One of the critiques I have of a lot of literary fiction is that its writers don’t seem to understand the human desire for mystery and suspense that genre fiction has exploited. Genre writers take one thing and make it the focus of the work. Some literary writers completely renounce these things and say, “I don’t believe I’ll indulge.”—Antonya Nelson, interviewed by Jennier Levasseur and Kevin Rabalais I started writing with poetry. After a few years of writing poetry, I discovered that my poems were becoming very narrative. I was using a lot of voice persona. I could see that my interests were shifting. I was becoming more interested in stories, in character, and in dialogue. I felt that I had to move to another genre.—Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, interviewed by Sarah Anne Johnson The engine of fiction is character. Everything comes out of the people. All you have to worry about is knowing who they are…Readers want to know who they are. Are these people I’m interested in? Do they relate to me? If they do, I must follow through with this because their stories have implications for my own life.—Charles Johnson, interviewed by Jennier Levasseur and Kevin Rabalais SORRY, SOLD OUT! |
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