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james_davis_nicollActually, I suspect it comes down to the idea that you can't have genres at all unless you have conventions but if there's a coherent line of argument here, it is gelling more slowly than my "why polyamory is like SPI's _The Campaigns of North Africa_" idea.
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Date: 2005-03-07 07:30 pm (UTC)There are obvious flaws -- one person's "Just like Georgette Heyer" is another's "Obvious Piece of Tripe". Similarly, I think Laurell K. Hamilton and Charlaine Harris and MaryJanice Davidson (heroines Anita Blake, Sookie Stackhouse, and Betsy Taylor, respectively) are aiming at the same set of readers, yet one is shelved in either SF or horror, one in mystery, and one in romance. I still believe that genre solves as many problems as it causes.
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Date: 2005-03-07 07:33 pm (UTC)Mind you, some of the same people are very fond of traditional poetry, say, which has strict conventions beyond any genre of literature (about form, not so much content).
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Date: 2005-03-07 07:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-07 07:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-08 05:04 pm (UTC)But it's perfectly acceptable as a singer/stylist--and that might be the key--to cover other people's songs. Take k. d. lang, for instance, or Holly Cole's album of Tom Waites songs.
Heck, there are songs you almost have to cover in certain genres of music, in order to let people know how you're going to approach the standards.
I find it more often in horror than in, say, SF, where a writer will systematically take on particular tropes of the genre. Take Robert R. McCammon's first dozen novels--demons, vampires, werewolves, and so on, or Robert Charles Wilson's first half-dozen novels or more.
Yeah, I want to cover something
Date: 2005-03-08 09:20 pm (UTC)Obviously, you need to write new text, but you're allowed to invert characterizations, sex, the meaning of any particular action.
Actually, the best version of this I've heard of was never written. Apparently Roger Stern used to talk about writing the Spider-Man story where it turns out that the reason the burglar found Uncle Ben is that Uncle Ben was a fence. The transaction went poorly for Ben.
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Date: 2005-03-07 07:55 pm (UTC)So things like genre conventions get pegged as bad easily because that's conformity and it is much easier to point to than going through and coming up with examples of bad writing. Plus it is more emotionally satisfying to say that a genre is bad rather than a person saying he doesn't like that genre.
All in my own opinion without much of anything to back it up.
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Date: 2005-03-07 10:39 pm (UTC)Given the conventions found in modern "literary" novels, I'd say it's just that they dislike the conventions of "genre" fiction without noticing the conventions of literary fiction.
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Date: 2005-03-07 08:08 pm (UTC)MAO
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Date: 2005-03-07 08:22 pm (UTC)Also, check out Jay Lake's Handy Guide to Genre Distinctions.
Why Polyamory is like SPI's Campaigns of North Africa
Date: 2005-03-07 08:28 pm (UTC)It's not for everyone.
It may be quite time-consuming.
It helps a lot if you enjoy logistics.
People who have never actually encountered it may still have strong opinions about it.
Re: Why Polyamory is like SPI's Campaigns of North Africa
Date: 2005-03-07 08:38 pm (UTC)Re: Why Polyamory is like SPI's Campaigns of North Africa
Date: 2005-03-07 08:53 pm (UTC)Re: Why Polyamory is like SPI's Campaigns of North Africa
Date: 2005-03-07 08:56 pm (UTC)