Fellow Tor writer Anthony Huso emailed me the other day to let me know his website was up and running. Anthony is a newly-published fantasy author with whom I've been corresponding. As I looked at his website, these thoughts went through my head:
Hmm... Nice graphics... What does the blog say...? Uh huh... Woah.
His post about rejection stopped me dead.
Here Anthony talks briefly about his efforts to find an agent. One of the agents he approached sent him this reply:
"Seeing as how I find fantasy to be ridiculous and genre writing wholly without merit, I don’t think I’d be the right person to represent you."
Ridiculous? Without merit?
Okay.
All fiction is fantasy, because it is made up, but let's not go there. This agent clearly means fantasy in the sense of fiction that is – in some major way – unconstrained by reality: works that utilise settings, creatures or even natural laws that are plainly not, never have been, and – crucially – never could be, part of the real world. If you remove that last proviso, you get Science Fiction. The worlds depicted in Iain M Banks's Culture novels or Cormac McCarthy's The Road are entirely fictional. For a reader to accept either of these settings enough to enjoy the story requires a degree of trust in the author, and some imagination. Just how much imagination depends on both the strangeness of the world and the author's ability to paint it.
Of all the genres, fantasy seems to me to represent the greatest departure from reality. Yes, it requires the reader to suspend disbelief and use his imagination. And, yes, there's a lot of crap out there, just as there is in any other corner of the bookshop. But to dismiss fantasy outright is narrow minded and snobbish. What do we gain by restricting our literature to what we can perceive, rather than what we can imagine? Impossible worlds? Monsters and magic? Milton, Homer, and Shakespeare did not find them too ridiculous to write about. The Literary Taliban might look down on Fantasy with a vague air of contempt, but I think our culture would be so much poorer without Beowulf, without dragons, Titans, Oberon and Puck, vampires, hellfire and Quidditch.
Anyhoo, I urge you to have a look an Anthony's site. There's no Quidditch to be found, but there are other ideas to fire the imagination, which is, after all, what fantasy is all about.
8 comments:
I've written quite a lot about the trouble of asigning text to genere in relation to it's marketing potential and pitfalls, but I'll simply point out a few names:
Doris Lessing.
Paulo Coelho.
Ray Bradbury.
Eric Arthur Blair/ George Orwell.
even Kafka.
Al of these have written books that have changed the way people think. And yet there are people that argue that their works do not fall under the cathegory of science fiction or it's nephew fantasy because of some quality or ther. Claims which are simply just stupid. I've read books who is up there and beyond the quality of 1984, but who most people would never even give a second look because of the cheesy marketing. It's not all wizards and wenches in minimal gold-decorated loincloths.
I gotta stop reading bloggs when drunk.
You're quite right. I can think of another couple of contemporary fantasy writers to add to that list.
I'm afraid that there will always be people who think this way. I get hassled all the time for reading books that "don't mean anything" or "have no value." I highly resent comments like this because any book that I have ever read has had some sort of value to me, whether it be a work of nonfiction or a novel of utter fantasy. Don't let one person tear down the beautiful worlds that you create. Remember that there are those of us out there that enjoy them, and to some extent, need them.
As a side note, you should update this blog more often. I just discovered your Deepgate Codex books, and I'm very excited to start reading Scar Night. I'd like to hear more from you. :)
"For a reader to accept either of these settings enough to enjoy the story requires a degree of trust in the author, and some imagination. Just how much imagination depends on both the strangeness of the world and the author's ability to paint it."
This is probably one of the greatest things I've heard said about writing. =] I whole-heartedly agree. Looking forward to your next book; finally got my hands on my own copy of Lye Street. The Deepgate Codex has easily become one of my favorite series. Keep writing, your books are amazing!
I should feel sorry for people like that agent - his lack of imagination and inability to appreciate fantasy leaves him all the poorer - but I don't. Arrogant cocksuckers like that setting themselves up as arbiters over the fiction world need a punch in the mouth.
Nice to see you blogging again Alan.
LOL.
That's to the point, Neal.
Interesting, someone just posted an article I wrote ages ago on just this subject.
http://engriyo-sharing.blogspot.com/2009/12/literature-by-neal-asher-latchingdon.html
Cheers for that link.
And thanks to the others for their comments.
Mnemosyne, I know what you mean. The annoying thing is that those people who dismiss fantasy so readily usually haven't read any.
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