The Art of Fiction

[Jody Gomez]

Nope, not THAT Art of Fiction, but the one by John Gardner. I've been reading this work, and decided that I would discuss it here as I go along. I read this passage and it sounded like it could have come from Ayn Rand:

"The instruction here is not for every kind of writer-not for the writer of nurse books or thrillers or porno or the cheaper sort of sci-fi--though it is true that what holds for the most serious kind of fiction will generally hold for junk fiction as well. (Not everyone is capable of writing junk ficiton: It requires an authentic junk mind. Most creative-writing teachers have had the experience of occasionally helping to produce, by accident, a pornographer. The most elegant techniques in the world, filtered through a junk mind, become elegant junk techniques.) What is said here, whatever use it may be to others, is said for the elite; that is, for serious literary artists."