Writer’s Corner: John Gardner, The Art of Fiction, Preface

I have just started this book. It is supposed to be good and helpful. I hope it is! Anyway, as I finish each chapter (or section, depending on how far I get each week) I will post my thoughts on it.

In the preface, Gardner writes that this book is for the serious writer and not for writers of “nurse books or thrillers or porno or the cheaper sort of sci-fi”. I guess writers who write those types of books are not serious writers. I will admit, I have never heard of nurse books and I don’t know what they are. I also not quite sure what he means by the cheaper sort of science fiction and how to tell it apart from more expensive science fiction. I mean, I know what I like in science fiction, but who is to say that’s what he means? I am familiar with the other type of books – thrillers, porno.

In fact, those are the genres I know the best. Science fiction, fantasy and romance, not necessarily in that order. That’s what I like to read and that’s what I like to write as well. So I guess this book is not meant for me, huh? No matter! I will read it anyway. And if I am disappointed, I guess it will be my own fault for continuing to read after he states so clearly this book is not meant for me.