How very dare you? You mean, it’s only for Grannies?
Nonsense. Hilary Boyd writes for people not for bookshelves. (My words)
Don’t call it Gran Lit
I’m so heartened by her attitude to publishers’ need to classify fiction into genres.
“Bollocks,” she said when the Gran Lit classification was first suggested to her.
Oh, Hilary, please come to France and be my honorary sister. Who says people don’t want to read about older women?
Not me.
Who says you can’t have romance and sex with older characters?
I didn’t say that.
I’ll tell you who said it: Publishers. To be exact, their readers. You know, the ones who hold back the gates from the likes of aspiring novelists such as you and me. They are the ones who are in charge of the slush pile. They pass on to the people who really make the decisions only the books that excite them.
But they’re all teenagers, darlings. They only know about fantasy: werewolves and vampires and robots and spies and spaceship ghosts and the like. They also read those books with photographs on the front of men (boys) who are built of muscle and iron and their women nearly wear red or black satin. Or else they read titles like Carlotta’s Christmas at the Cup-Cake Café and the cover looks good enough to eat if you’re into sweet and sickly Candy Floss.
See? Fantasy. Do I sound full of sarcasm? Of course I do.
When they’re older, they’ll get a life. In the meantime, I mustn’t be too hard on them. They got it SO wrong, didn’t they?
Who makes up the majority of the reading population?
Boomers.
We’re still here. We’ve had our kids and years of sleepless nights. We’ve looked after ageing parents during their last days. We’ve lost sleep all over again when the grandchildren were unwell. We’ve had our own illnesses and close shaves. We’ve had a life. And, let me repeat myself, we’re still here. And we’ve got a little money to spend on small treats like a damned good story to read.
We’re old enough and wise enough to read all manner of different kinds of books. We have open minds. We’ll read about police detectives, little girls in France, 6ft 5″ ex marines on a one man mission to rid the USA of scum bags, widows with autistic sons, kids in a fight to the death struggle – you understand me – and once in a while, we want to read about people with whom we can identify more closely.
See, the young readers employed by the publishers couldn’t possibly understand that because they haven’t got there yet.
So it’s hats off to Quercus for publishing Hilary Boyd in the first place and having the nous to put her out as an ebook.
The Boomers have spoken. Gran-Lit? Bah, Humbug. It’s L.I.F.E., darlings. People get older. Even publishers. And now they’e having to get wiser, too. Go Hilary.
Edit: 2nd March 2018. I wrote this post in November 2013 when I was living in France. Four weeks later I was hit by a car and my life changed. Now I live in Norfolk, UK. I have CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome) and I write more slowly than I used.
Dear Celia,
I’m grateful to Janey Goodley for pushing you into my world. Reading your books on Kindle, and loving them! Thank you for making my world richer and more colourful. And for teaching me new words (and notions)!
If I can pay some money for the joy you gave me, please let me know how that would work (Patreon, Kofi, Monzo, etc.)
I’m Romanian. Love English language, learned 4 more, thought about retiring to France, still in two minds about leaving my own country for a new one.
I fell in love with Spain, where people seem to endlessly enjoy life, and houses seem to have affordable prices. But my husband is not keen on learning new languages, so he’d probably be happier in France.
Do you have any tips for us?
Big hug,
Violeta
Violeta
(and if you ever think about visiting Romania, we can host you in Bucharest and Sibiu :))
Hello Violeta,
thank you for your kind comments about my books. I loved living in Languedoc, now called Occitanie, especially in the wine growing regions where there are beautiful walks through the vines. There are a lot of British expats in many of the villages but it is better to speak in French if you can. The French people there are very friendly and, if you try to speak in their language, they will help you and maybe speak a little English too.
There are many places to rent so you could get a feel for the country before you buy. i think this is a good idea when you’re not sure where you want to be in your retirement.
I would be so grateful if you would write a review on Amazon. Just a few sentences is enough.I am not very well known yet and I long to find more readers who enjoy my books.
Thank you for getting in touch,
Warm wishes,
Celia
How fascinating – I had no idea that publishers were so bloody silly and discerning! I suppose by this, we are talking about new and upcoming writers not yet published who have been labelled as dated writers for the “mature”. Surely good literature needs to be for everyone and whereas I don’t want to read fantasy and spy stories ad infinitum I don’t feel ready to be on the lookout for a read that is specifically aimed at my age group (or any group, come to that). I still feel that a good book (good story) has no age limit – in fact, characters could be of any age. I must admit, I have a problem with “age recognition” as I have never taken it into account. BUT, having said all that, I think that the editors and professional readers need to be more carefully/intelligently chosen so as to not be biased towards any literature concerning older people in their content – after all, we are an ever-growing (thus lucrative to publishers) community who still have the desire and leisure to read, which cannot be said for a lot of ‘younger’ people.
Well said, Suzy. Look out for my similarly sarcastic post on Facebook tomorrow.