Dr. Deadly's Book Club

THE PROBLEM

Okay, crime fiction fans…how do you feel when you meet someone at a party and they say: What do you like to read?

Excited to share, or afraid to be judged?

Dr. Deadly wants a dollar for every time she’s watched people hem and haw and test the interpersonal waters for safety before announcing they like crime fiction, or any kind of “genre” fiction, if they admit it at all. But better still is the moment when two humans signal interest, lock eyes, and find a fellow genre-lover.

For any readers too afraid of judgment to speak their truth, Dr. Deadly won’t leap to call it paranoia. Sometimes those vibes are real. Snobbery does exist. 

But the relationship between the crime fiction (CF) and literary fiction (LF) worlds may be more complicated than that. Let’s analyze the possibilities.

THE POSSIBILITIES

Dr. Deadly proposes some fun metaphors for the CF-LF relationship:

• Cousins – forever connected by DNA; can be great friends, competitors, or strangers

This makes fundamental sense, as the shared DNA of storytelling connects all fiction. The most fitting metaphorical stereotype might be cousins with different social statuses and circles of friends. 

• Frenemies – competition and bullying, alongside real or pretend friendship

The constant dual nature of the frenemy relationship – admiration is the other side of the jealousy/competition coin – is arguably present in the CF-LF mix. At first glance, it might seem a slanted playing field, with LF having the status advantage. One look at the higher sales and marketability of CF scrambles that picture. Each has something to envy in the other.

• Secret Lovers – public distance, private affection and connection

Why does love ever exist in secrecy? Dr. Deadly would boil it down to social acceptability. The wedge between CF and LF would seem as solid as between Montagues and Capulets, or Jets and Sharks, or – hmmm….. So, affection and connection can happen even where significant differences exist. Maybe a better question is: what could be the basis for CF-LF chemistry?

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL TWIST

Dr. Deadly has a theory. Remember the shared DNA of storytelling? 

An almost universal driver in fiction is conflict. The leading character’s problems, obstacles, and quest toward resolution are the engine of the story. They draw the reader in to empathize and to invest in the journey and the destination. 

A therapist might say storytelling is an important step in resolving trauma. Translating a crisis into language with a beginning, middle and end is part of understanding and overcoming our experience of human pain. 

It occurs to Dr. Deadly that CF and LF both accomplish that. What is a novel, if not a tale of a challenging time? Where classic CF and LF look different is their style of coping with painful events. Let Dr. Deadly explain…   

We use defense mechanisms, Freud said, for protection. Reactions like denial, intellectualizing, and turning to humor shield us from suffering. Sometimes we do that on purpose. Even when it isn’t a conscious choice, it serves the same goal: to save us from being overwhelmed by sadness, fear, or other hard feelings.

Here is Dr. Deadly’s take on the defense mechanisms that shape the storytelling and personalities of CF and LF.  

Crime Fiction

Crime fiction defends against the chaos of life by structure and achieving justice. Energy may be more focused on solutions than the problems. This can counterbalance and sublimate pain with curiosity, tenacity, and vindication, though it may appear to shortchange emotional depth. 

Literary Fiction

Literary fiction may employ fewer defenses in the face of life’s tragedies. It embraces the layers of personal experience and awareness. This can evoke a rawer, more deeply felt reading experience, though it might lead into unbounded emotional flooding and an inward focus that could feel out of touch. 

For both CF and LF, there is a reliance on the defense of intellectualizing to gain distance from pain, whether by parsing strategic clues or prosy analysis. 

THE RESOLUTION

Is one type of fiction “better” than another? Maybe, as with human beings, it’s less about the type of personality, and more about how well they manage themselves and get along with the outside world. 

Just as you’d be bothered by a friend’s extreme lack of empathy, wouldn’t you be annoyed by any fiction where characters’ emotions are ignored, or make no sense, or don’t ring true? And if a coworker who’s completely disorganized drives you crazy, aren’t you frazzled by any fiction that’s internally illogical, unrealistic, or missing important details? Let’s make a distinction between style and quality of writing.

Consider this, from Curtis Brown Creative’s website:

It’s commonly felt that writers of literary fiction are inherently prejudiced against books which are fast paced or tightly plotted, and that genre writers aren’t interested in good prose, complex characters or challenging themes. But bestselling author and C&W client Matt Haig has several times used Twitter to rail against what he sees as the completely false distinction made between the two; for him, the only worthwhile distinction is between books that are good and books that are bad. 

For the record…Dr. Deadly agrees. The primary characteristics of LF can be found in CF, and vice versa. 

Also, since perfect rarely exists, it’s hard to agree on where the cutoff is between “good” (or good enough) and “bad” fiction. We may be better off saying, to each their own…

So…the next time you’re at a party and someone asks, What do you read?, take a breath. Understand, respect, and love yourself enough to speak your truth. And, if the person who asked you is overly attached to their intellectualizing defenses and needs to look down their nose at you…turn it into the plot for a crime fiction bestseller.

THE POLL

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