busy1) Sometimes, the brain gets tired before the body is ready to fall asleep. Then it is nice to have something pleasant to read that will not require extra brainwork to parse. Knowing when and how to relax your mind is important. Pushing yourself all the time leads to burnout.
2) Sometimes, when people feel down, they want to read something that is guaranteed not to punch their feelings in the face. Sadly that is not a default; much entertainment includes roughness. Comfort reading is a healthy coping mechanism. We should be encouraging people to do that instead of, say, getting drunk. Yet we have ads for booze, while people mock comfort reading.
3) None of this has anything to do with the quality of the literature, just its content, purpose, and target audience. Yet some people persist in claiming that this kind of writing is necessary shabby.
4) Liking this stuff does not make you bad, weak, lazy, dumb, or any of the other nonsense things people dredge up to criticize other people's taste in literature. It's your time and money. Read what you please.
5) Writing this stuff does not make you a hack. In my experience, it is actually more challenging to write gentle fiction because its parameters -- no sex, violence, or foul language -- rule out a majority of mainstream storytelling. Coming up with an engaging plot requires exploring low-traffic nooks of literature. Light reading can rely on stock plots and characters, but then you have to somehow make them interesting despite the repetition: not a simple task. Easy reading requires keeping an eye on vocabulary and grammar. Comfort reading, which can attract a very devoted following because everyone's life has days that suck, requires creating something that is captivating without being stressful and leaves the reader with warm fuzzies. It's an emotion-driven genre, much like horror is predicated on scaring people for fun. But it's often easier to go down than up; that's physics. It takes more energy to lift someone's emotions, and you have to put that into the storytelling somehow.
October 15 2013, 21:08:41 UTC 7 years ago
October 16 2013, 04:06:59 UTC 7 years ago
Also...
October 16 2013, 04:12:11 UTC 7 years ago
October 15 2013, 22:28:46 UTC 7 years ago
Or, the gentleness of the characters' culture can be a recurring surprise to us -- as in McCall Smith's Botswana books.
Yes...
October 16 2013, 01:09:13 UTC 7 years ago
October 16 2013, 04:13:52 UTC 7 years ago
Well...
October 16 2013, 04:34:29 UTC 7 years ago
Re: Well...
October 16 2013, 04:41:24 UTC 7 years ago
October 16 2013, 04:31:01 UTC 7 years ago
That said, I totally agree with you. Keeping a story G-rated and still interesting requires a deft touch with the keyboard... especially if it goes with the *spirit* of the thing in that violence *isn't a plot point*... do well enough at it and it will often get you a Newberry. :)
(Indeed, one of my favourite books as a tweener, Jean Craighead George's My Side of the Mountain, is gentle fiction.... and won a Newberry Honor medal. :)
Yes...
October 16 2013, 04:35:53 UTC 7 years ago
Re: Yes...
October 16 2013, 05:23:24 UTC 7 years ago
Re: Yes...
October 17 2013, 01:50:02 UTC 7 years ago
The plot is okay for a hero story; the flight scenes are incredible; and the climax and ending (flimsy waffles notwithstanding) is excellent. Also, I've known folks like Gune, who make stuff and later figure out what it does. :)