Essay: Part of My Authorial Intent

We're deep enough into The Elf Who Would Become A Dragon now that I can confess part of what I'm doing to everyone.

One of the goals of this story is to welcome in readers who've not been served well by our education systems — readers who don't have much confidence, and who've been turned off from 'literature' because of how fucking terribly it's taught. But I'm not trying to make them like so-called 'better' writing. That's not what I'm about.

I don't look down on people who 'only' read for fun — because we all read for fun! Even when I'm reading literature, I'm only reading it because it's entertaining or edifying in some way. I read literature because I get something from it, something that I value. And so, I don't look down on people who read 'light fiction' or kitsch; I do, too.

When they tell people in school that "Only serious literature is worth reading, and you must read it," they're committing tremendous violence against children. The single most effective way to get a child to hate something is to throw them in the deep end and force them to do it. And it's even worse when literature is portrayed as this vast, status-conferring hegemony against which all other writing cannot compare. Literature isn't an exclusive club, and shouldn't be wielded as a weapon.

Let me plant my flag.

Separate from whether it is done well or poorly, writing can be divided into three levels:

• Kitsch or "low" writing does exactly what it says on the tin. You don't have to think to get what it's doing, and any feelings it gives you are very immediate. The art that lies behind the story is very simple, and probably very familiar, repeating what you encounter all the time in the wider world. Kitsch is like popcorn — easy to consume, very more-ish, and tastes great when it's seasoned well. I like kitsch.
  

• "Middle" writing has layers. There's a story, and there's stuff on the surface, but it deals with ideas that have thoughts and feelings that we have to sit with in order to really get our hands around them. Once we do, they're quite rewarding, and give us plenty to talk about with others who've enjoyed the same story. They're not just stories that entertain us, but stories which have something to say. I like this writing too.
  

• Finally, "high" or "literary" writing is like middle writing, except it goes one step further. Literary writing isn't just about the story, and it doesn't just have something to say. Literary writing specifically focuses on some part of what it means to be human — it's conveying a human experience. It's not just there to tell an interesting story (all that kitsch does) or make a point (all that middle writing does), it's there to expand our understanding of what it means to be human in some new way. Good literature is writing that, when we're done with it, leaves who we are as a person changed in some way, increasing our ability to understand and empathise with the many, messy varieties of people we meet in the world... and that doesn't necessarily mean liking them. I like this writing as well.

There is joy to be found in all three forms of writing, when they're done well. But the more complicated the thing a piece of writing is trying to do, the more complicated the techniques needed to do it, and the more experience the reader needs with writing as an artform to be able to figure it out.

Most people who bounce off literary fiction do so because it just assumes they've got the experience to pick up what it's putting down for them. That can feel alienating.

I didn't like Kafka when I first read him. "Why did this guy wake up as an insect? I don't understand this story, and I'm not entertained. The fact everyone says this is good and I don't like it makes me feel like I'm missing out, and that makes me feel stupid."

Years later, I came back with more experience, and I got it. "Oh my god... it's a satire about how we feel living under Capitalism! The guy gets turned into a bug, and his very first thought is 'How am I going to pay my rent?' It's about how cruel and arbitrary and grinding modern life is. It's about being made to feel like we're just an insect scuttling around the powers that be! It's a tragic comedy!"

The difference was that I'd become a more confident reader. With that confidence, I could now enjoy what previously had been mystifying to me. I finally saw the value, the fun in the story, and was able to get all the wry jokes.

The Elf Who Would Become A Dragon is my single best effort at writing a story which works on all three levels at once. It's a piece of genre fiction that can be read as kitsch — the story of the elf who would become a dragon. It's a work of middle fiction that uses the veil of fantasy to see with fresh eyes aspects of society around us that are in plain sight but familiarly invisible, and that also introduces ideas and concepts that aren't circulated as widely as they might be.

And, yes, it's a work of literature. It shares something about how it feels to live as a human being. And it uses literary devices to do it, because that's not something you can just throw down on the page.

I've said this story is "written with accessible language for adult readers," which is really just my way of saying "This isn't a story for children — but don't worry, I'm not putting up barriers, you'll be able to enjoy this." A lot of people gravitate toward 'young adult' stories because they know they're not going to be condescended to, not going to be turned away at the door, and because they know they'll be able to read them without feeling too confused.

My deal with the reader is simple: if you get into the first few chapters, then slowly, over all that follows, I'll gradually show you all the different aspects of writing that I know and love. I'll introduce you to the things that I enjoy about different types of writing, and do my best to make them enjoyable for you. And even if some of the things you encounter feel like a little bit of a stretch at first, I'll make this comfortable reading, so you'll get to the end and be satisfied with the fun story of Saphienne... and maybe the other things as well.

This story teaches literature. That's not all it does, and the challenge in writing it has been making sure that the teaching and the literature doesn't exclude anyone — that it never sacrifices the entertaining story, or the ideas.

And that's why, if you go back to the first chapter, and compare it to this chapter, you'll see that the "grade level" of the reading is different. I've very slowly been increasing it, getting readers comfortable, helping them gain confidence in tackling writing that's more complicated on the page. I want to share my joy of reading with everyone; I don't want anyone to be excluded.

And so, I'm introducing techniques slowly and deliberately. Like, for instance, parallelism. You can learn an awful lot about Saphienne, and the other characters, by comparing them to each other, and seeing how each reflects upon the other...

"What Distinguishes" them (Chapter 23) and "What Connects" them (Chapter 24). The ways in which they are "Mirrors" for each other (Chapter 26) and how they serve as "Prisms" to each other (Chapter 25). And where they don't seem to have anything in common, to ask about "The Presence in Absence" (Chapter 27) that might be there — the outlines visible by what isn't there.

None of the techniques of literature, like parallelism and intra-textualism and meta-textualism, are difficult to understand or boring. They're just intimidating because they're unfamiliar.

As a person, I want to give everyone the confidence to pick up any book and not feel intimidated, and to stop anyone ever making them feel stupid because they don't immediately get what a particular piece of art is trying to say. I want everyone to see the things I love in writing, from dumb jokes about elves changing lightbulbs to deep, moving emotions about how we're shaped by people we have conflicted feelings about.

Really, I just want to share.