So the other day I'm talking to somebody at work. Not somebody I work with but somebody who's tires I'm checking. She's taking creative writing as her major and I say "oh cool, what do you write?"
She replies "nonfiction and poetry. Do you write?"
I say yes! In fact I do!
"Oh what do you write?"
"Genre. Mostly sci-fi."
"oh. Cool."
And bam. I just went from cool guy to dork, just like that. Maybe it's just in my head - it probably is - but I could just feel the swagger of my "why yes I am an author" run away from the situation like it's ass was on fire. The follow up question: "did you write a book?" persuaded it to run faster when I answered "yeah but... It's not published. I'm getting my name out in the short story market right now."
Not really a George McFly "I just couldn't take that kind of rejection!" but I heard it that way.
I think one day I'll be looking back at this as I stroll into a convention, full of piss and vinegar, the "cool" sci-fi writer, girls screaming like I was the damn Beatles... I'll have a good laugh. But man, try saying you write science fiction and try to look like the groovy sonofabitch you know you are. It aint easy.
Wordslinger-117 out.
The same thing happens to me when I mention that I write fantasy. I've reverted to saying I write "surrealist fiction." It's easier, and people don't treat you like you want to get published with Tor.
ReplyDeleteHaha! I've started saying speculative fiction myself. But you hit the nail on the head: there's a look that says "so you write those little mass market books."
ReplyDelete