Are You Writing Transgressive Fiction? by Nevada McPherson
Let’s welcome back monthly columnist Nevada McPherson as she shares with us “Are You Writing Transgressive Fiction?” Enjoy!
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It seems that I’ve finally found my niche.
While it is a type of noir fiction, which I’ve written about here before, what I mostly write is also known as transgressive fiction.
Maybe you’re writing what could be called transgressive fiction, and not even realize it!
Not everyone is familiar with that term, while many are familiar with authors who write in that genre, style, or mood.
I don’t know if I’d really call it a genre, because like noir, transgressive fiction tends to cut across genres. Yet there are certain characteristics of transgressive fiction that you may recognize.
If you want to write transgressive fiction, you must lose sight of the shore.
Transgressive fiction usually features characters who feel constricted by the norms and rules of society and tend to lash out or deal with those strictures in ways that are unusual, illegal, and sometimes even downright bizarre.
My Stories and Transgressive Fiction
My stories almost always feature quirky characters, so they’re already in the category of unusual.
In my new novel, Poser, first in the Eucalyptus Lane series of transgressive novels, people go against the grain of society in many ways, including pushing back against rules of their own subculture or milieu, and finding ways to survive or cope with difficulties that most would not consider options.
I’m very happy to have found this niche where “quirky,” or “weird,” or even “hard to define or categorize,” is not a liability, but simply an honest description of what I write and am passionate about, because I accept my characters for who they are, in all their glorious strangeness and eccentricity.
In some way, maybe if we can accept this in our characters, we can accept it in ourselves.
Not to say we should go out and do the things our characters do, but in acknowledging that which doesn’t fit neatly in a box or under a label on a shelf — even if it’s inconvenient, messy or ugly to look at — we might come to better understand a few things about people and the infinite variety of experience. And if not that, we might at least get a wild ride of a story!
The more I learn about transgressive fiction, the more I truly believe I have found my literary “home.”
Transgressive Fiction Authors You Might Recognize
One of my favorite authors, Henry Miller, is considered a transgressive author, along with Anais Nin, James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence and others from the Modernist period, and most, if not all of, the Beat writers.
Charles Bukowski, Chuck Palahniuk, and Katherine Dunn are some other names often mentioned as writers of transgressive fiction.
There are many more: maybe some simply considered writers of “literary fiction,” but that’s a very big umbrella, so if one were to get more specific, they’re mainly writers of transgressive fiction.
One thing I’ve learned from writing my novel is to have the courage to let your characters be who they are, without worrying about what people might think, what might be appropriate, acceptable, or fashionable.
If you want to write transgressive fiction, you must lose sight of the shore.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nevada McPherson writes in the southern Gothic town of Milledgeville, Georgia: former home of Flannery O’Connor and site of Central State Hospital, once the world’s largest mental institution.
She recently completed Poser, a novel (first in a series) set in the noir corners of Silicon Valley. A graduate of L.S.U.’s MFA Screenwriting Program, Nevada has written several award-winning screenplays, as well as stage plays, non-fiction pieces, graphic novels, Uptowners and Piano Lessons. Queensgate, the sequel to Uptowners, is her third graphic novel, and countless to-do lists. For more information, visit www.nevada-mcpherson.com.
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Also by Nevada McPherson
https://writersfunzone.com/blog/2021/12/21/fuel-for-the-flame-new-years-goals-by-nevada-mcpherson
https://writersfunzone.com/blog/2021/10/22/inspired-by-a-photograph-by-nevada-mcpherson
