Genre Writers - Slumming? That Old Argument in a Fresh New Light

I was thrilled to pieces to merit a mention in Jordan Foster's article in Publishers Weekly last week, titled "Crime Fiction: Breaking the Wall."

In her piece, Jordan considers attitudes toward crime and mystery novels and their highbrow cousins, literary fiction. "The very act of categorizing brings with it an implicit ranking," she writes, "and the idea that anything shelved under “genre” is somehow lacking."

Here's my full notes for the interview in case you're interested:

• Why do you choose to write the types of novels that you do, which often focus on crimes and criminals?

Genre fiction is all about the behavior of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. In mystery novels, criminals and their victims respond to motivations that test and illuminate who they really are. Crime and its associated drama is a quick path to deep character work, which I think is the most rewarding part of writing stories.

• How would you categorize your own work? How is categorized by your publisher and how do you think it’s categorized by the reading public?

I remember a conversation with my editor when she shared that they had decided to put “A Crime Novel” on the cover of the book rather than “A Mystery,” a decision I think was apt. These distinctions are meant to let the reader know what they’re in for, and the engine running my stories is not a whodunit but rather a story of crimes and the people who commit them, why they do it and how crime changes them and their victims.

Further distinctions are difficult. There’s a love story at the core of my book, as well as gentle themes like parenthood and community and friendship and even sewing. But my character curses like a sailor, does not shy from violence, and is very forthright about her sex life. One bookseller says I write “bondage cozies,” a term I adore. My publisher has settled on “hardboiled.”

It’s been very fun to find out what readers consider my book’s theme. My favorite was a nice woman who told me she loved my book and thought it was about time someone wrote about “how women over fifty ought to have all the sex they can.”

• When people say they “don’t read mysteries,” what do you assume they mean and why?

It’s like when people say they don’t read romance – these are distinctions in the mind of the reader, generally sowed by misguided messages about the nature of a particular genre. Romance and mystery are at the heart of many classics as well as contemporary works of literary fiction, of course, so we all read them.

I think what’s really at the heart of such a comment is a belief that genre fiction is lowbrow, less intellectually worthy than literary fiction. I also think that a book-club mindset has not helped – far be it from me to condemn any trend that gets people reading, but the tendency of such groups to glom onto “recommended” novels leads to a narrowing of tastes. It’s a difficult balance. We need to cherish and support our critics and publishers and book-sellers, while at the same time encouraging a breadth of readership as well as depth.

HBD, Little Sis

This isn't really writing related, but it's my durn blog so I get to do whatever I want.

Well actually come to think of it, maybe it is. Without someone like K - my much, much, much younger sis - to listen to me gripe and put up with my annoying habits and most especially sweep in and be Auntie extraordinaire whenever the childrearin' thing has got me whupped, I don't think I could do what I do.

So happy birthday, a day late, and just remember that no matter how old you get...I'll always be older. :)

K, on the right, with me and Junior

with T-wa and Junior

Damn Feminists - We're Everywhere

I've written before about how delighted I was to be welcomed warmly by feminist writers, something I wasn't entirely expecting. Because my character's brand of feminism is a bit - well, what's the word, perhaps non-standard? - I feared exclusion from the tent.

Was I ever wrong. My girl Stella's found a slew of soul mates, and I couldn't be more delighted.

Today I found out that A BAD DAY FOR SORRY was nominated as a Best Book of 2009 by Guerrilla Girls On Tour, an anonymous theatre collective whose mission is to create new plays that dramatize women’s history and address the current state of women in the performing arts and beyond. Read more about it here.


While we're on the subject, I might as well share that a while back I also got nominated for another honor, inclusion in the Amelia Bloomer Project for 2009. It's an annual booklist of the best feminist books for young readers, ages birth through 18, and a part of the Feminist Task Force of the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association. See the nominations here.

More Family Brilliance

Time for bragging on my precious niece and nephew again! This time, they've written poems for a family member who is having a birthday.

First up is the six-year old. You may remember him from the whole preschool teacher fracas, when he wrote - very sensibly, I thought - of deadly trees, and his parents were called in for a "little talk." Once again i am thrilled with his natural sense of the macabre:


Pirates the evil Monsters
The doom of death
Oh those evil creatures
hmmm
Would you like to be a pirate too?





His sister recently turned 10 and is exploring rhyme. Love that she notes that the birthday girl does not resemble a possum. That's a very nice compliment, I'd say.

I'm glad you're turning 43
'Cause now you'll be a better auntie

I'm still sad you live far, far away
But I'm glad when we come we stay for more than a day

In February I'll come for a week
I'm glad you're not a monster EEEEK!

I'm glad you're cool
and not a fool

I'm glad you rock
and don't give shocks

I'm glad you're sharing
and also caring

I'm glad you're awesome
and don't look like a possum

And once again ....
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

New Story at Beat To A Pulp

I have a new story online at Beat To A Pulp, the excellent 'zine edited by David Cranmer.

The story is called "Mortification" - read it here.

"Mortification" is one of a couple of short stories featuring characters from an as-yet-unpublished novel I wrote a few years ago. The novel is titled HOLD FAST TO THIS and features a Pakistani-American detective working in an affluent California suburb not unlike where I live. I'm fond of the cast of characters in the book - Joe Bashir and his family and girlfriend and colleagues in the police department. It's a little difficult to jam even a subset of that cast into a short story, and to be honest, I'm not sure I pulled it off in this one.

I'm hoping to see the other story up eventually somewhere. That one features Joe's colleague Bertrice in the protagonist role.

Maybe someday the novel - envisioned to be the start of the series - will have a shot at publication. For now, this is like a visit with a group of friends who I haven't seen in a while.

November Column

From the November issue of the San Francisco Romance Writers of America chapter newsletter, Heart of the Bay.
From The President

Last month I attended Bouchercon, the largest convention for writers and readers of mystery. At 1,700 attendees, it’s not as large as RWA national, but those are still some pretty impressive numbers.

As always in these situations I found myself thinking that there is far more that unites genre fiction writers than divides us. I talk about this all the time, so I won’t take up column space here on the subject, but it’s a good segue into having a dialog about romance when in the public eye.

Three times since my last column I have had the opportunity to defend and champion the romance genre in a public forum.

The first was in a panel at the West Hollywood Book Fair titled “Strong Women in Fiction,” hosted by a councilwoman who is also the president of NOW. My fellow panelists were all wonderful and engaging, and when I politely disagreed with an audience member who suggested that readers of chick lit would not read feminist fiction, they listened with interest and respect.

The second was when my local paper printed an unflattering article about romance. I had to dash off my response quickly (it’s been a crazy busy month) but I pointed out that their depiction of the genre was outdated and inaccurate.

And the third time was on my Bouchercon panel about strong woman mystery protagonists. I shared my opinion that there’s room on the explicitness continuum for all kinds of readers, whether the subject is sex or violence, and that consciously cultivating tolerance creates a better fiction environment for everyone. Several audience members told me later that they appreciated that point of view. (There was also a definite grandmothers-who-kick-ass vibe…told them about our chapter and might have picked us up a few readers there!)

What strikes me about all of these dialogs is how much easier they get over time. At first, when I found myself talking to someone who put down romance, I felt defensive, angry, and combative. Now I feel far more comfortable in the role of educator.

In large part I think that is because I have come to believe that relationship stories are at the heart of nearly every worthy example of genre fiction – and a majority of them contain at least one romantic relationship. So now when I talk to people about writing romance, I try to make the point that nearly all of us do it, whether we realize it or not.

I’ll wrap up with an observation that may or may not be relevant. Who, of all the subgenres of folks at Bouchercon were most likely to talk about their spouses back home, to cite the support they receive, to show off wallet photos and in a couple cases regale the group with fond memories of how they met? That would be the hardboiled and noir guys. Yup, the ones who write about mayhem and the darkest corners of the human heart – they’re all romantics.

thanks to iamhomosquirrel, bitzi, and haribo for the Flickr photos

Precious

My baby turned seventeen today.

We got him a puppy. Her name is Maisie Darla.

For the moment, all the cynicism's been knocked clear out of me :)