Question of the day

[james_davis_nicoll]

Should SFWA consider opening membership to writers of comic books and graphic novels?

[Wow, that was a dull way to frame that. Please add "Why or why not?]

Inspired by a discussion on one of the blogs that I read regularly, which I will not name for the moment so that people will not run over there and have their reactions influenced by the discussions that have already occured.

Comments

[daev.livejournal.com]

No. I agree with rezendi. SFWA is an organization with the purpose of representing professional writers' interests with respect to SF/Fantasy publishers. It's not an elite rewards club whose membership requirements should be confused with artistic merit or inclusiveness. The natures of the SF publishing industry and the comics business (specifically Marvel and DC) are different enough that comics writers are better served by forming their own guild or union. Similarly, video game authors don't belong, not because "games aren't real literature," but because SFWA has no particular leverage in the computer software industry.

[avram]

Except, there's a good deal of crossover between the two fields. Neil Gaiman is probably the most obvious example of someone well-known for working in both comics and prose, but there are writers known primarily for their comics work who've also written prose fiction (Warren Ellis, Alan Moore, Elliot S! Maggin, Gardner Fox), and those known to us mostly for their prose work who've worked in comics (Harlan Ellison, Samuel Delany, Alfred Bester). And many more.

And there's crossover at the editorial level, too. Teresa Nielsen Hayden worked as an editor both at Tor Books and at Valiant Comics.

In short, I'm not convinced that SFWA has any less leverage in the comics industry than it does in the film industry.

[montoya.livejournal.com]

There's crossover of membership, but maybe not of concerns. Nielsen Hayden or Gaiman may know how both comics and prose publishing work, but most people in SFWA won't, and if they have to interact with comics publishers, they might just end up clomping around like morons inadvertantly.