Ground rules:
1. Be entertaining
2. Write a style
3. Put reality under pressure
4. Make it relevant
5. Connect the unconnectable
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Literary fiction has written itself into a corner. Dead mom stories and degenerative disease dramas are eminently relatable but endlessly dull. They provide few insights, only further the exposition of sadness.
The balancing and diversification of published prose toward narratives of Black, indigenous, non-white, global, and marginalized voices was decades overdue, but many publishers have revealed since 2020 their interest in diversity was as much about the aesthetics and superficial fashion of the moment as any search for racial justice (see how many published pieces are about cuisine and the material markers of “otherness” to a majority white audience rather than about justice or centering non-Western narratives).
Facing the most intractable issues of our day, or any day, really—death, disease, social justice, and genocide—stark realism can get no starker. Editors and the writers they publish are trapped in a maudlin ecosystem of sensation, so we see editors favoring unimpeachable, academic prose over risk-taking, creative writing. It’s a moment in time. Hopefully it doesn’t last forever.
Explore the entanglement of all things. Connect the unconnectable and oppose the Enlightenment-Capitalist politics of separation, hierarchy, and taxonomy.
Put reality under pressure. Celebrate chaos.
