What is Literature Anyway?

After yesterday’s initial foray into the world of the break out novel, we were left with the daunting task of trying to figure out what a good book is, or what literature is. Unlike J. Evans Pritchard, PhD (Good for you, if you caught the Dead Poet’s Society reference!), I don’t think literature can be measured on a table. How do we do it then?

When my students and I talk about literature, the first place we start is with the definition of a “good” book. The concept of the good book conjures up a lot of stereotypes for my students: often books that employ artifice the student does not want to read, books that are long, or books written in a stilted or older language. Students enjoy genre books. They suggest these books are not the same as “good” books. I try to challenge their notions that some of them are INDEED good books, so we need to tweak the concept of what we conceive of as good.

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Originally published at Writer Tamago. You can comment here or there.

And another one bites the dust…

Donald Maass sends a polite rejection.

I have noticed among some of you a reluctance to be rejected. It is an important part of your growth as a writer. Everyone tells you that you will be rejected much more than you will be published, and it’s true. Please don’t allow it to keep you from sending things out. Every rejection I get for a query I write is someone who will remember my query as professional and sincere. Perhaps the next time I take a manuscript out for a spin, they will remember the promise of this one, or that they were favorably inclined toward me.

You can’t build that kind of coin when you stop sending out queries, or you’re afraid to.

***

The other trap a lot of new writers fall into is “revision unto perfection.” I’m not a seasoned pro, so take this advice for what it’s worth, but you may want to work on something else, sit on the rejected work for a while (I’m thinking a year or two) and circulate something new. Why? Because several agents ask you specifically not to resolicit a work they’ve rejected. I think that you may need substantial time to re-envision your work, so that it is truly something different for them.

This would be the keep writing advice.

Wow. Who put this soap box here, and when did I decide to climb up on it? I’m getting back to making dinner.

Catherine

Originally published at Writer Tamago. You can comment here or there.