Comments on A Certain Bent Appeal: NaNoEdMo: When The Literary Becomes Genre Fiction

I definitely think it's true that when you sta...

2010-12-09T17:04:58.705-05:00

I definitely think it's true that when you start to write, you really do kind of aspire to write like who you're reading. During my Creative Writing classes at uni, it was so funny to see people's pieces every week - the style would change to fit the style of the writer we'd recently been studying. Everyone was still trying to find their niche.

"ErrantKnave": I am NOT going to ...

2010-12-05T17:12:54.774-05:00

"ErrantKnave": I am NOT going to judge you re: York. I don't need to get in your bad books any more than I already am! :) Anyway, I'm not really dumping on the classics, and yes I'm attracted to the particular Romanticism of English fiction a la Hardy and Lawrence. I very much enjoyed studying them in university and am so thankful to have that background understanding

*BTW please excuse these crazy long comments. I ju...

2010-12-05T16:11:37.601-05:00

*BTW please excuse these crazy long comments. I just love chatting with you awesome bookish folk!*
Guinevere: Well-done plot-driven fiction should always be ranked above painfully original literary fiction. And they say that if what you're writing is boring even you, you're not doing it right. Whenever I feel my attention waning when I'm editing a passage, I know

Alexis, I am so in love with the CanLit can...

2010-12-05T16:08:35.290-05:00

Alexis, I am so in love with the CanLit canon, even the most stodgy of it. Anne Michaels, Margaret Atwood, Sinclair Ross - bring it on! Canadian literary gothicism just appeals to my melancholy Romantic sensibility I do think, one that was born from reading lots of Thomas Hardy when I was younger. If you haven't read Hardy yet, I very much recommend you do. I really loved Jude the

Anne, I know how you feel. I didn't rea...

2010-12-05T16:04:22.925-05:00

Anne, I know how you feel. I didn't really start reading contemporary fiction until shortly before we went to Humber and thus I have so many gaps in my knowledge of post 1960's fiction, ESPECIALLY American fiction. My private school and U of T classes didn't exactly provide many opportunities there.
Katie, I found myself SO agreeing with Nicole Dixon's recent

Some notes: -There's plenty of time to write t...

2010-12-03T16:01:26.248-05:00

Some notes:
-There's plenty of time to write the GCN. It can happen.
-Bitch fights and seduction: What's wrong with writing about that? That sounds like fun.
-Maybe you were just attracted to the older books? I went to York U (yes, yes--I know--we can't be friends), and there were plenty of modern courses, but I gravitated towards 19th century British authors. I love

I figure, if it's meant to be great literature...

2010-12-02T22:23:30.152-05:00

I figure, if it's meant to be great literature it'll sort itself out in the wash. I used to have greater ambitions, but now I just set out to tell a story I'll love to read!

I love YA and read a lot of YA. I wrote one novel ...

2010-11-30T13:07:08.435-05:00

I love YA and read a lot of YA. I wrote one novel that was YA, and it sucked, but I'm pretty sure that the next novel I try to write will also be YA.

I didn't study literature in university and I actually think that was a bit of a blessing. I have an International Studies degree and a journalism diploma. I do feel a bit bad about my lack of classics, but I try to read some

Re: Lullabies for Little Criminals. THANK YOU! I t...

2010-11-29T18:47:38.735-05:00

Re: Lullabies for Little Criminals. THANK YOU! I thought I was the only person in the world who didn't get it.

The above sounds familiar in the idea that everyth...

2010-11-29T15:33:16.885-05:00

The above sounds familiar in the idea that everything I read in university was totally irrelevant, and hundreds of years behind what is actually being read today. Can Lit, aside from Margaret Atwood was never discussed at Queen's, and for that, I am eternally bitter, because I feel like these past few years have been catch up!

Ha well if Kelly Armstrong can gain recognition, t...

2010-11-29T12:46:17.974-05:00

Ha well if Kelly Armstrong can gain recognition, there's hope for all of us!
Also also, who KNOWS what the Canadian public wants. After all Lullabies for Little Criminals was insanely popular, a phenomenon I still can't quite understand.

All of the above sounds oh so very familiar. I tot...

2010-11-29T12:34:26.663-05:00

All of the above sounds oh so very familiar. I totally thought I was going to write the next great CanLit novel at one point. I've gone the YA route though because it's a genre that actually comes a lot more naturally to me. Who knows though? Maybe the next great CanLit novel is meant to be about werewolves and mad science? ;)