Over on the excellent io9 blog I
spied an entry stating Ms. Rowling doesn't read fantasy “…but I’ll give any book a chance if it’s
lying there and I've got half an hour to kill.”
So wait, she does read fantasy?
At any rate, this struck me as odd. It
seems to me if an author’s work naturally and easily fits into a category, it
would be because the author enjoys reading within aforementioned category. How
else would you know if what you’re writing hasn't been done ten million billion
times before? Some of the comments over at io9 expressed dismay, or took
offense, which I can’t agree with. Some of those folks seemed to think she was “dismissive
of the genre” which made her so much money. Some supported Rowling, saying that
perhaps her ignorance of the genre helped usher in a fresh perspective (which
sounds like crap to me). I would go into anaphylactic shock if forced to read fantasy,
so I don’t care what influences her, as her work doesn't interest me. But it
would be foolish to ignore such a successful author, no matter the genre.
The way I understand it, if an author
wants to be taken seriously (as in, win an award that doesn't have a planet in
the title), then they won’t write sci-fi or fantasy stories. In the interview, J.K.
comes off like a model who got into acting then realized people only wanted her
in movies because she was pretty, and is always on the verge of a hissy fit because
she wants to be taken seriously.
Here’s my point: I have read as much
sci-fi as possible because I love it, and when I write, all of my work gravitates
toward what I love. I don’t care about the Pulitzer or if anything I write gets
held up in a college course as an example of excellence. I would be ecstatic if
I were like the McDonald’s of science fiction. Millions of people would love my
work, even if they act like they don’t when they’re with friends.
