I Love My Rogues

Unit: Creative Writing 212-2 - Genre Shortfiction
Crime and Fantasy Genre, week 3 readings.

I intend to focus mainly on the points raised in Forensics in Fiction, as they translate into other genres as well. However, in terms of the crime genre. Well, its rather strange, but I do not find crime very interesting to read. Strange because I do find it compelling in the television format. In particular, I enjoy Criminal Intent (of the Law and Order franchise) and I think that this perhaps comes from the fact that Criminal Intent plays with the conventions of "true" crime fiction. For those not familiar with the typical Criminal Intent structure, the show begins with a series of scenes showing the audience how the crime is set up, all the way through to its realisation. It is only after this that the detection process is begun, always relating back to what came before. Clearly, the writers have been able to retain enough information to keep the audience's interest for the full running hour.

Death and the Compass fulfills the codes of crime fiction, as readers are given clues along the way that they may choose to attempt to solve for themselves, before reaching the end. My half-hearted attempt didn't really serve me well, but on looking back over the text later, I could see the clues that would have helped. The suspense is maintained and the resolution.... well, it doesn't really fulfill the reassuring purpose of crime fiction, but it is fiction. (Remebering that crime fiction finds its popularity in being able to reassure readers that the "bad guy" is always going to be caught. It also reinstates the state apparatuses that keep society in its place. In short, our existance is pretty much made clear and confirmed in crime fiction.) The Killers doesn't work very well here. Most of this problem arises from the fact that the narrative is begun from the point of view from two hitmen. It is questionable that a crime is committed, and there is clearly no resolution. If we understand crime fiction as a reassurance that the criminals will be caught, then The Killers fails. The criminals get away, and clearly plan on carrying out their crime later. There is nothing resembling any detective work. In fact, The Killers feels completely unfinished. As this was a Hemingway piece, I was rather surprised, given his apparant popularity. (The only other Hemingway text I have read is an excerpt from Hills Like White Elephants, which in contrast was well written.)

Forensics in Fiction focuses on how research is used to create a plausible fiction narrative. I believe that such research has to work well, as crime is one of the sub-genres of "the realist" genre. Audiences of realist fiction are looking for the nitty-gritty, the feel that "this is what really happens." To have crime fiction that doesn't sustain this would be to undermine itself. This should be obvious, to anyone who stops and really thinks about it. And most writers at some point do stop and think about it. Science fiction will not work if the scientific terms they use are incorrect (like Star Wars' infamous reference to parsecs as a measure of time as opposed to length) the magic of myth is broken. Even fiction has to be plausible at some level. I have quite a lot of trouble writing to the crime and science fiction genres because of the level of intricacy required with facts. I simply don't have the patience, or, quite often, the interest required to sustain that patience. However, I think that it is a common misconception that fantasy texts require no research in order to make them work. Fantasy is my preferred genre and I know that this is not true. I've spent hours at the state library researching animals that my characters can magically turn into. My co-author spent even longer reading up on climates and geography in order to make our map work properly. So, it came as no suprise that this reading reinforced the need for "truth" in fiction. It keeps the illusion and makes us believe (not simply want to believe) that whatever we are reading is in fact happening somewhere.

I think that its absolutely no mystery that I'm a writer first and a maybe-publisher second.

(And the other connection between crime and fantasy fiction? Thieves. I love the little buggers. Who can survive without being able to pick locks, I will never understand. Granted, we lose out on many things, such as being able to actually hit things and do much (any?) damage to them, and almost dying *alot* but there is just something compelling about fantastical thieves.)



Readings

Borges, Jorge Luis. "Death and the Compass." Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings. Penguin Books. 1981. 106-117
Hemingway, Ernest. "The Killers." The First Forty-Nine Stories. London: Jonathon Cape, 1968. 224-233.
Lord, Gabrielle. "Forensics in Fiction." Writing Queensland. Sept. 2004. 6-7