Oh, the little dopamine hit of recognition! I just saw my name mentioned in your piece. I appreciate that. (Or to use the phrase the way most people seem to use it now: I appreciate YOU!)
That said, now that I've read these essays, I think your title is all wrong. For me, at least, it’s confusing. Both of you have made good points in each of these, but I don't think what you’re discussing is “classic vs. modern” at all. I think you’re simply talking about trends in publishing. I think we're all aware that agents and publishers, for purely mercantile reasons, have lately been ignoring manuscripts that don't fit into known genres with an established base. Since books outside of this cookie-cutter system have much less likelihood of being published, it may SEEM that genre writing is the only modern writing. I don’t believe that’s true though. It’s certainly not true “the last forty years or so.” There’ve been lots of novels during that time that defy genre categorization. In fact, I think “the genre publishing problem” is only about ten years old.
(Note: I suddenly remember “indie writers” were mentioned in passing in one of your essays.)
I bugged you guys about not providing a date for “modern,” and the response was that it’s more of a feeling than a hard date. That’s something I completely agree with, but when you talk about literary trends (or feelings), I still long for specifics. Can’t you tells us some of the books you think reflect these trends? (It would be educational for me since I barely ever read genre stuff.) In the three essays, I think Tolkien was mentioned, maybe Dickens, Anne of Green Gables, Pride and Prejudice, Anthony Doer. There may have been one or two others, none which were particularly modern.
Having said all this, I suppose my new name, if it gets mentioned, will be Mud.
I am enjoying this conversation between two writers. So much food for thought. I agree that anything written in the classic style in this era would seem out of place. Also agree that some of the modern, non-stop action stories are just lazy writing but in this time when Marvel movies are raking-in the money, many young writers will trend toward this style.
Oh, the little dopamine hit of recognition! I just saw my name mentioned in your piece. I appreciate that. (Or to use the phrase the way most people seem to use it now: I appreciate YOU!)
That said, now that I've read these essays, I think your title is all wrong. For me, at least, it’s confusing. Both of you have made good points in each of these, but I don't think what you’re discussing is “classic vs. modern” at all. I think you’re simply talking about trends in publishing. I think we're all aware that agents and publishers, for purely mercantile reasons, have lately been ignoring manuscripts that don't fit into known genres with an established base. Since books outside of this cookie-cutter system have much less likelihood of being published, it may SEEM that genre writing is the only modern writing. I don’t believe that’s true though. It’s certainly not true “the last forty years or so.” There’ve been lots of novels during that time that defy genre categorization. In fact, I think “the genre publishing problem” is only about ten years old.
(Note: I suddenly remember “indie writers” were mentioned in passing in one of your essays.)
I bugged you guys about not providing a date for “modern,” and the response was that it’s more of a feeling than a hard date. That’s something I completely agree with, but when you talk about literary trends (or feelings), I still long for specifics. Can’t you tells us some of the books you think reflect these trends? (It would be educational for me since I barely ever read genre stuff.) In the three essays, I think Tolkien was mentioned, maybe Dickens, Anne of Green Gables, Pride and Prejudice, Anthony Doer. There may have been one or two others, none which were particularly modern.
Having said all this, I suppose my new name, if it gets mentioned, will be Mud.
I am enjoying this conversation between two writers. So much food for thought. I agree that anything written in the classic style in this era would seem out of place. Also agree that some of the modern, non-stop action stories are just lazy writing but in this time when Marvel movies are raking-in the money, many young writers will trend toward this style.