I'm currently reading BEATRIX POTTER'S GARDENING LIFE: THE PLANTS AND PLACES THAT INSPIRED THE CLASSIC CHILDREN'S TALES. In it, author Marta McDowell first outlines the life of "Miss Potter" and then goes through a year of plants and flowers. She illustrates both sections with photographs of the actual gardens and "Miss Potter"'s art, and with quotations from her letters.
I say "Miss Potter" in quotation marks, because Beatrix preferred her married name, Mrs. Heelis. The book leaves the impression that Beatrix Potter, author, was much more Beatrix Heelis, gardener.
When my grandfather went into the hospital and then into a nursing home, I found that his treatment shifted slightly but discernibly when I brought in a picture of him as a young man. Life outside the storyline of "an elderly man needing care" changed him into "THIS man who is now elderly."
And that made me think about genre v literary writing. Everybody says, "Know your characters inside and out -- and then leave most of it out of the book." I think that's more true of genre writing than literary. I think genre books focus nearly exclusively on the storyline, with peripherals coming in as subplots. I think literary books focus on life outside the storyline, with the storyline simply being the thread through the beads.
What do you think?
Marian Allen, Author Lady
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