Quote:
Originally Posted by taosaur
I think readers of the most formulaic genre work (romance, mystery, thriller, sword & sorcery, any fan fic) buy more because they read more, and read more because they read differently. The favored genre or genres are a kind of constant in their lives, just like when someone listens to the same kind of music all the time, or like drinking tea or smoking cigarettes. Being the same thing over and over is a large part of the pleasure they take in it, which can be hard for people who read for other reasons to accept.
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I find non-"genre" fiction more formulaic than genres. In a fantasy book, for example, you can build an entire world and new kinds of characters and roles.
Your typical "fiction" work will have, say, an American police officer. They don't have to explain this role, they don't have to draw up the guidelines or the concepts behind it. It's simple plug-n-play into the role. All of the framework exists - Miranda rights, court systems, guns, police cars, etc. Maybe you make 'em an alcoholic or something, oryou can make the character interesting, but the framework stays pretty much the same.
Fantasy can explore the concepts much more widely. What if your forces for justice were traveling warrior judges who could use mind-reading powers or magic to get to the bottom of things, settle disputes, and enforce the law?
Sci-fi runs with that kind of thing also. What if you could replace a detective with a robot? What kinds of strengths and weaknesses could they bring to the role? What if you could predict the course of human society by advanced mathematics based on vast numbers of people...would it be OK to force society into a certain path?
And I'm just referring to some mainstream fantasy and sci-fi here (Mercedes Lackey and Isaac Asimov), not more really mind-bending / "literary" stuff like Gene Wolfe, for example.