from the literary fiction sector because genre fiction is popular and makes money – therefore can be no good!
It was so brilliant to see Kim at Byron Bay last year, in there batting for spec-fic authors, readers, editors and publishers. And I’m very glad to be blessed with professional colleauges such as yourselves, providing the support, encouragement and humour to keep moving forward, onto bigger and better things for the genre.