Uhh... A New Genre?

By JPGriffin · Dec 14, 2011 · 391 · 3
  1. It's depressing to see a superstar get paid millions of dollars a night, and get arrested for DUI only to be given a slap on the wrist and a scolding. It's depressing to see that the new movie you've wanted to see badly turns out to be a total bust. It's depressing to know that the TV series you've followed for the past couple of years is going to be discontinued. But this? Really?

    My holiday shopping excursion, which ended up taking the entire night, was going well- With pretty decent gifts for under $20 a person, I was satisfied that the hole in my wallet wasn't going to be too big. So I decided to do a little shopping for myself, and I'll admit that I rarely do indulge myself in impulse purchases. Of course, I decide to go to Barnes and Nobel, the big-brand bookstore almost anyone knows. I browse the sections and find nothing that catches my eye. All of the Sci-fi series look alike, war-torn and wasteland-ish, and nothing in the fantasy section caught my eyes. As usual, I avoided the romance and teen romance sections, and go into the fiction. Still, nothing. So I decide to look again in Fantasy, skimming the sections in between. Teen Fiction, nothing interesting, Mystery, a few things, and then I see it. In the bold white on green background, "Teen Supernatural Romance." I lost a LOT of hope for society in that one section. Twilight can be classified as a Romance, as well as many other Vampire-romance novels (notice, they are ALL vampires), and I was ready to walk out of the store then and there. I would have, too, if I had my own ride (Still a pedestrian). So, I find myself again looking at the fantasy books, hoping to find some salvation in the written words of master writers, who can bend and twist realities in any way possible, and I can't find anything. So, where did all of these amazing writers go? Why is it that everyone has to follow the money-making trend, giving up all important values of writing, creativity, and originality? A message to all writers: not everyone is interested in a vampire-romance novel.

    Sadly... It still sells...

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  1. mugen shiyo
    It would be nice to see something that leaves you with the genuine feeling that you've read something new and undiscovered. I got that feeling when I first started reading the Wheel of Time series years ago. It was different from the usual orcs, goblins, trolls, and a band of do-gooders against a powerful evil entity thing.

    You made me stop and think when you said how most of the sci-fi and fantasy is just war-torn and wastelandish. Made me wonder if my own writings were just pale imitations.

    Keep hoping, I suppose...
    mugen shiyo, Dec 14, 2011
  2. JPGriffin
    I don't mean to offend- in fact, that's one of the few things I rarely intend to do. I was generalizing- every book has its own little catch that makes it worth reading, and besides who wants to read about a time of peace and prosperity? I hate to say it, but as luxurious as that might seem, people want to read about power struggles, wars, chaos, et cetera. It's not a bad thing to be inspired by other sources, and no writing can ever be called "Pale Imitations-" Many people write for different reasons, but their writing does more than just copy a story down. The way a person writes, the way they describe their world, the way their characters act, it's all reflections of the writers, expressing who they are as a person.

    I'd like to apologize if I was offensive. Every person's work is uniquely their own, and no matter how original an idea is, it always has its roots somewhere. So yes, all writing is essentially an imitation. It's just a matter of how that writing is altered and personalized.
    JPGriffin, Dec 15, 2011
  3. mugen shiyo
    Offensive? Perish the thought, lol. I agreed with you completely. And again, for that matter. It's just that it would be good to find a sort of action adventure that didn't involve the more-or-less generic formula. Something really different other than a new angle on an old painting.
    mugen shiyo, Dec 18, 2011
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