Friday, October 6, 2017

Class Differences in Writing

I read an interesting article today that got me thinking about various writing relating topics. One of them was the idea of class pervading literature in ways we often don't even consider. I had thought of class in literature, especially when thinking about major prizes, which almost always overlook all genre fiction. But what about within genre fiction itself? Is there still a class divide?

If there is it must be subtle, but I do think it may be there to a degree. The huge successes of writers who grew up poor or middle class, say Stephen King or JK Rowling, can make it seem absurd to even consider a class divide in genre fiction.

But I was struck in the article by the author's points about not relating to characters in what he had been reading. I feel that way very often in the genre fiction I read (though admittedly not in King or Rowling). Too often the characters are nobles or some form of warrior who is about the best in the world at what they do. What I always wanted to read about were people like me stuck in extraordinary circumstances and forced to sink or swim.

So that's what I write. My characters are ordinary people. They are an ugly sixty-something mute, or a fisherman's son who got lucky enough to marry a nobleman's daughter but is looked down upon for rising above his station. One is a hard working young Russian woman just trying to get by in a crumbling world. Another is an ex-addict with low self-esteem despairing of the world and only doing something because his dead father is egging him on. I realize when I write such characters that I may lose out on the entire readership that enjoys the higher level characters of princes and superheroes, but I can't help but want to write about what feels real to me. I want ordinary people who have to fight and claw their way to survival.
Anyway, I am so looking forward to seeing the new Blade Runner movie this weekend. I consider the original to be the best movie ever made (especially the Final Cut version). Anyone else going to see it this weekend?

6 comments:

  1. We certainly need a balance of all those characters. Superheroes have their place, but none of us is a superhero.
    Seeing the new Blade Runner this afternoon!

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    1. Lucky you. I don't expect the music will be anywhere close to the brilliance of Vangelis, but I do hope the movie will be good.

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  2. I like your point about ordinary people put into extraordinary positions. I would actually preferr reading fiction about that. I saw blade runner last night. I enjoyed it, I think you will too.

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    1. I sure hope so. My hopes may be too high. I rewatch Blade Runner every year, and I listen to the soundtrack all the time. I'm glad you liked it.

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  3. I agree that we need a balance. Frankly, the stories that have always appealed to me have involved the more ordinary characters. I don't relate to superheroes — well, as a kid, I loved Wonder Woman comics and Mary Marvel — but when it came to stories, I loved the feeling that "this could be me".

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    1. I never liked superhero comics as a kid. I always felt that there was no true danger to them. Plus they kept capturing terrible bad guys and then just imprisoning them, when we knew they were going to get out again and kill more people. I never understood that. To me it made the superheroes complicit in the deaths of those innocents.

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