“Please do not turn [genre fiction] in to this [writing] workshop.”
Does this sound familiar? At the very least, it’s reassuring to know that romance is not the only genre that is discriminated against.
Author Michael Chabon, who wrote the screenplay for the film John Carter (opening Friday), talks about prejudice against his favorite genre in an interview with Wired:
“I had workshop leaders who just out-and-out said, ‘Please do not turn science fiction in to this workshop,’” he says. “That was discouraging, obviously. If I had had more courage or integrity I might have stood up to it more than I did.”
He goes on to say he takes inspiration from 19th century writers such as Charles Dickens who “combined social realism with crime fiction, ghost stories, and anything else that struck their fancy.” But writing and views on what contituted good writing changed because of "economic and financial and marketing reasons, and...snobbery and academic laziness.”
How can genre readers respond to literary snobs?
