You know those, right? Romance. Sci-fi. Fantasy. Horror. Crime/Thriller. Young Adult Fantasy. Contemporary Young Adult. All those sections where the people actually are. All the stuff we actually READ.
Mine is. My favorite novel is Turn of the Screw by Henry James. I know it sounds pretentious, but it’s really not. The novel is about 150 pages, and it’s not in the literature or classics section with most of James’ other works. It’s a ghost story. It’s genre.
And Philipa Gregory is NOT HAVING IT.
In a recent interview for the New York Times, historical romance fiction author, Philipa Gregory told the world that genre novels were “like, ew, gross”* and that genre authors and readers were wasting their time.
*not a real quote
Oh, you want to read the real quote?
Which genres do you avoid?
Lord, Lord, tell me! Why does anyone write pornography? If you have the good fortune to find a motif that floats your boat, why would you give it away? Why would you risk it losing its potency? Isn’t good sex so much better than publishing? And why does anyone write lazy, sloppy genre novels? The typing alone is so exhausting — surely if you’re going to undertake 150,000 words, you might as well have something interesting to say? Why do people write crime novels with blindingly obvious murderers? Why do they write love stories with idiotic heroes? (Oh, perhaps see above, re pornography.) Writing should be both individual and universal. Choosing to write a genre novel is like fencing the universe because you are afraid of space.
Excuse me? Let me break down this turd bucket of pretension real quick.
“If you find a motif that floats your boat why would you give it away?”
How does writing about good sex somehow diminish the having of good sex? What if the first guy to find the clitoris never told anyone else, and every woman everywhere just Themiscrya’d themselves to orgasm for all eternity? SHARE THE WEALTH. I love reading about sex, especially in romance novels. Sure, it’s technically literary porn, and so what? It’s always more instructive, titillating and character-driven than anything I read from Faulkner or Fitzgerald.
“Isn’t good sex so much better than publishing?”
GET YOU A GAL WHO CAN DO BOTH. Are these mutually exclusive? Can women not have it all anymore?
“And why does anyone write lazy, sloppy genre novels?”
Oh, you mean the ones that sell better than all that literary fiction that’s trying SO HARD??? I’m going to guess it’s money. Oh, and the millions of dedicated readers and re-readers who love genre fiction and buy it all up forever. Genre readers are dedicated, loyal and genuinely interested in remaining genre readers. What’s not for an author to love? Do you want to be summarily dismissed or secretly disdained? Love and appreciation are so bourgeoisie.
“…you might have something interesting to say.”
Like happily ever afters. Hero gets the girl. Cop gets the bad guy. Justice is served. Car chase does not end in hero’s death, but in his vindication. The hero’s journey averts the end of the world. Good triumphs over evil. All those horribly trivial tropes that every major series, movie franchise and award-winning Pixar film employ. Genre, man. So BORING.
“Choosing to write a genre novel is like fencing the universe because you are afraid of space.”
I had something to say about this, but Kristan Higgins said it first:
I’ve kind of had it with tawdry, inaccurate historical retellings about Tudors myself.
— Kristan Higgins (@Kristan_Higgins) August 10, 2017
Look, I’m not getting particularly down on Philipa Gregory novels. I don’t love them, and I think the only one I ever finished was The Other Boelyn Girl, but this is a super ill-advised train to go down. Her novels are not far off themselves from genre fiction (the romance aspect is heavily represented, even though they don’t follow the romance formula). But she can’t even stick to her own guns in her own interview.
In another part of the interview she admits readily that Georgette Heyer wrote her favorite hero – Vidal in Devil’s Cub, which is a … you guessed it … historical romance novel, because Heyer wrote that genre shit.
Gimme that Genre Goodness
So let’s celebrate our love of the genre novel today.
Give me your most ethereal elves with whom to change destiny.
Show me your sexiest werewolf lord in need of a witch mate having a good time in their werewolf haven.
Write me a classic ornery duke with a soft spot falling in love with a bookish spinster of 27 years, and write them DOING IT.
Tell me a horror story that’s going to change something totally mundane, like hot dog trucks, for me forever because of the connotation.
Throw me out in space in a galactic time fold that appears once every thousand years.
Give me a quirky teenage protagonist who meets a bad boy who changes her life … irrevocably.
Give me exactly what I was looking for when I walked to this genre section of the store. Because that’s the goodness of genre writing. And guess what? I’ll be back.
