To those of you who don't know:
I want to be a writer. Simple goal to understand, right?
Though I do enjoy reading and writing "literary" fiction, I enjoy writing and reading "genre" fiction way more.
Therefore, I know that I WANT to write "genre" fiction as my writing career goal. Is that a hard concept to understand? No, I didn't think so.
Now, this is where it gets tricky!
In the creative writing workshops that I am to do at DePaul (and I've heard it's the same in any academia setting), I am discouraged from writing in "genre". In fact, I am told that it is not allowed for in my latest class we are supposed to write only "literary" material. I understand why. After all, "literary" fiction is, well, considered better and it's supposed to be what real aspiring writers want to accomplish.
My main beef with this policy is that if college is supposed to prepare you for the career path you want to pursue after, then why am I not allowed to practice writing fiction that may be considered "genre"? That is what i intend to focus my career on, so in a way it's like school is not allowing me to expand on that.
Like I said before I do like writing "literary" fiction.
Some of you may say, "Oh, Angelica. You just don't like the challenge." OR "Angelica, you have to have your mind open to new things." To which I answer, "No, I do like the challenge. I'll do the assignment, don't worry about that!" AND "I am not closing myself to writing 'literary' fiction. Like I said, I like writing it. I do write it, and if I say so myself, I'm pretty good at it."
Yes, I am not ashamed of saying that I believe I am talented in writing "literary" fiction. But I love "genre" fiction.
And I use both terms in quotations because, frankly, I don't like the stigma that surrounds both categories.
Furthermore, who is to say that what is usually categorized as "genre" can't also be considered "literary"? I want people to accept that sometimes these two different options can be fused together. Why was Edgar Allan Poe able to bend the rules? (one of my favorite authors)
There's pulp and then there's pulp.
I guess... I just want to say that I am tired of feeling ASHAMED of what I write or what I love writing.
I went to college so that I can learn more about writing. I don't regret that. I just wished that if I wanted to I can write what I want.
But seriously, I feel like Stephen King did back in the day. I will end my post with a quote from his "On Writing" book:
"I was ashamed. I have spent a good many years since -- too many, I think -- being ashamed about what I write. I think I was forty before I realized that almost every writer fiction and poetry who has ever published a line has been accused by someone of wasting his or her God-given talent. If you write (or paint or dance or sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that's all. I'm not editorializing, just trying to give you the facts as I see them" (50).
Well, I don't want to be forty and still ashamed of what I love to write.
Dear World: I love to write sci-fi, fantasy, horror, supernatural, you name it. To me, it's the story that matters the most. The rest comes second. Hell, even my "literary" short stories still have a hint of sci-fi in them. I'm tired of being ashamed. It ends here.
