~ Madeleine L'Engle
Hmmm. Makes me wonder if I should switch to Young Adult. Here's the deal...Charlotte Bronte may have just cornered the market for dark and brooding historicals for all of eternity. My finished manuscript (which deals with an opium addict in the early 19th century) just isn't selling to publishers, leastwise not in the Christian historical adult fiction genre. So either I lower the ages of the hero and heroine...
Or I slap on bonnets and call it Amish fiction.
Which leads me to wonder...what in the world is it that makes some books too difficult for grown-ups? After pondering that for a few minutes, I came up with 3 reasons.
1. Life is too crazy-go-nuts.
When leisure time rolls around, we don't want to think. We want to kick back and relax.
2. Life is too stressful.
Reading an intense story adds to the frenzy. We want to stick our heads in the sand for a few minutes to escape.
3. Life is too gritty.
Extreme sex, violence and in-your-face hatred abounds. We want to hearken back to a lifestyle that was more innocent and pure.
I'm not saying those reasons are 'right', nor that every reader out there agrees with them. I'm saying merely that they are...which is something to consider if you're hoping to sell to the general market.
Posts
.png)
9 comments:
If I really knew the answer to that, I'd be rolling in clover. But, I think you're right in a sense. And you may have a good idea for you ... YA. Hmmmm
Hey, if we hmmm in harmony, maybe we can even land a sweet music gig, eh?
I'm all for sad, difficult life situations in the CBA--after all, isn't the Bible full of them? Addiction is a mega-problem, even in the church. Opium has such interesting (yet devastating) effects. Well, kudos to you for tackling it, and I know you did it right!
Thanks girlie!
Personally, though I am one for realism I think that a lot of TV shows which are filled with little else but sex and violence and try to justify it in the name of 'realism' just dont ring true to me.
Sometimes I think 'realism' is just used as an excuse to pander to people's rather perverse taste for copius amounts of sex and violence, and real creativity and imagination goes out of the window.
True realism does not need to do that IMO.
You are so right. There's honestly not that much violence and sex in my everyday life, nor in the people's I know. Most often the biggest threat looming over me is what's on sale at the grocery store. Okay, so that's an exaggeration, but honestly, I don't frequently see dead bodies lying about.
LOL- or failing exams for me. Even the the violent Medieval period though I think filmakers exaggerate things
Sometimes I wonder what the Medievalists would think of our view of them. Solomon says there's nothing new under the sun. Were people really all that more violent way back when? I suspect not. Human nature hasn't changed.
Well there do seem to have been more sharp implements a people's disposal and everyday use then and perhaps people were more willing to resort to violence to settle disputes - but I rather think its a little arrogant to assume we are more 'civilised' and less violent.
A good example of the above was the BBC's apaptation of Shakespeare's Richard II broadcast on Saturday- it was excellent for the most part, but did they really have to show people being beheaded?
Post a Comment