July 1, 2009

Do you know these ladies?

Filed under: Uncategorized — jenny @ 3:41 pm

Colleen Thompson and Joni Rodgers, in addition to being wonderfully talented writers, have a blog called Boxing the Octopus, where they tell it like it is every day in the writing business. I’ve come to depend on them to keep me informed, entertained, and always thinking.

The other day Joni wrote about whether commercial is a bad word–or at least a declassé one–when it comes to fiction.

In my writing, commercial is the goal. I want to appeal to a large number of people. To entertain them and carry them away to my story world. This has been true ever since Dorothy suggested the possibility to me.

I’d love to hear from somebody who disagrees! Is fiction that is non-commercial better in some way? Can literature be commercial? What is literature anyway?






3 Comments »

  1. I’ve had people tell me my novel was “too commercial.” My new agent, thankfully, sees “commercial” as a good thing. I think commercial is just a word for fast-paced, and, possibly (with luck) “easy to sell.”

    Comment by Savvy — July 1, 2009 @ 4:27 pm

  2. Easy to sell…I am so hoping for this for you…but your words make me wonder. Is that why commercial has a bad taint, if indeed it does? Because it smacks of salesmanship and not “art”?

    Comment by jenny — July 1, 2009 @ 8:08 pm

  3. Thanks for sharing Boxing the Octopus. It looks like a great site.

    Comment by Judy — July 1, 2009 @ 9:18 pm

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