Title: WritersEra |OT| Publish before you die
Reason: User Warned: Please do not be hostile towards other users and discuss your opinions with care.
. . . and? No one with ambitions beyond merely shoveling a commodity, whether it's romance or whatever, would tout the of the market as any sort of vindication. If anything, it highlights the difference between the pressure to commodify and the pursuit of an art. It's a choice most writers have to confront at some point, and it's no secret where the hell the money's at. I'm sure there are terrific romance stories out there, but they're the one that blew up sales records. It's not strictly a romance thing; the highest-grossing "sci-fi" movie is . The fans have spoken, and they want schlock. You want romance to be taken seriously, but you're touting its commodification? You do realize I'm not an investor, right? FWIW fantasy's my thing and it's taken even seriously than romance; it's just as escapist but without the financial success so what the bloody hell are doing with our sweat and time. Thing is, I'm not in denial about the quality of the average fantasy work. It'd be easy for me to say its relative obscurity has spared it from the curse of commodification, but even established fantasy authors lament that most writers of the last two generations are either still chasing the ghost of Tolkien or just trying to get their old D&D campaigns in published form. So it's mostly crap, without even a convenient excuse. FFS two of the most celebrated epics of the last twenty years both infamously . But I'm not bothered by any of this. I don't take personally the collective disdain directed at fantasy. I see it as a challenge. Now, the question is, does that make you feel better? Does it make me appear more impartial, if I show a willingness to confront the issues of my own genre with just as harsh a light? Because if so, that's a serious problem.
Link: https://www.resetera.com/threads/writersera-ot-publish-before-you-die.369/page-16#post-4216637
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