Anecdote on Genre-based Prejudice: Fiction Writers versus Poets

    Once when I was in graduate school in the Creative Writing Program lounge at NYU, I was talking with a classmate from a poetry workshop. Corie had noticed that I had bound a manuscript together with thick brown strands of material that was much fatter than a string and much thinner than the thinnest rope. She wanted to know what it was and where it had come from because it looked so familiar but strange.
    Then a young fiction writer walked in to get a book off a crowded shelf and began eavesdropping, which is a habit of fiction writers, by the way. I explained to Corie that the strands were cut off a brown paper shopping bag, so they were probably some sort of recycled paper. Corie was delighted, and she started to say what a great idea that was and how she should do that, which was, admittedly, a very “poet-ty” way to talk.
    Then the fiction writer had had too much! He let out an exaggerated, exasperated breath, sneering and glaring at us. His expression reminded me of the way that the high school football players would sneer at the soccer players. It was as if our very “poet-ty” existence threatened the heroic and hardworking field of fiction writing. He exclaimed, “Poets!” and stalked out, shaking his head in disgust.
    We had a pretty good laugh about that because we were familiar with the prejudices of writers against poets.
    In real life, there are often differences between fiction writers and poets. Fiction writers on average live much longer. There was even a study published in the Chronicle of the Associated Writing Program once. Anyway, the stereotypes about fiction writers are that they are long distance runners or hikers who can traverse mountain passes that ascend all day. They are disciplined workers. They are up early to write before the rest of the world gets up and distracts them from their very important work. They are good parents even if they are divorced. And even when they are drunks, they are the high-functioning drunks who can always come up with a great story in a pinch.
    The stereotypes about poets are that they die too soon, and they are allergic to sports, money, and power. If they are ever up early it’s only because the drugs that they took the night before kept them up. They think their work is the most important thing in the world, which is ironic, because they rarely want to do any. They are heavy drinkers with no ability to function well, even when they are sober. They are usually mediocre parents (when they kill themselves) or terrible parents (when they don’t kill themselves, first, that is). But sometimes they say something that seems to illuminate everything and make life feel worthwhile in a new way.