Imagine entering a store to buy some clothes for the upcoming year. In the athletic section there’s one style of outfit and it comes in four basic colors that all go together. The same is true for casuals clothes, business outfits, and outer wear. Only one style; only the same four colors. What would you do? You might try to find a clerk to ask the reason for this unusual lack of selection. You might not find one because there’s no real need for assistance in a store with such limited variety.
Would you simply buy some clothes because you can’t walk around naked in public? Steve Jobs’ “uniform,” the all black outfit with a turtleneck, was iconic because it was his choice of a simple outfit. No one else would have noticed it if everyone else followed his style due to lack of choices.
I thought about those questions when dealing with a person who assured me most people prefer to buy novels repeating the same kinds of characters and tropes. The questions in the first paragraph is also a good set for an author who assures us that readers don’t want to deal with anything over a sixth grade level. And these questions should be asked of those that insist readers prefer not to suffer through reading about serious or difficult concepts. However, this defensiveness about aiming work at the average audience makes me wonder.
In my mind I imagine a kind of Orwellian book selection, similar novels that are rearrangements of the same characters and plots, written at different levels for the upper, middle and proletariat readers. Then, I recall a scene in 1984 when the main female character appears in a old woman’s dress, rather than the typical utilitarian overall/jumpsuit. The dress is appealing because it is different and not following the style everyone else wears.
At what level should books be written? There are upper and lower limits for reader engagement and comprehension, but there is a wide range in between. I try to find a reading level that is both comfortable for me to read and to write. This it is not always the same. Writers should not be pigeon-holed. There is no need to assume they must cling to the style and subjects that they used when initially published. I was fond of Robert Louis Stevenson’s “A Child’s Garden of Verse” when young, But, many years later I became intrigued by the predicament described in “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” How egotistical it seems for readers to limit the artistic growth of writers by demanding the same kind of fiction repeatedly.
The truth is most readers aren’t doing that. It may be the authors’ fear of not producing enough that leads them to crank out similar new work at a somewhat unreasonable pace. It has authors imitating their earlier work, rather than expanding on it. Readers grow and authors should, too.
Photo of Rose Gardens, San Angelo, TX by K.N. Listman
Write about what? 
