So J.S. Watts has put me in my place…in the best way possible! As this interview series with writers of literary fiction continues, the author of the novels Darker Moon and Witchlight challenges the very basis of my questions. “Why can’t a piece of writing be both genre fiction and literary fiction at the same time?”, she suggests, effectively turning my OR into an AND. She turns equally dubious at the possibility that a writer must be either visual OR conceptual.
Fortunately, I’m not the only one on the hook. In explaining the interrelationship between genres in her writing, Watts touts the independent publisher of her novels, Vagabondage Press, as having bravely taken the chance on a story that blends literary fiction with dark fantasy and psychological horror, among others. Speaking about the rejection of her manuscript before going with Vagabondage, Watts points out the casual complaints she received from OTHER publishers about the unfortunate number of genres that exist simultaneously in her story. Boooo!
Ladies and gentleman, here is the iconoclast, the binder of genres and the connector of writing approaches, J.S. Watts.
[Read more…] about J.S. Watts: A Conversation About Writing and Literary Fiction
