Publetariat

This post, from Jodi Cleghorn, originally appeared on her Writing in Black and White blog on 10/7/09. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, which takes place annually in November. 

Knowing what you love about NaNoWriMo and always being able to remind yourself of those seductive elements, is possibly the difference between finishing NaNo and getting your winners badge, or committing yourself to the wayside and another lost opportunity.

I learnt this important lesson, of focusing on what you love from my dear friend Dan Sinclair (aka Mama Magic). She wasn’t actually writing about NaNo when she imparted her wisdom, but about mothering. All too often (and I am one who falls into this trap) we can focus on what we hate, what we struggle with, what bogs us down, what we just don’t and can’t love enough or at all. It’s no wonder we get caught in all types of negative circular thinking. If instead we look to and cultivate the things we love and enjoy, AND have them at the ready, we really can get through any crisis or low point. Or even better, we can create environments, both internal and external, where we don’t end up having to deal with a crisis or low point.

So I thought it would be a good idea to suss out what it is I love about NaNo in the lead in, to get a psychological jump start on November. Then if the going gets tough, as it will undoubtedly do at some stage, there will be a point of reference to return to and refresh myself on why I chose this somewhat crazy path (again!)

These are the ten dot points I came up with and over the next few days I will explore them in more detail.

1. It’s all about writing fiction
    
2. It gives me an opportunity to truly get lost
    
3. It provides me with a continuing story
    

Read the rest of the post, which includes her dot points #4-10, on Jodi Cleghorn’s Writing in Black and White blog.

I was born in rural Wyoming during a June snowstorm. The wide open spaces of Wyoming’s high plains provided the perfect place for me to grow and develop a keen imagination. It was working ranches along the Laramie River that help me develop an ability to write from a cowboy perspective: sparse, direct, and from the heart.

I attended Colorado State University, graduating with a degree in veterinary medicine. I make Denver my home with my wife Shirley. Together, we have four children and six grandchildren. I have written three books: Ghosts of Leadville, a book of poetry and photography about Leadville, Colorado, Men Are, short story fiction about the loves, lives, and feelings of men as they age, and Scraps, my latest book of fictional fragments.

When not writing, bicycling, photographing, or reading, I perform orthopedic surgery for dogs and cats.

My new book of short stories, Scraps, is now available through Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble, and I invite you to check it out.

From slice-of-life vignettes to narratives with suspense, the short stories in author David Luck’s fiction collection stem from his observations of life around him. After moving from an isolated mountain cabin to a home near Sloan’s Lake in Denver, Colorado, Luck was intrigued by the activity surrounding the lake. Luck used these situations as fodder for this book.

Scraps’ first story, “Angelica and Carlos,” introduces the young Angelica as she waits for her son to be returned from a weekend visit with his father, Carlos. When Carlos and Roberto are more than an hour late, Angelica wonders if she will ever see her son again. In “Balby, England,” an American couple, married for forty-one years, travel to England for the first time and become the unwitting targets of a beautiful thief. “Going Postal” tells the tale of Maggie, a homeless woman; Jasper, a retired gentleman who has taken up in-line skating; and Merna, a cantankerous mail carrier —and how their lives intersect in an unusual way.

Infused with sensory images woven with beautiful language, the stories in the collection give a glimpse into situations, people, and places with which we can all identify. Author bio: www.davidluck.net.

The next book I wrote after "Hello Alzheimer’s Good Bye Dad", about caring for my father, was "Open A Window" – ISBN 1438244991. A caregiver’s handbook that is used to train CNAs in long term care and as an ice breaker at Alzheimer’s support group meetings. This book I actually had printed at a print shop. I’m very proud of the book for the help it has been.

In 2000, residents family members would stop to ask me questions about why their loved one said things like they hadn’t been fed all day. Sometimes, the family couldn’t understand the behavior problems or the sudden declines. I remembered the days when I wanted so much to know about Alzheimer’s disease in order to help my father. By 2000, the Alzheimer’s Association was well known and very helpful if families contacted them. In some cases that didn’t happen. Not realizing how devastating the disease would become, the relatives didn’t bother to become educated until they were surprised by devastating events. I decided I need to write a book that would educate the families that I came in contact with at the nursing home. Little did I know that the book would go much farther than that.

Over the years, I had 100 copies printed, sold those and had another 100 books printed before I self published the book last summer. To go along with publishing the book, I asked Jolene Brackey a well known author and speaker about Alzheimer’s if she would give me a review to put on the back of the book. Now how did I get the nerve to ask for that review? The administrator at the nursing home had sent one my book to Jolene. She liked it so much she called to ask me if I would let her use some of my stories in her next book "Creating Moments Of Joy". What an honor. Of course, I said yes. About three years ago, Jolene was in the area doing her presentations. I went. Jolene waved her book around as she told the audience if we wanted one we would have to buy it from her website. She only packed one for the plane trip. As I was leaving that day, she stopped me and handed me that signed book. She had brought it for me. So when I published my book "Open A Window" I thought I’d ask her for the review, and I got it.

Jolene’s review – "This book shares what is possible if we allow a person with Alzheimer’s to "be" who they are right now. Thank You for "opening" a window."

For more about Jolene Brackey visit her website http://www.enhancedmoments.com

Jolene’s isn’t the only review on the back of the book. I’ve had many good review about the book from buyers. I put as many of them as I could fit under Jolene’s review as a way to show prospective buyers that this book might be worth reading.

This post, from Henry Baum, originally appeared on Self-Publishing Review on 9/17/09.

The idea for this dialogue came after the controversy regarding the review of John Lacombe’s Winter Games.  If you haven’t seen that thread, check it out, it’s a long one – it has a lot of interesting commentary about how writers and/or their fans should respond to reviews, including examples of how not to respond to a review.  Carol Buchanan, who reviewed the book, didn’t like the novel.  Steven Reynolds, who reviews for SPR, liked the book in a review for the now-defunct Podler.  Carol and Steven got together to talk about the controversy and book reviewing in general. This will be the first in a series.

Self-Publishing Review: You’ve both read Winter Games by John Lacombe and had quite different responses to it. Why do you think this is?

Steven Reynolds:  It’s because Carol doesn’t know what she’s talking about! Just kidding. We had different responses because we’re different people: we have different backgrounds, interests, reading histories, and tastes. Carol’s an award-winning novelist, I’m not. Carol has a PhD in English Lit, whereas I have degrees in Economics, Literature and Film Studies. Carol’s a woman, I’m a man. Carol grew up in the 1940s-50s, I grew up in the 1970s-80s. Carol reads James Lee Burke, Val McDermid, Michael Connelly and Craig Johnson, whereas if I’m looking for chills and thrills I might pick up Thomas Harris, Michael Crichton or the darker volumes of Robert Cormier. Some of these factors might have influenced our readings of Winter Games, whereas others might be irrelevant. Who knows? What I do know is that it’s possible for two, three, or thirty-three people to read the same book and each form a different view. Some will be broadly similar, some will differ wildly.

Without wanting to get too esoteric about it, the act of reading – making meaning out of words on a page – is an essentially subjective experience. They’re just dots of ink assembled into shapes we call letters and words. The magic happens in our minds, and it’s going to be influenced by what’s already there. This is why I can read Ian McEwan’s Saturday and think it’s wonderful, and my friend Kath can read it and declare it “ideologically rancid”. Who’s right, Kath or I? That’s not a question with an objectively verifiable answer, and it’s actually an extremely boring one. This is why I don’t give books a score or a star-rating anymore (unless it’s compulsory). I’m more interested in exploring what the novel’s about, how it works, its relationship to other books, and who might enjoy it. You must pass judgement, in some sense, because readers expect that. But when I say of Winter Games, “Overall, this is a slick and solid action-thriller from an emerging writer of considerable strength,” readers know this isn’t a statement of fact, even though it’s phrased as one. It’s my opinion. Whether or not they value my opinion is up to them.

Carol Buchanan:  As Steve says, we’re different people. We both read thrillers, but by different authors. Steve appreciates Michael Crichton’s work, while I’m partial to the novels of James Lee Burke.

Novels are an art form. Being a writer myself, as well as a former college English teacher, I pay attention to the writing of every book I read – how the sentences and paragraphs are constructed. I listen for rhythm and variety, to hear the English language sing, which it does for good writers. One of my favorite authors disappointed me recently with this sentence: “Rows of windows … rose above ….” The kernel of meaning in that sentence, the part a writer can’t strip out and have anything left, actually reads “Rows …. rose.” Not “windows rose,” which would say something entirely different again. For some people, windows rising might recall sash windows; for others it might portray a different window action. But these windows could not rise. They were set in stone. Whether “Rows …rose” or “Windows …rose,” it’s sloppy writing. It jars the ear.

Does that mean the book wasn’t any good? Or the author is a poor writer? Not necessarily, but if I were writing a review, I would be obligated to point out problems and let the readers judge for themselves if it might interfere with their enjoyment of the novel.

I write reviews primarily for the reader, who may lay out money for a book. If the author reads a review and learns from it, so much the better.

When Steve says his reviews are his opinion, that goes for me, too. The reviews I write are not fact. They are my opinion, even though they are based on some decades of reading and studying and writing fiction. Readers can take them or leave them.

SPR: What makes a “good” novel? Similarly, what makes a “bad” novel?

Read the rest of the post on Self-Publishing Review.

This morning, I read a wonderful compilation of stories from agents and publishers on  agent and author Betsy Lerner’s blogsite called "The One that Got Away"

It’s a must-read for any new (or established…) author who’s been rejected by an agent or publisher.  We all know the drill. We’ve painstakingly honed our novel or non-fiction proposal to a bright, shiny appearance, and approached the "gatekeepers" with trepidation and awe, our hands shaking as we hold out our "jewel". 

They respond in a couple of weeks or months with a pleasantly efficient form letter saying "[insert brush off here]".

It’s nice to keep in mind that the bastions of power where the keys to the kingdom are guarded, are staffed by human beings, after all.  They make mistakes.  They have regrets, too.

I especially enjoyed the publisher in the blog who admitted to having responded to a pitch for Cold Mountain by telling the author’s agent, "I was raised on a Civil War Battlefield! If I don’t believe it, no on elese will either!"

Authors, it seems are not the only ones that suffer from occasional hubris.

But, as authors with a "product" to pitch, we need to remember the job description we labor under.  Author: a hard, unfulfilling, obessive occupation with impossibly long hours and very poor pay.  But that’s why we do it!

Do your homework. Edit. Get help. Edit. Find a developmental editor who can suggest mechanics to improve the way your plot works. Edit.  Edit.

If you must… pItch to agents and publishers who you know ahead of time have worked successfully with genres and styles such as yours.  Polish your submission and personalize it just for them, and when you receive their pleasant, but dismissive letter, realize they just might have made a mistake!

This post, from Henrik Edberg, originally appeared on The Positivity Blog on 6/9/09.

Read the rest of the post on The Positivity Blog.

I guess everyone has heard about the old guy with the metal detector…I’m not kidding, it’s not a joke ….who uncovered a huge, horde of Celtic gold and silver treasure in a field in Staffordshire this past week.  It was all over the NY Times — big article, color pictures, etc .

Now I’m always interested in archaic Celtic stuff.   It’s been a lifelong interest and is actually the glue that holds my first three books together.  I laid it all out in the first book.  Because of shallow pockets, I eliminated some illustrative material I researched and sketched out while I was writing the first draft back in the Winter of 1999-2000.

Friday, I opened up the Times, and read the tresure story, to be confronted face-to-face, with an artifact that is an exact illustration of an odd symbol I devised from pre-Christian Celtic sources as being the device on the sails of some very important (to my book, at least) ancient ships. I don’t mean a little reminiscent. I mean exact.

So here I sit, two days later, with an odd buzing in the back of my mind to pay heed to this.  Really.  LIke it is a message, or a sign, or a poortent, or something….

We writers need to believe in such portents. We need a talisman to protect us from encroaching reality.  The magic we weave in the dim recesses of our imaginations need recharging from time to time, and this is one of those times for me.  Whether it’s really communication from the auld gods or not doesn’t matter…. it can be if I want it to be! 

Just remember: Whatever works.

Publetariat Editor’s Note: This blog post, from Fay Risner, originally appeared on her Publetariat blog on 9/17/09. It’s such a salient topic for indie authors, I asked Fay if we could reprint it as an article for the site and she graciously agreed.

Fay did so many things right, from being very well-practiced and prepared, to hitting her target demographic square in the middle, to highlighting her local community connections, and more. Read Fay’s next blog post to see how well she did with her book sale event. Fay’s books are available on Amazon.

I invite you to visit my website: http://thesecondtour.com, which showcases my best work, a novel titled The Second Tour that describes my experiences during the Vietnam War as a combat Marine. The Second Tour has been adopted for use next year in English literature classes at The Air Force Academy and Tulsa Univ. It was also taught this year in Behavioral Sciences classes at the Air Force Academy. If the Vietnam War or combat experience is something of interest to you, I believe my book will provide a window to a world few understand or imagine. Thank you for letting me toot my horn.

Civil War Days in Belle Plaine, Iowa was last weekend. My preparations were perfect for my book sale event. Both poster boards I mentioned in my last blog post worked. People were comfortable buying from a local person when they saw the words Keystone Author. Others who knew me made the comment they didn’t know I had written so many books or that I write books at all. So I received exposure in my area plus for miles around with reenactors that came from Minnesota, Wisconsin and around Iowa. The weather cooperated. All three days were beautiful; low wind, sunny, warm days. Since I was in period clothes (a homesteader/pioneer dress and bonnet), I asked if I could play first person like the reenactors. The man in charge said I could but the person had to be real. Wonderful! My Civil War book "Ella Mayfield’s Pawpaw Militia" is full of real people.

I picked Ella Mayfield, lady bushwhacker which is the main character to call attention to my book. I asked if there were any other bushwhackers in the park. The man in charge yells over to the shelter house to Union soldiers, "Are there any other bushwhackers here?" The reply was, "What’s a bushwhacker?" After three days of non stop talking and pointing to my Missouri poster board for visual effect, everyone that came to that park now knows who a Missouri bushwhacker was.

The first day was for schools. An outing away from the classroom is always fun. With this field day, the students learned so much more than they will read about the Civil War in a history book. They were able to experience what gunpowder smells like and the loud explosive sound of a gun going off. A drummer boy beating for a march, a trumpet player playing revelry, an up close look and explanation about a cannon, a talk with Abe Lincoln and a look at army camp setups on the Union and Confederate sides were the things the children experienced. I enjoyed being on the side lines of all that. Also, I received as many interesting stories from the reenactors as I told about Ella. They each are a walking history book about their portion of the Civil War.

My son was a volunteer that helped the event run smoothly and with clean up when it was over. Something that big with so many people coming and going is not an easy undertaking to pull off. The good part about Duane being there was he watched for me to show up and helped me set up. At closing, he came along and helped me pack up which was a big help. He enjoyed watching me go into character and sell books. Before I left Sunday afternoon, he bought both of us a Civil War 2009 Belle Plaine, Iowa shirt. He said we need to go to more reenactments. The shirts were for advertising. Reenactments wind down about now so we will see what next summer brings.

Friday, I sold two books to a reenactor. The thought might be that I should have skipped being there that day. My answer would be no. First, I needed the practice, speaking on Ella Mayfield’s behalf. The reenactors speak in first person, and I wanted to join in. Second, I developed a following of students that came back over the weekend to talk to me again. One girl brought her mother over to buy a book. I suspect on Friday it took the reenactors some time to get used to me. When they stopped to talk to me, I was in period dress, but I wasn’t just trying to sell books. I had a story of my own to tell and was well versed about my potion of the Civil War between Missouri and Kansas.

Saturday and Sunday, the public came. I had a good location next to a photographer’s tent full of 1800’s costumes. The public had to walk by me. They couldn’t miss my posters which made them curious enough to stop. Once they did, I gave a brief synopsis of each of my books and ended with the Civil War story. Setting up a table at the event was well worth it for me. My book sale was successful. Saturday at the end of the day, I and my son walked through the reenactors camp sites and talked to people. I wanted a feel for the passion these people have that makes them do the reenactments all summer.

This was one of those one thing leads to another events. I was approached by a woman who is writing a book. She has a blog. Now I have an invitation to be a guest blogger on her blog. A woman from a small town nearby asked me to come speak and sell books at her church group meeting soon. A newspaper reporter came to take pictures of the school children Friday. She stopped to talk to me. So I’m hopeful I might have a brief mention in her article.

At the end of Sunday, the reenactors had a First Person Contest. Someone told me about it about at the time the contest was happening. Afterward, a reenactor came by and told me he would like to see me enter next year. I was flattered to have been accepted by their group. That told me I must have been doing something right when they stopped to hear me talk about Ella Mayfield. I can’t wait to go back next year and be Ella all over again.

To sum it up, I had a very successful book sale at the Civil War Days in Belle Plaine, Iowa. The preparations I made to catch prospective buyers attention as they walked by my table paid off. From posters to period dress and my knowledge of the Civil War, I sparked attention and interest. The fact that I was the author of the books and signed them impressed the buyers. My Civil War book helped give me an introduction for being there and lead to buying my other books. I was well pleased with this event and looking forward a repeat performance. My Civil War book turned out to be a hit with the reenactors as well. Word of mouth from one reenactor to another brought me many sales. Now those books will go back to Minnesota, Wisconsin and around Iowa. Later, I should get more sales from the reenactors as well as buyers I gave bookmarkers.

Foiled again!  I had been sent a specific , well-written set of directions for posting my article to the proper location on Publetariat: Indie Indie Curmudgeon.  Of course, within a couple of days, I inadvertenly deleted it. Before I printed it for safe keeping. So this morning, frantically searching for a solution to get today’s column posted, I posted it in the wrong place twice! 

THEN… I had my only flash of brilliance for the day: I looked in the email "Sent" folder, where my reply, including the quoted original message still resided.  I always knew there was a reason not to clean up too often! 

This post, from Nicola Morgan, originally appeared on her Help! I Need A Publisher! blog on 9/17/09, and with NaNoWriMo right around the corner, it couldn’t have come at a better time.

"Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop." Lewis Carroll makes it sound so simple.

Thing is, where is the beginning? Where does any real story start? And in fiction, where should you choose to start it?

Although it was a blog-reader or two who asked me to talk about beginnings, it’s also a sore point for me because I’ve been struggling with a beginning of a new novel. Sometimes the beginning is the easiest bit – in fact, we’d probably agree that usually the beginning is the easiest bit. It’s certainly the most important bit, because if it’s not good enough no one will get to read the middle or end.

I think there are three aspects of beginnings that we need to look at. [God I sound serious / pompous today.]
 

1. When to start
2. How to start
3. Things to avoid

1. When in the story should I start?

Simple: start at the point of the story which will hook the readers and draw them in quickly.

This could be with a flashback or a much earlier event which triggered the main narrative. Examples are Kate Atkinson’s brilliant latest novel, When Will There Be Good News? and [if you don’t mind my mentioning my own books but they are the ones I seem to know most about] Fleshmarket, by me. Both start with a shocking event which happened years before the main story. Both also enable a childhood event to be related, with a child’s POV, but then for the main narrative to be from a more interesting and sustainable viewpoint than a child’s.)

Or it could be a flashforward, but only if relevant. You can’t contrive a flashforward: it must be intrinsic. And, you have to be careful because you risk giving the game away. I used this device in The Passionflower Massacre and it is also how The Moth Diaries by Rachel Klein, my favourite book in the world, starts.

Or it may not be an earlier event, but simply "in medias res". Jump right in with a compelling episode; get right to the point. This is the method with fewer drawbacks. Perhaps the most common way to start and one which readers find most comfortable?

Or you might decide to begin with backstory /scene-setting straightaway. Clearly this has got to be very carefully done and the back story has to be compelling enough. Never start this way just because you feel the need to explain things – only start this way because you think that’s what’s going to draw the reader in most compellingly.
 

Read the rest of the post on Help! I Need A Publisher!

Friday the 18th Civil War Days begins in Belle Plaine, Iowa. I’m going to sell my books in the park on the fringes of North versus south battles. So am I ready?

I’ve watched the weather forecasts. Looks like perfect days for having a table full of books outside. To help the customers visually see what kind of books I write, I made place cards that states the genre to place by each pile of books. It would be a good thing if the wind wasn’t too strong, or I will spend time chasing those place cards down. Also, the bookmarkers I printed that list my inventory and address for future reference.

I’ve been doing a mental list in my head this morning. It has taken a lot of preparation for this three day event. I’ve got an aluminum folding table left over from my craft sale days. (Those craft sales are where I learned some salesmanship.) An Indian blanket for a table cover, doesn’t go along with the Civil War but in that century. Dressing in a pioneer dress and wearing a bonnet should give me some attention. (How did I come by a pioneer dress and bonnet? I revamped a dress and sewed the bonnet years ago when I volunteered at Ursher Ferry in Cedar Rapids. I was spinning in a one room log cabin as the woman who lived there. When visitors came in, I had to tell them about my life. It was fun to act the part.) I still have my money box from craft show days (a small fishing tackle box). It’s perfect with a top divided shelf for change and the bottom for bills. I bought a mesh folding chair with a canopy top so I wouldn’t have to sit in direct sunlight. Haven’t had it out of the bag to see if I can set it up. Every time I buy something in a bag or box that needs put together, I’ve found it a struggle to put the object back in the bag. So guess I’ll wing putting the chair together in the park after I have the table set up.

After some fall house cleaning, I found a four by four poster board upstairs to use for a sign to lean against the table. This advertisement shows that I am a local person. That might help get me some interest if not sales. So I printed large banners and tacked them to the poster board. The sign reads Keystone Author Fay Risner – Book Sale – Featuring – Ella Mayfield’s Pawpaw Militia . On each side of the Book Sale line was a blank space so I put a picture of my book cover on one side and a Confederate Flag on the other. That definitely states which side of the war I’m on. Figured I might as well join. You can’t hear it in my writing, but I have a southern accent. That would be a dead give away if I tried to join the Union forces. They might shoot me for a spy.

I have no idea where I am to set up. The man I talked to said I could be by a building where reenactors sell their wares. Guess someone will point me in the right direction.

Friday is the day the schools bring students to learn about the Civil War. I wanted to be a part of that education. Besides, a presentation will go along with my book. So I made up another poster board. While the reenactors will be talking military feats, I will be discussing Bushwhackers and Jayhawkers. A time line of the border war between Kansas territory and Missouri is on the poster. A large Missouri map dominates the board with stars for important places and Vernon County drawn in so the children can see where my history comes from.

I won’t have anyone to watch my table and I don’t know how far it will be to the concession stand. I baked an apple cake. That will be meals and snacks plus I’m taking a large container of ice tea.

My husband isn’t so sure all this stuff will fit in my small car. Best be prepared. Today I pack the car just to see how is the best way to fit everything in. It will be good to have that much done. I’ll have to get an early start to be set up before 9 a.m.

No matter what, this will be a fun experience going back in time amid the smell and explosions of gunpowder, war cries and crowd appreciation of the battles. Lincoln will give his Gettysburg Address, a church service will be held under the open sky and much more. I can’t wait to get there.

This post, from Dennis Jernberg, originally appeared on his Spanner’s World: The Blog! blog on 9/6/09.

Face it: the traditional literary fiction that defined the mainstream in the 20th century is on its way out, much like the newspaper it drew from starting in the late 19th century. During its period of dictatorship, anything outside its narrow boundaries was ruthlessly relegated to the lowbrow genres of pulp fiction by the cultural establishment’s literary police. But now literary fiction is almost extinct. Why? Because its ideology, called Naturalism, no longer reflects the daily lives of ordinary people.

What does? Science fiction. You see, far more than in Isaac Asimov’s day, we are living in the world predicted by science fiction. Rockets and space stations? Check. Supercomputers, internets, virtual reality? Check. Robots do more of our manufacturing work. Cyborgs are increasingly banal. Androids and jetpacks are in development. Can interstellar spaceships, wormholes, antigravity, and time travel be far behind? And there’s some amazing stuff now commonplace or in development that were inconceivable to the likes of Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and their contemporaries: nanotechnology, personal area networks, quantum computing, augmented reality — the list goes on…

The conclusion should be obvious. The central place in the mainstream of modern literature that was once held by the now dying Naturalist literary fiction properly belongs to science fiction. Why, then, is it still relegated to genre and fandom? Because the old literary establishment still controls the publishing industry.

Not that there’s anything wrong with fandom. I myself am a comics fan of long standing. Without a fandom, a genre or medium is dead. Literary fiction has no fandom; the only thing resembling one is a shrinking hard core of the cultural elite, the modern survivors or descendants of the once all-powerful literary snobs that not only exiled most fiction to the pulp genres but also murdered poetry. Conversely, all the vital genres have fandoms, especially those that belong to that family of genres collectively known as fantasy, which includes horror as well as science fiction. The strength of a genre in the culture can be gauged by the conventions its fans hold.

Anyway, back to my point: the Naturalist method of traditional literary fiction no longer reflects our common reality. The method of science fiction does. Here’s why:

Naturalism is based on the deterministic assumption of Newtonian mechanics, which claims that every single thing that ever happened or ever will happen can be precisely predicted into the infinite past or future. This strikes people as absurd today, but this was the common assumption in the 19th and 20th centuries. So traditional literary fiction came to restrict itself to the petty lives of insignificant people stuck in static or slowly deteriorating situations. It resembles the 19th-century social novel at least on the surface, but the method is supposed to be scientific or at least journalistic. The writer who most strongly defined the Naturalist school and its method was Émile Zola.

Read the rest of the post on Spanner’s World: The Blog!.