Another back-to-back feature on the Scribbler last week and this one. We are fortunate to have Author Chuck Bowie from Fredericton, New Brunswick, who joined us last week with an essay on the topic of his writing. (if you scroll down to the end of this post, you'll find it there) He's back this week for an interview with a different format than the regular 4Q you are familiar with.The Scribbler is ever grateful to have Chuck as a frequent guest. His stories are entertaining, witty and a treat to read. You will find his links below.
Today, we’ll put Chuck on the hot seat, asking him a few questions about his favourite writing: Genre Fiction.
Genre Fiction (Or, As I Like To Call It, Fiction)
Question: Do all writers of fiction novels write genre
fiction?
Answer: Certainly, there are a number of kinds of
fiction writers, some being literary fiction writers, some genre writers. Literary
Fiction is anything that does not fit into a genre. If you’ve written The Great Canadian
Novel, in which man’s inhumanity to man is explored, it can be amazing writing,
but somewhat more challenging to classify. Oftentimes, this type of novel would
not be classified as genre writing.
Today, though, I’d like to chat about genre fiction. As a species, we humans like our
lists, our boxes…our shelves. If, for example, you write a thriller and
classify it as such, it is lumped in with millions of others. If you refine
this identification—as I do by identifying my series as an international
suspense-thriller series—it’s far easier, in this way, for the reader to
anticipate that they’ve found the kind of thriller they were seeking.
Q: So, what is genre writing?
A: Fiction
can be classified by content and theme. Here is where we find our common
genres: adventure stories, science fiction/fantasy, mystery, horror, romance,
realistic fiction, and historical fiction. One thing to keep in mind while
reading different texts: genre categories aren’t always clear-cut. You can have
a crime/mystery story set in the future (science fiction) or in the past
(historical fiction). Some readers quite enjoy ‘mashing up’ genres to suit
their reading desires. SteamPunk, for example, is an entertaining mashup of history
and science fiction.
Q: And you prefer to write genre fiction?
A: Absolutely.
Regardless of the genre (or sub-genre), this kind of storytelling encourages
the writer to create a world according to their design, populate it with the
characters they feel are necessary to tell a specific story, and begin that
story exactly where the author tells them to! That, I feel, gives my
imagination free rein to manage all of the components of the story. I like
that.
Q: Tell me more
about the specific genre of writing you engage in.
A: As I mentioned,
I am writing an international suspense-thriller series called Donovan: Thief For Hire, and
I’ve just finished Book 4, entitled The Body On The Underwater Road.
Thrillers usually begin—in the first few pages—with a dramatic act. Tension
rises, and remains quite taut throughout the entire novel. The climax is very
near the end of the book. As a thief for hire, my man Donovan travels all over
the world, taking things that don’t belong to him in exchange for large sums of
money. One of the pleasures of writing thrillers is I have the opportunity to
experience, vicariously, what it is like to do things I would never consider doing
in real life. One of the perquisites of the job!
Q: You’re
beginning another novel now. Is it a continuation of the thriller series, or
have you embarked on a new project?
A: Ah. It’s a new
series, and I’m switching genres. It will still be a mystery series, but not a
thriller. The genre for this one is a cozy mystery, set in a fictional town in
New Brunswick, in fact.
Q: What’s a cozy
mystery?
A: This genre is
a very popular form of the murder mystery (although there doesn’t always have
to be a murder, there usually is). Specific constraints include restrictions on
graphic sex, violence and language. Charm, warmth and wit are considered
attributes of the cozy. In my novel, the small town itself will in a sense
become one of the central characters the reader will love. We’ll see.
Q: Can you give
us a summary of the plot?
A: I’m sorry; no.
For many writers, it’s bad luck to say too much about their story while it’s
still being written. Suffice it to say, there will be a murder or two, the town
will be charming, and we’ll all be rooting for the protagonist.
Q: I wish you
good luck on this foray into a new genre. Will you come back to talk with us
when your fourth Donovan novel is published?
A: I’d love to! In the meantime, here’s something to ponder:
Stephen
King once posed the theory, based on the notion that all stories are love
stories of one form or another, that there are essentially three kinds of
stories. There is finding love (sometimes known as power), losing love, and
losing and then finding love. The advantage of this sort of
generalization is it’s easy to sort this type of categorization. I would argue
this applies to genre and literary fiction (as well as flash fiction!) Perhaps
we need to ask ourselves: ‘Why the compunction to classify at all?’ But perhaps
a blog on Chaos Theory is for another day.
Chuck’s
novels can be found on Amazon
Barnes and
Noble, his publisher’s site: https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore/index.php/our-authors/51-our-authors/authors-b/189-chuck-bowie
and at
Chapters-Indigo.
You can
read more about Chuck and his works at his website: http://www.chuckbowie.ca
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