In Defense of Genre Fiction

“I believe in the power of fiction…” was how I started my 2022–2023 MFA statements of purpose. There was really no follow-up, so even if anyone had gotten to my SOPs, it would have turned out pretty bad anyway. What I mean to say, though, is that I believe in the power of fiction to reach the unreachable. bell hooks said, in “Theory As Liberatory Practice” that “any theory that cannot be shared in everyday conversation cannot be used to educate the public.” When I read this phrase, I exclaimed (maybe aloud, maybe in my mind): “You explained my thinking to me!” The true power of genre fiction lies is not only for the interested to build bridges to the marginalized, but, more importantly, to create a bridge where one would otherwise not exist.

My application materials last application cycle, I quipped with my partner, were not for the male gaze. To be fair, my aggressively crude, surreal, feminist themes tend to be a little unpalatable to those who are still enmeshed in patriarchal, neurotypical, and/or otherwise colonized mindsets. In Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses the argument is made that “(We) are regularly told to know the rules before (we) can break them. (We) are rarely told that these rules are more than just craft… (or) that rules are always cultural. The spread of craft starts to feel and work like colonization.” I love that point! However, many are not ready for it. My work not being for the male gaze means that I had not yet, at that time, colonized my thinking enough to adequately share the value of my ideas through writing within the…