Domain-specific knowledge

When so-called โ€œliteraryโ€ authors attempt to write fantasy of sf, all they tend to do is to make it boring rather than to improve it.

I expect more. Often lit authors are more facile with language and have greater skill at crafting a good sentence.

If they used this for good rather than evil it would actually better both genres.

But thatโ€™s usually not what happens. Instead, what results is an inept bricolage of clichรฉs and utter dullness.

Like Hank Hill said of Christian rock, โ€œCanโ€™t you see youโ€™re not making Christianity any better, youโ€™re just making rock โ€˜n roll worse,โ€ lit authors delving into fantasy and sf often enter those fields without knowing any of the conventions, stereotypes or failed premises and then make fools of themselves.

Not really offering a solution, just wishing for better because I think it could be better.

0 thoughts on “Domain-specific knowledge

  1. That’s because “literary” writers are more focused on symbolism and description rather than plot. MFA programs tend to fetishize “universality” and “internality” so you get very inert stories where nothing or nothing much happens.

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