Larvatus Prodeo

A recent thread on LP exploring literary categorisation made me wonder more, not less, about the difference between ‘genre’ and ‘literary’ fiction, or, as a few LP-ers implicitly referred to that supposed dichotomy: ‘good’ v. ‘bad’ writing. In fact it quickly became clear that most agree that things are not parsed this way at all - that while there is such a thing as ‘good’ writing and ‘bad’ writing, there is also such a thing as ‘good bad writing’ and ‘bad good writing’.

Great, then.

Having failed at my latest attempt to write a good ‘good’ novel – congrats to William Elliot, by the way, the jammy over-rated Johnny-come-lately judge-blowing taxpayer-leeching little bastard scumbag arsenobber of a literary loser winner - I am still pretty much in the dark about ‘good’ writing. So, entirely uninvited and eminently ignorable, I am hoping to enlist this blogsite in the service of making the distinction between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ writing clearer.

Here’s the challenge…odd and presumptuous but one which might also amuse a few regular contributors/readers, and leave us all a bit clearer about the qualitative nature of literature. More than happy for anyone to amend or fine tune it to make it more useful and accessible.

The Literary Information:

John Smythe’s wife Jane is three months pregnant. John has just learned that she and his Best Man David Jones have been having an affair. John enters a sex club where he knows David is drinking, approaches him at the bar and stabs him in the throat with a sharp object.

The Literary Challenge:

In no more than 1000 words (normal /- 10% limits apply, tho’ the fewer the ‘better’, if Bellow is to be believed?) convey all this narrative information in a piece of fiction prose of any stated style, category, genre, etc. (You may set this basic narrative/character information within any broader assumed or implied additional narrative/characterisations you like).

Your piece can be as ‘good’ a piece of writing as you can manage or as ‘bad’ a piece of writing as you can manage – both judged according to the criteria of your chosen style/genre/category. You should nominate whether your piece is a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ attempt; if you’re bored and have lots of blogging time, you may even enter both a ‘good’ and a ‘bad’ entry in the same category/style/genre. Whatever, you should be prepared to ‘theorise’ about why your specific example is ‘good’/’bad’ as the discussion ensues. This may include explaining what you think the good/bad criteria for your chosen categories/etc are in the first place. Discussion in the thread can thence explore the ‘whys’ of ‘good’ writing and ‘bad’ writing examples on a ‘level playing field’ – that is, using the internal conventions/demands of each prose vehicle as its own set of ‘good/’bad’ benchmarks (rather than trying to qualitatively square off Tim Winton and Stephen King, etc)…all while demanding of us would-be fiction writers a collective, qualitative discussion of ‘good’ v. ‘bad’ literature as per usual (yawn)…BUT using concrete examples we provide, thus putting our own words where our big mouths are.

Continue reading ‘Guest post by kkkkkkk: the LP Literary Challenge’