A tour of the genresNelson, Macmillan, and Harper San Francisco have the field mostly
to themselves, but that will probably change over time, too.
One thing that will not change is readers' fascination with faith,
grace, spirituality, conversion, and the struggle to come to terms
with Christian values. As subjects for fiction, those will doubtless be
with us for several millenia more.
MAINSTREAM: YOUR OWN GENRE
As I suggested in Strategy Session I, the term mainstream is some-
what misleading. There is, per se, no such thing as a mainstream
novel. Customers browsing in bookstores do not think to them-
selves, "Gee, I feel like a good mainstream reading experience."
Rather, they seek out favorite authors, or at least stories of a type
that they want to read.
For that reason, I maintain that so-called mainstream authors
are not tapping into a preexisting readership, but must grow, one
reader at a time, their individual audiences. They must make their
own genres.
Doing this is as easy—and as difficult—as writing a novel that is
distinctive from all others, yet that captures the common experi-
ence of many. A few unique voices that I admire are Irwin Shaw, Pat
Conroy, John Updike, Anne Tyler, Jonathan Carroll ... I could list
dozens. I am sure that you could, too.
To be sure, some authors are chameleons. They can leap between
periods, change styles, and borrow from the genres with ease. Joyce
Carol Oates is one example. These authors are admirable, but
somehow their oeuvres do not satisfy me as deeply as those of
authors who stick to a single vision, a personal outlook. F. Scott
Fitzgerald, Erskine Caldwell, even P. G. Wodehouse ... I am drawn
to them by the unity of their work.
That is not to say that authors should imitate themselves. That
would be creative suicide. I do think, though, that there is some-
thing to be said for sustaining one's focus on a particular corner of
the world, exploring one's given outlook and gifts.
One of the century's best-sellers, underappreciated today, was
Nevil Shute. A British aeronautical engineer, his fiction was always
informed by his flying and military experience, leading him to tales