WordWacky

Writer Unboxed, a site Writer’s Digest picks as one of the 101 Best Sites for Writers, is a blog “about the craft and business of genre fiction.”

They maintain a Google Notebook to display their business links for the week. Brilliant!

I don’t consider myself a genre writer, but I have a feeling that’s a little like saying, “But I don’t have an accent!” 

Literary (self- and other-identified) writers often turn up their noses at genre writing. The words “genre writer” are an accusation, a dismissal in certain company. An inflection adds a touch more French to the genre, making it that much more foolish. Or it’s spoken flatly, with no betraying emotion whatsoever.

The problem is, there are plenty of literary mysteries. Sci-fi writers must still labor over their work, struggling for clarity, the right pacing, that perfect verb. Truman Capote created the true crime genre. And I’ve learned a lot from genre writers.

Genre writers have in fact mastered some skills that litfic could take a page from: building an audience and making a living on words alone.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 18th, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under blogging, writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.