These days I'm more interested in genre fiction. I like old ghost stories and weird tales best of all. Literary fiction is just kind of boring to me; the plots get to be mundane (I'm generalizing here) and the prose isn't [i]usually[/i] all that great. These days I'll take a Victorian ghost story written by a master prose stylist like le Fanu or Blackwood, rather than some postmodern novel by Murakami. Which isn't to say that I dislike Murakami. He's certainly one of the most talented authors living today. I'm just tired of his approach to fiction. His plots are all quite similar, and he explores the same themes again and again.

I used to want to write literary fiction, but I came off as sounding like a poor Murakami rip-off. Working on a series of paranormal mysteries these days. They don't sell very well, lol. Perhaps they suck. Or maybe people just don't care to read that sort of thing in the modern day. It's a good deal more old-fashioned than a lot of contemporary stuff in the genre.

[quote="Lesser_Hamster"] Literary fiction is just kind of boring to me; the plots get to be mundane (I'm generalizing here) and the prose isn't [i]usually[/i] all that great. [/quote]

I suppose it depends what you're reading and what you think makes great prose. Carver, for example, certainly focuses on the mundane. But it isn't the "plot" of what happens that makes a story interesting IMO. It's character. What happens when a certain person is in a certain situation, and what do they come to understand--or what do they still not see?

I just linked Mare to "Cathedral" yesterday. Probably several of us have read it. Not much happens. A blind dude comes to visit the narrator and his wife. The narrator isn't too thrilled about it, seems resentful, jealous, and out of touch with his wife. They eat, drink, and smoke some dope. The wife falls asleep while the two men watch (or listen to, in the blind man's case) a program about cathedrals. They start talking and, eventually, the narrator helps the blind man imagine the shape of a cathedral by drawing the outline while the blind man traces the movement of his hand.

A little quirky, but certainly mundane. Yet it's probably the most captivating short story I've read.

Regardless, I'm rambling. I'm not even particularly concerned with genre vs literary fiction, and I think the boundaries should be blurred if not done away with. What matters is not whether your story is realistic, science fiction, horror, mundane, or romantic. What matters is whether it has character and feeling and truth. That is why I read, anyway.

The characters and the flow of the writing are what I really look for. The ability to turn a beautiful phrase from time to time helps, but I want to read about people who seem real and have depth, and I like to see either a story that unfolds in a graceful way or, in the case of short stories, one that flows in such a way that I feel pulled along by the writing, even if the topic is mundane.

I just read the dandelion girl the other night.

The story was short, but really good.
It was amazing.

It kind of disappoints me there is NOTHING about that story. No movie, no songs, NOTHING.

SERIOUSLY? THe premise is good, the story itself is amazing.


WHY IS THERE NOTHING ABOUT IT BUT THE STORY?
There is a japanese adaptation of the story in visual novel form. It's kind of disappointing though. It ruins the feel of the story and gives it a more 'childish' feel to it.

[quote="Lesser_Hamster"]These days I'm more interested in genre fiction. I like old ghost stories and weird tales best of all. Literary fiction is just kind of boring to me; the plots get to be mundane (I'm generalizing here) and the prose isn't [i]usually[/i] all that great. These days I'll take a Victorian ghost story written by a master prose stylist like le Fanu or Blackwood, rather than some postmodern novel by Murakami. Which isn't to say that I dislike Murakami. He's certainly one of the most talented authors living today. I'm just tired of his approach to fiction. His plots are all quite similar, and he explores the same themes again and again.

I used to want to write literary fiction, but I came off as sounding like a poor Murakami rip-off. Working on a series of paranormal mysteries these days. They don't sell very well, lol. Perhaps they suck. Or maybe people just don't care to read that sort of thing in the modern day. It's a good deal more old-fashioned than a lot of contemporary stuff in the genre.[/quote]

Pretty much the exact same story here (except that I turned out to be a fantasy and sci-fi geek.)

I've loved all of Sanderon's books I've read (the Mistborn series in particular, but also The Way Of Kings.) I started reading The Wheel Of Time and good lord, this is such a slog. I'm halfway through the first book and I don't think there's any way I'm going to read beyond it.

Working on my own book, I've passed the 500-page mark. I should be finishing it up within the next week or two, then I'll start on revising and re-writing for the second draft. I'll still need to write an epilogue and maybe three or four chapters in the middle somewhere, but the final thing should be about 250,000 words / 600 pages. I'm aiming to basically have this thing done by next March or so. I'm very happy with how it's coming along and think the final product is going to be really good.

[quote="ThinlineTele"]book[/quote]

Have you done a lot of creative writing before this, or are you just jumping into it?

@Blank - I think 5 months is pretty good for books of that size.

Has anyone else read Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell? I think some of you might like it. It's six interleaved stories in six styles. Literary... and genre.

I have mixed feelings on the movie but the book is pretty good.

[quote="GoldenRhino"]Have you done a lot of creative writing before this, or are you just jumping into it?[/quote]

I've written on and off for the past six or seven years - mostly short stories or books that never got off the ground, in addition to loads of blog posts, music reviews, and other editorial things. I'd say that only in the past 1-2 years have I really found my own style and decided what sort of writing I want to pursue. Compared to the proto-form of my present book - in which I got about 130 pages in before deciding I needed to seriously re-work it - I'd say my writing has improved by leaps and bounds. I started work on the current project in late June.

I'm pretty much 100% set on making fiction writing the thing I "do." I'm shooting to make this the first in a four-book series, though I've since come up with more ideas for other stories I want to write, if I find the time in between the bigger project. Right now I'm focusing on just telling a good story with good characters - while I think my prose is fine, I figure that my literary ability to write pretty stuff will develop on its own as I gain experience. Nobody wants to read a debut novel filled with pretentious purple prose.

I'll post more details about the book once it gets closer to completion - I figure it should be pretty much done (re-writes, revisions, editing, etc.) by next April or so.

What do you plan to do with the book when it's done? Gonna submit it to publishers and agents and such, or go the self-pub route?

I'm thinking I'll publish it on Amazon as a Kindle eBook first, then submit it to publishers (assuming there isn't some sort of rights-related conflict there.) Since it's quite long and publishers are normally wary of publishing such a big book by an unknown author, I'm rather doubtful this series is going to be picked up a big publisher. Fortunately, I have a good job and steady income stream so it doesn't matter if it never makes a dime. It would be nice to write as a full-time career, but right now I'm doing this for the love of the art.

A wise move, IMO. If you're looking to make a living off of your work someday and eventually do it as your "career", then that's the best route. These days, there's nothing a publisher can do for you that you can't do for yourself. Publishers do have the means to get books into bookstores, but those are quickly vanishing.

For the most part, you can submit self-published stuff to publishers. In fact, I know a lot of agents and publishers have started skimming the Amazon best-seller lists and offering deals to successful self-pubbed authors. Personally, I wouldn't bother, as the profits and level of creative license are much higher if you just self-pub, but to each their own.

[quote="Blank"][quote="Blank"]I've started rereading Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. I'd originally started reading the series in middle school, but the books were still coming out then, and it was easy to forget things in the span that it took for them to come out. So I decided to wait until the last book was coming out before I'd reread the series again. I'm currently on the first book, The Eye of the World, and I'm having a blast reading it again. I'm catching up on some of the smaller details that you'd miss on a first read, and absorbing a lot more this time around.

I expect to be reading this series for a month (or three.) After I finish, I don't know what I'll be looking forward to next.[/quote]
Oh God. I've been reading this series for five months now apparently. I'm just now on the tenth book.[/quote]
Well, [i]fuck.[/i] I just finished reading the series (sans the last book which isn't out yet.) I read the last two books in a week. That's 1,630 paperback pages...in 7 days...or about 232 pages a day...all on my ipod...sounds about right...now I've gotta wait until the day after I go to bootcamp for the final book to come out...then wait three months until I can read it. hnng.

You gotta read Sanderson's Way Of Kings. Judging simply by first books, at least, I think it's miles ahead of WoT.

Speaking of books, I've finished the first draft and I'm about 25% through initial revisions! My goal for 2013 is to revise and publish this one in the first half of the year while working on a standalone novel, then start writing the second in this series in June. Stay tuned!

[quote="ThinlineTele"]You gotta read Sanderson's Way Of Kings. Judging simply by first books, at least, I think it's miles ahead of WoT.

Speaking of books, I've finished the first draft and I'm about 25% through initial revisions! My goal for 2013 is to revise and publish this one in the first half of the year while working on a standalone novel, then start writing the second in this series in June. Stay tuned![/quote]
You know Sanderson finished the last three WoT books, right? Speaking of the two that are out, they were well done.

[quote="ThinlineTele"]You gotta read Sanderson's Way Of Kings. Judging simply by first books, at least, I think it's miles ahead of WoT. [/quote]

Other people have told me Mistborn is really good too.

Well, Memory of Light is finally out (last Wheel of Time book). I think I might just skip to that one. My attention was lost somewhere around book 7 or 8.