The future of LDS literature

[KCGrant]

Hello,

I'm going to be on a panel of LDS authors for the Utah Library Association conference down in St. George in a few weeks. Our focus is going to be the future of LDS literature. So, I'd like to hear what you think: Is LDS literature improving? Is it stagnant? Do you feel there's a legitimate market for it? Does it have anything new to offer?

I'd appreciate your comments...

[gabelpa]

I think there is a lot to be told, and a lot that can be expanded upon. I haven't read any LDS style fiction or even nonfiction (excluding Std works, manuals, Church Published Literature, etc) for about 10 years, so I don't know about stagnation or that sort.

There is always a market, and distribution does need to move into the 21st century. We're a decade in, how many LDS Authors publish ebooks, own a eReader, or have tried small-volume self-publication? I haven't been moving in the circles where I would be exposed to this sort of literature, is there a place where we as LDS can go to find reviews, commentary, social network?

[rameumptom]

I think much of LDS literature is too smarmy. Much of it, especially in the past, was based on the concept that Joseph Smith was perfect and could do no wrong. Conflict always seemed to come from outside the group, or defectors, and not from the leadership's weaknesses.

Orson Scott Card has some good writing that helps us take gospel concepts and apply them in a new environment. Not to say I like all his books, but for fiction like Ender's Game, he pushed the envelope of Mormon writing.

Too many LDS fiction books seem like Harlequin romances, except these end up with a "happily ever after" at the temple.

We need more LDS-based books that look at the real struggles of LDS. Darius Gray and Margaret Blair Young's "One More River to Cross" series is a good example. It shows real Mormons struggling with the teachings of the apostles. When they envision saints like Elijah Abel wanting to punch an elder or apostle for racist statements, we get some real LDS feelings.

In a Mormon History Conference at IUPUI in 2004, Jan Shipps noted that her studies showed many LDS immigrants hated Utah. One ex-LDS woman told Jan that her great-grandmother would step outside her log cabin every morning and shake her fist at the Wasatch mountain range and curse it in her European accent. When a neighbor asked her why she just didn't leave, she answered, "because it is my home."

THAT is the intensity of the Mormon experience. When we find people stay, solely because their testimony tells them that this is Zion, this is home, even when it feels like hell, THEN we have a real story.

[mliff]

I dont think theres enough books out there. I love reading and going through my branches library and reading everything they have. so more would be better in my opinion and everything ive read so far has been really good

[KCGrant]

Thanks everyone--this is very enlightening. Keep it coming!

The Association for Mormon Literature is a review group that deals with the production and study of Mormon litereature. Visit them at Association for Mormon Letters

Edited May 5, 2010 by KCGrant
adding info

[candace717]

I think there is a place for well-written LDS fiction. The 'Hearts of the Children' series by Dean Hughes, while fiction, touched me in ways secular books can not. Media of any sort becomes much more compelling when I am able to relate with the characters and their struggles from my LDS background. Not so much when the challenge is, should I keep the commandments and stay true to the faith? as What is the right thing to do in this situation? How does my faith apply here?

There are several interesting avenues and topics still to be explored. I think the problem is that the market is not large enough to earn such a great profit that we are attracting the top authors. Avid readers may have difficulty reading less-skilled works.

To sum up: It is my feeling that there is an important need for LDS literature, there is always more to be written, but it needs to be written well.

[Hemidakota]

Printed materials have falling since the introduction of electronic reading devices. We now have audio version of books that is becoming a common purchase. Are we a lazy socially inept people? Perhaps!

I do prefer electronic version than a printed material [exception is the scriptures].

The other side of the coin, I haven't read anything that was a good LDS fictional novel since the early 80s.

[Guest The_Doctor]

First, what would be considered LDS literature? Would stuff written by Orson Scott Card count or do you mean stuff more like the Great and Terrible series?

[FunkyTown]

Hello,

I'm going to be on a panel of LDS authors for the Utah Library Association conference down in St. George in a few weeks. Our focus is going to be the future of LDS literature. So, I'd like to hear what you think: Is LDS literature improving? Is it stagnant? Do you feel there's a legitimate market for it? Does it have anything new to offer?

I'd appreciate your comments...

There is always going to be a future for LDS literature. The problem with LDS literature is, in truth, what plagues all literature.

90% of it is just not great.

The LDS culture is unique and, in many cases, wonderful. However, some of the bad things that come with our culture often taint the literature that come with it:

1) The idea that everyone around us is perfect - Much of LDS literature concentrates on protagonists that simply do not live up to realistic expectations. Books like The Work and the Glory can stand the test of time, not because of their subject matter, but because they concentrate on flawed individuals even though those flawed individuals may be seeking for perfection.

This affects most fiction in the church.

2) The schizophrenic idea of the culture that everyone sins but that certain things are taboo to discuss. I'm not talking about things like sexually explicit stories, but the idea that there are certain difficulties that no LDS family would face. On this website alone, I have noticed my heart goes out to certain people who have no idea of how to deal with difficulties in their lives. Good members have dealt with adultery, children simply turning from the church, feelings of inadequacy and loneliness in the heart of people serving in the ward. A lot of LDS literature paints those things as things that happen to 'Other' people while the difficulties that face LDS families could never be those things.

For good LDS literature to survive, it will need to represent more than just the search for perfection; It will need to represent the real human failings in all of us.

[KCGrant]

First, what would be considered LDS literature? Would stuff written by Orson Scott Card count or do you mean stuff more like the Great and Terrible series?

I think both should be considered, though I suppose I was specifically asking for LDS-themed works. There's been a shift in the last several years to where there are a handful of LDS authors working in the mainstream: Orson Scott Card, Dave Wolverton, James Dashner, Shannon Hale...lest we forget Stephanie Meyer...even Rachel Ann Nunes has a book that's not "LDS" related but is published by an LDS publisher. So it could be that there is some branching off to where LDS publishers recognize the need for fiction that doesn't try and 'preach' or 'convert' but that still represents our values, however. Maybe that's part of the future of LDS fiction.

Enjoying everyone's comments!

Edited May 8, 2010 by KCGrant
add'l info

[Guest The_Doctor]

One could argue that those two categories are merging. "Xenocide" by Orson Scott Card does mention some distinctly LDS views of Creation.