Forbidden Topics

Writers explore the depths of humanity’s experience. At the same time, there are topics that we aren’t allowed to plumb.

Let me back up a bit. When I started to teach myself about which literary magazines would accept what kinds of stories, I spent a lot of time reading the do’s and don’t’s of the editors. Some won’t allow men to write with a woman’s voice or vice versa. Others disallow sex scenes and some forbid topics without which Nabokov could never have written Lolita. Write short, still others say, anything over 1000 words is too long.

Being a compliant sort, I tried for a while to avoid those things that would get me into trouble. When someone is established, however, I’ve noticed, they can break all the rules and get rich. So why are topics forbidden?

I know editors. A good friend is one. And editors are people with tastes and prejudices just like the rest of us. The problem is, there are a limited number of places that like the kind of thing I write, and the internet has spawned millions of writers who submit material. I am just one spermatozoon among the whole ejaculate. I don’t often reach the ovum first. Therefore I comply.

Successful writers, once upon a time, got their start in places like Playboy. I’ve written material, maybe a little too intellectual for the liking of their average readers, exploring the angst of being a sexual creature. Nobody wants to complicate that.

Perhaps it’s too personal. Perhaps nobody wants to face the monster that dwells inside.

I recently read a story by an established writer that contained a rape scene that made me squirm for an entire page. I don’t like such topics, and I wasn’t expecting it in this particular story. Yet this was in a printed book by a major trade publisher. Forbidden topic.

Is it too naive to want to write for the good of humanity? To impress excellence, if at a cost? Most of my characters are victims. They have tried and failed. Their dreams experience vivisection and scream aloud. Failure is a forbidden topic.

Bright, cheerful, optimistic. Stories with loud, clashing noises and bright colors but minimal descriptions. And don’t try a funny novel—nobody wants to read such things. Play by the rules and get wealthy. Or be authentic. The choice is yours.

Comments

Patterns

There’s a pattern I’m noticing. For fiction publishers. Even if you aim low you’ll find it a struggle. Part of the reason is the pattern. Lots of websites list publishers. The smaller, hungrier presses either eventually close or get to a place where they require an agent to get in. That’s the kiss of death. Although my stories have won prizes, and been nominated for prizes, I can’t get an agent interested. I’ve queried well over a hundred, so the agent route is one of diminishing returns. This too is a pattern. Back to the smaller presses. I check many lists. What I write, you see, is highly idiosyncratic. It’s literary but it’s weird. Publishers don’t know what to do with it. If a smaller press published stuff like this, I’d find it. The pattern includes writers who never get discovered. Ironically, a number of editors of fiction literary magazines (mostly online) tell me they enjoy my wor...

Creative Righting

Rejection of my writing is a rejection of my imaginative world. That’s why I was cheered by the acceptance of one of my stories this week. That makes number 31. I’ve been working on a lot of fiction lately, even as nonfiction book number 6 is going to press. The ideas are still there, and bizarre as ever, but publishing venues just aren’t welcoming. The other day I had lunch with a professor whose wife is also a professor. She just had her first novel published, and so he pointed me to her indie publisher. I went to their website to learn that they’re closed to submissions. I have to admit that my latest accepted story, “Creative Writing Club,” was probably given the green light because I know the editor. That seems like a pretty dicey way to get any notice, doesn’t it? You have to know the right people even in the low circulation world. My fiction is difficult to classify. It’s got speculative elements to it. ...

Maybe Okay

A couple pieces of encouraging news, perhaps, dear struggling writers. I had a couple short stories accepted for publication in recent weeks. As a fellow writer recently said, “You've got to keep trying. Somebody will like what you wrote.” That’s a bit of sunshine. And it’s likely true. But the stories: “The Crossing,” about two men in a boat trying to cross the Atlantic, was accepted by JayHenge Publishing. JayHenge is a small, but paying publisher. I was flattered when they wanted it for their Masque & Maelström: The Reluctant Exhumation of Edgar Allan Poe anthology. Being associated with Poe in any way feels good. The second story, “St. Spiders’ Day,” had been brewing in my mind for years—yes, this is a long game! A friend pointed me to The Creepy podcast. Since the story hadn’t been written, I followed their guidelines of what they wanted. It worked. I recently heard a successful wri...

K. Marvin Bruce

Search This Blog