No to Literary Snubs

Who determines whether a piece of literature is commendable or not? Well…the reader; and opinions will vary significantly depending on said reader and their literary tastes.

When you search the term ‘Literature’, you’ll find it encompasses prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, texts, journalism, narrative, novel, imaginary tales, invented stories, short stories, creative writing; the list goes on; and each delivers its own promise to the reader – information, guidance, adventure, escapism, or just plain entertainment.

In my attempt to comprehend the various terminology, I’ve discovered that ‘Literary fiction’, a term that has been around for decades, is used by critics to disparage the ever-increasing popularity of genre and popular fiction, insinuating that they don’t deserve to be classed as literature.  This doesn’t mean that bias is only perpetrated by the academics; unfortunately, it seems to cross all forms of writing.

From someone who has the highest regard for creatives, I find literary snobbery among writers puzzling.  The writing world and works produced are so varied, that comparing categories and genres is nonsensical. Writing techniques are often criticized in today’s mainstream literature but in all truth, any work, no matter its origin, whether classical or popular, can suffer from poor quality.

Over the years, writing styles have changed and evolved, and I imagine will continue to do so.  This is a good thing; it’s exciting for both writers and readers! Gone are the days when we were subjected to a whole-page description of how transcendent a piece of architecture is – in the middle of a scene. Today, people want to move on with the story, now, if you don’t mind.

Unfortunately, even among the popular forms of writing today, different genres receive a lot of unwarranted and misleading criticism. This doesn’t refer only to the quality of the writing, but the genre itself.  Some believe they don’t have any meaningful story to tell, when in truth, they all do.  They will have a protagonist desperate to solve their dilemma, and along the way experience a journey of self-discovery, friendship and possible love and loss.  It doesn’t matter if they’re green with a distended head, a dragon rider, a has-been detective or a frustrated house-wife. It is not about the genre, it is about how the story is crafted.

So, whether you’re writing fantasy, horror, sci-fi, romance, western, suspense, historical, young adult, women’s fiction, contemporary, or educational and academic texts, whatever it is – embrace it, and don’t be part of the culture that criticizes another writer’s choice of expression.  By the same token, don’t allow literary snobbery to prevent you from pursuing what you love.

There are a lot of readers in the world, all with varying tastes; and it takes an assortment of flavours to satisfy their literary appetite.

To me, anyone who can write a book that convinces the reading adverse and the young to pick it up and read it, is my hero.