Gnawing Through the Genre Leash
Goth is never forever.
Any of us who dabbled in the darker aesthetics during our formative years have surely learned that vital lesson. Graveyard dreams and existential thoughts may have given us Halloween every night, but who among us hasn’t cringed while reminiscing on the costumes we draped ourselves in?
Eventually the need for gainful employment forces grooming on us. Or we wake up one day, look in the mirror, and realize we’re getting just a little too old to continue with the shock value. Whatever the case, real life problems eventually pull us away from the smudged-mascara nightscapes and soft lull of melancholic music we once thought might never end. The dark reservoir of possibility and inspiration eventually becomes exposed as a superficial puddle of self-importance and juvenile dreams. And wet-behind-the-ears mallgoths cross our paths, making us wonder at what we must have been thinking.
But it wasn’t all bad. Somewhere within that subculture of art, music, fashion, philosophy, and lack of obedience to mainstream values we began to become the people we are today. Open-minded. Culturally aware. Creative. We may deny the traditional garb, but elements of the concepts we embraced mature, and we bring them forward with us into our new lives. They live on as the building blocks of our personalities. Even though the manifestation of these concepts change, and our haunted self-image evaporates, the reputation never truly dies.
Once a goth, always a goth.
That’s how those who think they know us best see it. Some folks have trouble recognizing a set of transitory life experiences for what they are. Ask Poppy Z. Brite. Growing beyond the vampire and slasher novels she built her young career on, Brite has chosen not to ignore the inner voice urging her to open up new worlds in her writing, adult worlds populated by night creatures of a different species…restaurant workers and the honest-to-god citizens of her hometown of New Orleans.
In a world that wants us to be everything for everyone, Brite chose to be something for herself. Walking away from the publishing framework she had been building for years, Brite prioritized personal development over another predictable paycheck. With her Liquor series, and much to the chagrin of her publishers and agent, Brite has started fresh. Not by redefining herself, just by being the writer she’s become. With two Liquor novels already in the stores, and another (Soul Kitchen) slated for an April 06 release, it appears her battle has not been for naught.
I recently spoke with Brite about the challenges she’s faced while gnawing through the genre leash. Here are some of the thoughts she conveyed:
On personality
“When people first meet me, they’re surprised. I’m a lot more normal than people think I am. Lots of people are openly disappointed by this. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a freak, just not in the ways people generally expect.”
On writing
“I don’t know anything about developing ideas into stories. I’ve been doing it most of my life, but I have no idea how it’s done…I don’t think most writers do. All I really know is that I have to let the characters have their own way. You can’t force your characters. Give them time. They will stand up on their own to tell you what they do and don’t want. Mine do, anyway.”
On publishing
“I used to have this misconception that agents and editors are just sitting in their offices waiting for their genre authors to write that “breakout” novel. Experience has shown me differently. If you’ve had any success within a genre, that is where they’ll want you to stay forever, and you’d better be prepared for a struggle if you want to do otherwise. It was hard to sell Liquor, the first non-horror novel I wrote. Every editor that looked at that manuscript expected a serial killer or vampire to pop up somewhere around page 150. I had to change literary agents. I had to find an agent who could get my manuscript in front of editors who understood I was trying to do something different. Some of my fans have liked it, and some haven’t…no different than any other book I’ve ever published. The positive reaction has far outweighed the negative. I’m grateful to the fact most of my readers are willing to read the new work with an open mind. I also seem to have garnered a large new readership with Liquor, which more than makes up for the few sworn alternakiddies I’ve lost.”
On Promoting
“Books seldom succeed or fail solely on their own merit. Terrible books rocket up the bestseller list, wonderful books languish in obscurity. Most often, a book’s sales are determined by its author’s track record and the publicity it gets. The amount of promotion I do depends on the project. I don’t do a great deal for small-press books, which tend to have a built-in and limited readership. For Liquor, I worked with my Random House publicist sending out advance copies to food-press professionals, New Orleans markets, and other interested parties and usual suspects. Good previous sales figures, my loyal fan base, and helpful friends with connections put the book on the track towards success. I’m thankful for the help I received.”
On reading
“I think favorite books change countless times over the course of a single human life. If you asked me right now, I’d have to say A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. It’s the most honest piece of fiction ever written about New Orleans. This is a book that changed the way I thought about writing about my hometown.”
On Goals
“I really don’t think in terms of goals. I just want to be as true to my characters and write as honestly about New Orleans as possible.”
— Eric Taubert, 2005
