{"id":384,"date":"2020-06-29T06:00:37","date_gmt":"2020-06-29T14:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/?p=384"},"modified":"2020-06-29T10:39:11","modified_gmt":"2020-06-29T18:39:11","slug":"on-deciding-what-to-read","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/2020\/06\/29\/on-deciding-what-to-read\/","title":{"rendered":"On deciding what to read"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was working on a novel (questing in a strange world is not the same as anyone expects it to be, including the inhabitants of the city in which a group of people quest) and the obvious hit me over the head, hard. I\u2019m going to hit you over the head with it, because I\u2019m kind in that way<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Any novel contains <\/span>world building. We, as readers, enter<\/span> the world the writer has written.<\/p>\n

That wa<\/span>s not the head-hitting thought. That\u2019s an element of my current research. A tiny one.<\/p>\n

All writers build worlds. Some of us have worlds that look like our own world (for example, in literary fiction) and some have strange worlds where it\u2019s unsafe to walk (in horror, in science fiction, for instance)<\/span>. Most writers find their place in between the extremes (for extremes are harder for readers \u2013 I\u2019ll get to this, it\u2019s part of the head-hitting) and their novels fit<\/span> into a genre partly according to the nature of the world and how it\u2019 written and partly due to the complex processes of marketing and sales.<\/span><\/p>\n

T<\/span>he reader finds their favourites and devours b<\/span>o<\/span>ok<\/span> after book and everyone\u2019s happy.<\/p>\n

Except\u2026 that\u2019s not true. Which bit of that last <\/span>paragraph isn\u2019t true? The \u2018everyone\u2019s happy\u2019 bit.<\/p>\n

When we don\u2019t want to use too many tricks to lure pe<\/span>o<\/span>ple<\/span> into our worlds or when we want the reader to feel comfortable in the world of the novel or when we want the reader to focus on the action and not the background to it, we d<\/span>r<\/span>aw<\/span> from mainstream culture. We draw, m<\/span>ostly, in fact, white male US culture. It\u2019s the easiest to draw from and it\u2019s also the easiest to market. <\/span><\/p>\n

Writers mostly don\u2019t draw from<\/span> the best and most interesting of white male US cultures<\/span> (for there are so many sub-cultures in white male US culture that are not the ugly types we see on international news all the time) but from <\/span>the canned versions. The ones where all the acceptable bits have been sh<\/span>o<\/span>ved<\/span> into a tin and preserved so that all the subtlety is lot and the contents taste the familiar.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not many publishers are trained to identify this<\/span> canning. Their greatest strengths includes identifying good writing and selling it. Not spotting canning and saying, \u201cLook! Canning!\u201d Some can and many can\u2019t. This helps canning stay at the heart of many successful novels.<\/span><\/p>\n

Canned food is not necessarily bad food. It can be tasty. It can even be delightful. <\/span>We all have favourites. How good is baked beans on toast in midwinter, for example? In fact, <\/span>classics can come from cans<\/span>, in literature as in food.<\/p>\n

Now to the hitting. (The last two paragraphs were the warm up.)<\/p>\n

When we eat too much canned food, fresh food comes as<\/span> a shock. Literally. A physical shock to the system. Live on canned food for a year, then eat some lettuce. The body isn\u2019t use to the lettuce. I know someone who had diarrhoea from eating lettuce after a diet of canned food \u2013 it too her stomach a while to adjust to the more varied diet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Culture is the same. <\/span>When we rely only solely on<\/span> pre-cooked culture, then it becomes really uncomfortable to read books that are similar but don\u2019t quite fit. Books with female chief protagonists, or without sexual tension as a major driver, or with characters who come from cultures we\u2019re not so familiar with or\u2026 it\u2019s such a long list because it\u2019s 90% of the world that isn\u2019t represented. A<\/span> a lot of our fiction comes to us with those edges and differences ironed out, for our comfort. Most of us have been eating only canned food for a long, long time.<\/span><\/p>\n

W<\/span>hat we\u2019ve muted in ourselves is the capacity to be comfortable with even small differences from our cultural norm. Differences between books have to fit within the canned range. Remember, that can be good food \u2013 it\u2019s a type of food, though, and represents a limited range of culture. Those of us who are not American and not white and not male find ourselves having to include elements of this canned culture in our books if we want a wider audience. (Why I don\u2019t have a wider audience \u2013 the simple reason.)<\/span><\/p>\n

There are tools in novels that help explain cultural differences. This means that some types of novels are more open to telling stories from different backgrounds. <\/span>In some genres (historical fiction, for instance) a certain amount of simple description is standard, because<\/span> Medieval history cannot be depicted in US cultural norms\u2026 the modern US didn\u2019t exist. In <\/span>oth<\/span>e<\/span>rs<\/span>, the explanations could be there, but aren\u2019t. For example, in <\/span>action fantasy with elves where the elves are not described in detail t<\/span>hose elves become canned elves.<\/p>\n

The action is still fine and the book may be awesome and I\u2019ll read it. The next book I read after the action elves, however, will not rely as much on that same cultural base. It will be the novelistic equivalent of fine dining, or a picnic, or a salad. It would<\/span> make me sick if I<\/span> lived<\/span> on a diet based almost entirely <\/span>on the canned world those elves come from.<\/p>\n

We (writers) construct the cultures in our novels from what we know. Publishers and, indeed agents, choose the writers that write material that most people are likely to recognise<\/span> to know. That sells better.<\/p>\n

It is also one of the causes of all the real nastiness that has been done to women and people from minority groups of all kinds and that\u2019s erupting over social media right now.<\/p>\n

Read the bo<\/span>o<\/span>ks<\/span> you love by the authors who fit best into mainstream culture. Good writing should not be thrown out (baby\/bathwater situation).<\/p>\n

R<\/span>ead other things as well. Support the publishes who take that deep breath and say, \u201cI can run a gourmet restaurant,\u201d or even \u201cI can publish something by this brilliant author. It has<\/span> a trans-woman as lead character and it is <\/span>wonderful.\u201d Find out who is interesting (<\/span>writers, publishers, critics who tell us about what\u2019s out there) and use them as your private cookbook.<\/p>\n

Did I hit anyone hard enough? Let me try again.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible to die younger from never eating fresh food,. Life is so much more fun and interesting if the food is delicious and healthy and tempting. When I cook (which is often), I go out of my way to discover new flavours that fit within my personal limitations, for that is me as someone Jewish, who\u2019s allergic to so many things. I remain a foodie despite my limitations <\/span>and it makes my life better.<\/p>\n

I will read most genres happily (horror gives me nightmares, so I admire the darkest horror writing from a safe distance most of the time) and within each genre I read, I\u2019ll look for a good mix of the old-fashioned (hot chips FTW) and something that intrigues me and excites me (right now that\u2019s home cooked Korean food) and something gourmet that takes me out of my comfort zone (last week it was a Medieval dish).<\/p>\n

My balance in reading is like my balance in co<\/span>o<\/span>king<\/span>. Sometimes I need more comfort food, sometime I need a green salad, sometimes I need a strange and wonderful dinner with friends and sometimes I see a dish on TV and say, \u201cI have to<\/span> to try that.\u201d My balance. My food. And, with books, my reading.<\/p>\n

If all of us only eat canned food, there is no other food to taste. The supermarkets will have all canned food. No fresh. No dried. No precooked meals. Just rows and rows and rows of cans.<\/p>\n

Every single one of us as readers (or as people who say \u201cI\u2019ll read sometime\u201d) is part of the current literary landscape. Our choices can push the bigots and the bullies and those who benefit from bigotry and bullying into the place their works actually command, rather than them dominating the store.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t all have to shout. We do all have to consider our reading and what it means.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t ever have to give up reading or destroy the fun in it. Don\u2019t self-immolate to save the world. Make things more interesting for yourself, instead.<\/p>\n

(I use <\/span> some US English there. Are you impressed with me?)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was working on a novel (questing in a strange world is not the same as anyone expects it to be, including the inhabitants of the city in which a group of people quest) and the obvious hit me over the head, hard. I\u2019m going to hit you over the head with it, because I\u2019m […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":386,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384\/revisions\/386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}