On FaceBook, Elizabeth Hand noted:
One of the things I love about reading & writing crime fiction is that highly improbable actions & coincidences are tolerated, even encouraged.
Which inspired me to note:
And both fantastic fiction and contemporary-mimetic fiction don't have quite the carte blanche to deal in the extraordinary from the git-go that crime fiction does, as the former (and historical fiction) are trying to establish a baseline of life as it is usually lived, particularly when in very alien-to-the-presumed-reader circumstances, while crime fiction, which by nature is all about disruption, can and even needs to deal with the extraordinary in a "realistic" context rather early on...
So, after that exertion, it was time for me to continue to lie down.
One of the things I love about reading & writing crime fiction is that highly improbable actions & coincidences are tolerated, even encouraged.
Which inspired me to note:
And both fantastic fiction and contemporary-mimetic fiction don't have quite the carte blanche to deal in the extraordinary from the git-go that crime fiction does, as the former (and historical fiction) are trying to establish a baseline of life as it is usually lived, particularly when in very alien-to-the-presumed-reader circumstances, while crime fiction, which by nature is all about disruption, can and even needs to deal with the extraordinary in a "realistic" context rather early on...
So, after that exertion, it was time for me to continue to lie down.
Hope you are having a very relaxed weekend Todd :) I do know what you mean, though one would hope that generic slippage has finally caught up with the rest of us and rules are allowed to go out the window as needs be.
ReplyDeleteWell, labels can be useful, if honest and not meretricious and certainly not if mistaken for straitjackets.
ReplyDeleteBut certain rules do have their reasons, and one should know the latter before breaking the former. Even commercial romance publishers and fans don't Require Happily Ever After (HEA) conclusions any longer...and thus the art progresses.
It was the strain of stating the pretty obvious I needed to rest after....thanks.
I've just now begun grappling with your thought. I can see where I shall need a nap soon...
ReplyDeleteJust let it soak in.
ReplyDelete