Who Are We Writing For, Anyway?

Recently, teleidoplex pointed out a steampunk/weird west anthology that I should try submitting Miss Jon to, and I kind of went "eeeeeeh." I haven't seen the anthology, but by that descriptor alone I'm sure Miss Jon won't fit-- in fact, it's pretty definitively weird west but it's not, as far as I can see, particularly marketable.

It's about a wasp and a honeypot ant.

I've never really thought I could publish it anywhere because it doesn't fit what most publishers want. A lot of things I write aren't, and a lot of things that get published in my genre are not the things I really feel driven to read. Many of them are good, don't get me wrong, but very often there is a specific... type of fiction that gets published in SF&F circles. Some places deviate, but most times I can tell you "there is an Unusual Circumstance, and Characters A and B are there to enable the Unusual Circumstance" is the general formula.

I prefer "Characters A and B happen across an Unusual Circumstance. They respond!"

teleidoplex pointed out that this is largely the difference between Penis and Vagina stories. Vagina stories tend to be close-shot, more character-oriented, and are more likely to be character sketches than bald explorations of big ideas. I don't have a problem with big ideas, but quite honestly, most big ideas have been dealt with. I don't want to read another "it's the apocalypse!" story. I want to read "John and Jane and their dog Sprinkles meet the apocalypse." Some of the best big idea stories I've read have been prototypical vagina stories. E.g., this story by Damien Walters Grintalis (that I swore was a man and was pleasantly surprised to see such an insightful story by a man because it seriously never happens, until I checked her website and realized she was a woman) about losing someone to terminal illness. It's a close-shot story about two people, not about the idea, and it's gut-wrenching in ways a penis story can never be. Because you don't form a connection to an idea, and readers can tell when characters are just tools to enable the idea.

Penis stories just... don't satisfy. In fact, a lot of published fiction doesn't. And I may be accused of not being the market audience, this isn't the real root of the issue, and I'll tell you why: fanfic.

For the longest time, I never thought I liked romance. It annoyed the hell out of me at the best of times. The characters were annoying, it detracted from the story, and it tends to be annoyingly contrived. Even when I was reading straight-up romance! I didn't care. It was always the meeting of two people I didn't really care for and the tension between them and then the hook-up, but rarely was it an exploration of them as a couple, which is far more interesting.

Then I discovered fanfic, and realized that romance could be satisfying! It's not even a matter of enjoying fanfic because it's from a medium you know-- I've read some amazing fanfic for media I've never consumed, had no prior knowledge of, and never sought out after. And the romances felt engaging in ways published romances don't. It explored the characters together rather than forces apart. Given how much (good) fanfic is out there sating this need, I wonder why published fiction generally shies away from these stories? Close-shot character sketches about people engaging the Unusual Circumstance.

Even outside romance and outside fanfic, stories posted online and written by fandom people tend to fill that same niche. You can even see it a bit with published authors who got their start in fandom (like Naomi Novik).

And that's the problem, I think, with traditional publishing. You're not writing for the readers, you're writing for the editor/publisher, and what they want isn't necessarily what the market wants. As can be seen by... well, urban fantasy is written largely for women, and yet that doesn't seem to satiate fandom's desires, judging by the sort of fanfic that gets written. I don't read much urban fantasy because it's never what I want, despite it being a largely character driven genre (again with the annoying people who rarely have close, genuine moments together! Gah!)

Not that this helps me get Miss Jon sold, but it was a lightbulb moment for me. The reason I don't see a niche is because a lot of SF&F niches are the same. They're published by similar people who want similar penis stories. And cute/fun/a little silly isn't anyone's niche. At least, not in the pro market. But online, cute/fun/a little silly has served me well. It's served a lot of people well. I think there's a lot of room for these stories.

Obviously there's branching out and this isn't a black/white thing (given how many "women's" or "feminist collection" or what have you that I'm submitting to in the next couple months), but it was like "oh. That's why it's all the same and slightly missing the mark!"