Monday, August 12, 2013

What are your favourite and least favourite genres?

OK, so I have just finished (and reviewed, somewhat nervously) yet another apparently unplanned and rambling novel and posted my analysis on amazon.com.  I am hoping that I haven't killed it off.  What I would like to 'kill off' is the legacy of Kerouac, writers thinking they can still write something off the top of the edit, neither plan nor edit and then upload to amazon to sell it.  I am offended by the typos, the crappy grammar and the sloppy workmanship.  Writing is a JOB (if you're good), a PASSION if you were born/raised like that and a DISCIPLINE (if you really know what is involved). 

Today, there is so much written material to wade through each day.  Forms, supermarket labels, subtitles on foreign films, surtitles on opera, supers & tickers on television news programmes, street signs and so it goes.  Do we really now need stories?  Do we need them to be books?  Is the daily newscast and its analysis enough?  Nup, it ain't quite enough.  There are still gaps in the reading market.  Books that capture our societies and pluralistic world are welcome.  However, I am so darn tired of crappy dystopian, post-apocalyptic tales of woe that even the works of Douglas Adams and Philip K. Dick are putting my teeth on edge.

I am longing to settle in to a beautifully-crafted book that creates its own world, nailing its sense of place and introducing us to well-rounded characters.

Bring 'em on!!

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