I think the genre stuff is mostly a selling tool. To me, those are just tools to squeeze a little bit more out of your characters. It doesn’t matter if it’s fantasy, sci-fi, or whatever you want to talk about. We care about the connections happening between these families. In Game of Thrones, it doesn’t matter how many dragons you have. But really, stories don’t happen on the premise level. Some writers who write what is labeled “genre fiction” create these premises and become so enamored with the coolness of the premise that that’s where the stories lies. NKAB: Yeah, I feel like writing’s already hard, and when you think about the whole genre thing, how does that manifest itself in the process? Do you have to say, oh wait, this isn’t sci-fi enough let me add something? Write what you want to write. So then you start categorizing your own writing, or at least you feel pressured to categorize your writing.

I’m currently going through a writing program myself, and I think in literature programs and MFA programs, you’re always hyper-aware of categories. Working with George Saunders, I asked him, “Should I be this kind of writer, or should I be that kind of writer?” And he just said, “Yes.” And that was very helpful for me.ĮM: I definitely understand that. I spent a long time wondering if they could coexist in a cohesive book with stories that are a little bit more bound to reality or at least closer to reality. I just write whatever a story needs, but I did spend a lot of time with the surreal, or I guess stories that were outside the realm of straight literary fiction or straight reality.

Nana kwame friday black