College profs and good fiction

[david manderson]

Agree about the profs wanting to impress, especially each other, but you have to see past all that crap. Under all the post-structuralist jargon some of them know what they're talking about. Separating all the nonsense from the valuable advice is exactly what you've got to do. There is a lot to be learned about what way you're going to tell your story, and why.

I'm new here. I've written one crime novel, Lost Bodies. You can read an extract on Allan Guthrie's Noir Originals, if you want to. I'm not quite sure if I'm Tartan Noir, but I do live in Glasgow.

Interesting post!

[david manderson]

Some of them are okay, truly. Depends on the professor.

[Jack Getze]

Welcome, David. I've so far managed to avoid all college professors.

[david manderson]

I'm sure you're right and it could be that what interests me about stories takes me away from formula and potential readers. Or I might have to choose a formula and try to do something with it. Looked at your website with interest after your post. Thanks for the comment.

[I. J. Parker]

This starts in medias res and sounds as though you're responding to another post.

I would say that frequently genre format is set by readers. Very little of what passes in the university lecture hall or seminar ever enters into it. The result is, sadly, frequently formula. Any attempt to change that gets punished by readers who don't like their books to deviate from the norm.