Recently Kim Wright wrote a blog post about the movement of literary fiction writers into genre: http://www.themillions.com/2011/09/why-are-so-many-literary-writers-shifting-into-genre.html. It seems that the valiant lit fic types can no longer make a living writing about despair among the suburbs, thanks to the current publishing climate, and so they’re heading over to the genre slums to supplement their incomes.

Those of us who live in these genre slums can demonstrate that we’re big girls and boys by not sneering at the new kids, but it’s a little hard to do. After all, we’ve had so many years of being sneered at ourselves that it’s really tempting to get a little of our own back.

There are a couple of things I find interesting about this idea, however. The first is the genres that the lit fic types are heading for. First and foremost is mystery fiction, not surprisingly. Mysteries have always been closer to respectable than some other genres. Writers like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett have rated serious literary study, showing up in college literature courses. And writers like P.D. James have world views that are as dour as anybody writing lit fic these days.

After mysteries, these writers are turning to science fiction and fantasy, and again those are genres that have long attracted lit fic types who feel like slumming. And currently horror fiction is up there as a genre of choice as well.

Which leaves romance. You’ll notice that none of the genre-switching lit fic types is trying to write a romance novel (and no, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies doesn’t count). I wish I could say that’s because these writers don’t feel they could do romance justice, but in fact I suspect that it’s because romance is still too low-class for them. After all, no matter how many times Nora hits the NYT bestseller list, she’s still not the subject of college courses in anything other than sociology (usually as an example of where neurotic women go to let out their frustrations).

The other thing that strikes me about all this is the confidence that once lit fic writers turn their attention to genre, they’ll get it absolutely right and be instantly successful. However, that’s an argument I’ve heard before, mainly from unsuccessful lit fic writers: in their opinion, those who write literary fiction can write anything better than the rest of us. That’s because they’re writers, you see. And, of course, we’re not. Yeah, that’s the sound of my grinding teeth you hear in the background.

Anyway, I guess I wish these people well. I know how hard it is to make a living as a writer, particularly when you’ve got a tweed habit to support. And who knows? After they’ve labored in our vineyards for a while, maybe they’ll develop an appreciation for what we do. Or maybe not. It’s tough to abandon the prejudices of a lifetime. As a former literature teacher now turned romance writer, I can tell you all about that.