Genre is a subjective marketing category that often misleads rather than informs. Some books defy classification, especially books by Dean Koontz. How do you pin down stories that fit at least a dozen marketing labels, including: Action, Adventure, Crime, Horror, Humor, Mystery, Philosophical, Science Fiction, Speculative, Thriller, Urban, and, yes, Visionary Fiction? No one could…
Have you ever thought about the power of place, of setting, in writing your novel? The setting in most novels is nonspecific. Meaning that, while setting itself is important, the specificity of the setting is oftentimes not. The high school romance between Bella and Edward in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight could have begun in any modern…
Part Two You can view Part One of this intriguing exploration by guest author Stephen Weinstock here. In Part One, I outlined the parallels between Arabic fiction’s uphill battle for acceptance in the first centuries of Islam. I believe the criticism and slow acceptance of Visionary Fiction goes back to the same kind of interdiction…
Part One In researching Book Three of my series 1001: The Reincarnation Chronicles, I read a great deal about the history of Arabic Literature. I am no Arabic scholar, but I had to learn about medieval Persian and Arabic culture. My characters, in their past lives in 10th century Baghdad, collaborate on a special version…
Art is kind of an innate drive that seizes a human being and makes him its instrument. The artist is not a person endowed with free will who seeks his own ends, but one who allows art to realize its purposes through him. Carl Jung, “Psychology and Literature,” Modern Man in Search of a Soul,…
What if I were to tell you that one of the best selling books in history is visionary fiction? Say what? Yep, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, one of the most widely read books in the world, is visionary fiction. And its rise from a flop in 1988 (with sales so dismal that the book was dropped…
“Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths….Myth must be kept alive. The people who can keep it alive are the artists of one kind or another.” – Joseph Campbell #Art saved my life #Art healed my heart #Art healed my soul The hashtags are coming in from around the country, flooding social…
Before I became a serious writer, my powers of observation made me about as Sherlock Holmes-like as an open secret or plastic glasses. In other words, I was a perfect antonym for the famous detective, who took such pains to notice subtle cues and details in the people and situations around him. I didn’t need blinders. Mine were built…
The statement below was written by a practitioner of painted visionary works, yet I was struck by how it synced with our definition of visionary fiction at Visionary Fiction Alliance and how it applies to other visionary art forms as well. Art of the Visionary attempts to show what lies beyond the boundary of our…
Perhaps those nerdy BISAC categorizers knew more than they let on when they gave VF and MF a joint address in their code. To paraphrase a famous biblical injunction: “What BISAC has joined together let no writer put asunder.” Instead of arguing whether it is VF or MF, perhaps we can settle for V&M, with separate studies and/or bedrooms provided for the persnickety.
Some authors find their focus in their childhood. It’s something they know they’re born to do. Not me. I was a late bloomer—a seed stuck beneath a thick layer of earth. Something kept the water supply from reaching me. For many years, I pondered if there was something wrong with the way my brain functioned. Turns…
If you’ve followed recent posts at VFA, you’re aware of the ongoing discussion about what distinguishes visionary fiction from other genres listed under the umbrella of speculative fiction, including sci-fi and metaphysical. Although our internal deliberations and debates have led to some interesting revelations and “ah ha” moments, I figured it was time to invite in an outside source to shine fresh light…
It came to mind that a backdoor approach to the key question—What is Visionary Fiction?—might yield valuable insight into this genre’s elusive definition. So let’s take a look, for a lark, at what is not visionary fiction.
IN THE EARLIER SEGMENTS OF THIS SERIES we imparted good news (the up-and-coming BISAC system provides a high-level unique code for Visionary & Metaphysical Fiction) and bad news (authors and vendors don’t use the code often enough to make VF books easily accessible to readers). In this section I’ll follow up on the complexities of proper categorization and make some suggestions that will not handicap the individual VF author in the short run but build a robust VF collection in the near future.
(The second of a four-part series that explores a hidden root of the problem in popularizing Visionary Fiction as a genre and proposes a nifty ready-made solution to it.) Click link to read Part 1: The Fiction Prejudice Click link to read Part 2: The BISAC Solution BEFORE GETTING TOO COZY in the permanent home (Main…
(The second of a three-part series that explores a hidden root of the problem in popularizing Visionary Fiction as a genre and proposes a nifty ready-made solution to it.) Click link to read Part 1: The Fiction Prejudice Marketing Categories Since libraries aim to retain books and bookstores to sell them, no wonder a category system…
(The first of a three-part series that explores a hidden root of the problem in popularizing Visionary Fiction as a genre and proposes a nifty ready-made solution to it.) All Fiction to the Back of the Bus If you’ve felt that writing fiction is sometimes perceived as second-class to writing non-fiction, know that the apparent prejudice…
To read or review “Carl Jung and Visionary Fiction, Part 1, click HERE. “Universal in Worldview and Scope” The VFA characterizes Visionary Fiction as “universal in worldview and scope.” The Jungian visionary novel “is not concerned with the individual even when it is written about an individual,” Keyes says. “Exploring the individual experience is a…
Psychological Fiction versus Visionary Fiction It may come as a shock, or at least a revelation, to Visionary Fiction readers and writers that Carl Jung, the eminent Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology, defined Visionary Fiction and described it in detail in a lecture delivered in 1929, “Psychology and Literature,” included in the…
Reading I don’t recall learning to read. Nor do I remember ever not reading. With two parents who read and wrote as regularly as they breathed, it was natural to follow suit. I grew up on an isolated farm without a radio or TV, so books were it for information and entertainment. But I was…
I didn’t choose to write visionary fiction; it chose me. This may sound strange to you and what I’m about to share even stranger, but I can think of no better way to explain how I ended up writing in a genre that parallels the new neural sciences and has yet to find a receptive audience. A word from…
Visionary fiction has always been my favorite genre, even before I knew it existed as a genre. This post is about who influenced me to write visionary fiction. It’s bound to cause some controversy. The drumroll please… The author whom I most identify with is Ayn Rand. “The secrets of this earth are not for…
By Margaret Duarte For part one of the article, click here. Hal Zina Bennett points to ebooks as a significant piece of the puzzle when it comes to proving to the mainstream that visionary fiction has something valuable to offer. “Maybe successful visionary fiction is a little like the legendary Hindu rope trick,” Bennett says, “where the fakir throws…
By Margaret Duarte The genre of visionary fiction leaves many people puzzled, even the experts. Take Hal Zina Bennett, author of more than thirty books, including: Write from the Heart, Writing Spiritual Books, Follow Your Bliss, and Spirit Circle, his own contribution to visionary fiction. When I asked Hal to define visionary fiction, he said,…
By Eleni Papanou Visionary Fiction villains are my favorite of all villains because they have a chance to evolve beyond their fiendish personalities. What sets apart visionary fiction from other genres is good and evil are seen as acts rather than the core of a person’s existence. In other words, even villains can evolve. Since…
I like to use the nice stuff, the good stuff. I put my feet on the coffee table, I use my best dishes, and I squeeze every ounce of practicality out of my spiritual beliefs. I like the good stuff. Visionary Fiction is the ultimate in good stuff. You can find a far more definitive…
Karen M. Rider Setting the Literary Stage for Visionary & Metaphysical Fiction Rapid-fire change is ongoing in the publishing industry—and it’s not just in the way books are produced, marketed and distributed. Perhaps like no other period in literary history, writers are experimenting with voice, style and format. Such literary exploration arises from both a…