On Genres, Truths, and Tropes (part one)

Hey, remember that third novella I was going to do for my Chronicles of Q’a series?

Ain’t gonna happen.

There’s a reason why I’m pulling the plug -- and we’ll get to that -- but to get there I must first go elsewhere.

. . .

If you haven’t read my previous blog entry “Outta Da Ballpark” do so.

It’s a prerequisite for this.

I’ve noticed one thing about those novelists who write universally recognized and beloved masterpieces:

The more you write, the less likely you are to write something that stands the test of time.

Seriously.  Look at my list.

Hemingway has the best batting average:  1/3 of his books are top line A+ masterpieces.

Jane Austen comes in a close second with 1 out of 4.

Joseph Heller and Mary Shelly do respectably well with a 6 to 1 ratio.

But past that?  Even allowing many of the writers’ lesser works remain compelling reading with a lot of valid insights, it’s clear the more you write, the less likely you are to put anything really groundbreaking to paper.

Why this is so is open to interpretation, but clearly a few factors remain consistent among them.

First off, there’s not that many groundbreaking new insights to offer.

By this I don’t mean the topics are limited, but rather what each writer can bring to the table.

The more one writes, the more likely one is to fall back on topics and themes one’s visited before, undermining the impact of previous writing by repetition.

Second, you can’t summon up a masterpiece on command (at least not “masterpiece” in the modern sense of the term). 

It’s a matter of catching lightning in a bottle.  You can be in the right place at the right time…

…or you can be just a few inches or a few seconds too far away.

A lot of factors -- some of them external and beyond the writer’s control -- determine what does or doesn’t become a masterpiece.

The best a writer can do is to always swing for the fence by writing openly, honestly, and fearlessly about the things that matter to them.

Always be at the top of your game, and constantly hone your skill set.

. . .

Two things I noticed when compiling my sampler list of writers who wrote masterpieces:

There are few genre writers among them.

Writing for other media doesn’t seem to either hinder or help a novelist’s ability to write a masterpiece in that format.

The genre question has a fairly simple answer:  The few writers who write genuine masterpieces that transcend genre either do so at the start of a genre (in Mary Shelley’s case she virtually created the genre by penning Frankenstein and The Last Man, the first two novels that could be legitimately called science fiction) or to write a work that effectively ignores the genre it supposedly falls in (viz. Bradbury).

This is not a putdown of genre (any genre) but an acknowledgement that leaning into the strengths of a particular genre also require leaning into its weaknesses as well.

And the biggest weakness of all genres is that each contains various tropes that appeal to fans of that genre, and while one is allowed to turn those tropes on their ears occasionally, one must never utterly reject them.

The mystery must be solved, the romance must be consummated, the outlaws must be headed off at the pass, etc., etc., and of course, etc.

The challenge is writing honestly and fearlessly while confining yourself to genre boundaries.

Not an easy task.

Because of that, many writers undercut their stories -- their real stories -- by adhering to tropes and other genre conventions instead of letting the story tell itself the way it should be told.

The story -- the real story -- is never what the plot is about.

The real story is the true meaning behind the plot.

Genre won’t force you to betray your story.

Genre will preclude you from tackling a story.

The other media / format question is more complex:  Harlan Ellison once observed the great blessing of writing for television was that in three months one could easily earn enough to live comfortably for an entire year, enabling you to write whatever you wished during the other nine months.

I’ve said writers need to constantly hone their skill set and craft.

That can be done through any number of other media.

Short stories / comic books / movies / video games / stage plays.

All of them let you stretch and grow and experiment.

None of them are counted against you when you write a novel.

At worst it’s the slumming you needed to do in order to do the real work.

© Buzz Dixon