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Afroerotik
Newbie Poster
Username: Afroerotik
Post Number: 3
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, April 02, 2006 - 02:12 pm: | 
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Go to any major bookstore and the shelves are overflowing with ghetto literature, black chick lit, and Black erotica. The plots are basically the same, Summer, the nymphomaniac fashion model is struggling with her relationship with Derrick, the MBA and attorney. Derrick however is having a secret affair with Tyrik, the homeboy drug dealer that dreams of making it out of the hood with his music career. There is little or no variation and the quality of writing doesn’t have the same standard as white literature. Often times, the books are littered with typos, spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. The cover artwork could all be exchanged without much notice because they all have a picture of a stiletto, a bottle of champagne, a car, and light skinned women with long hair looking longingly at a dark skinned brotha.
Black literature has gone the way of Black Radio, it’s the same materialistic, hypersexual themes in the same weak plots, and Black people seem to be eating it up. What do you think of this trend in black literature? Why do our standards seem to be so low when it comes to our art? What messages do our words have on white people and the perpetuation of stereotypes? What have you read lately that is a really good read? Share your feedback and opinion on thistopic that discusses the current crop of Black Literature.
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Emanuel
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Emanuel
Post Number: 168
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, April 02, 2006 - 05:46 pm: |
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Afroerotik,
Check out the post on this site titled "Their Eyes Were Watching Smut."
http://www.thumperscorner.com/discus/messages/1/8893.html?1141249315 |
Msprissy
Newbie Poster
Username: Msprissy
Post Number: 13
Registered: 03-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, April 02, 2006 - 11:23 pm: |
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I understand your complaint and have said as much myself. I browse the bookshelves often. I go there to relax and to see what's being sold. I'm a writer. I wasn't up on street lit and ghetto lit until I joined several writing groups. My short stories and the 2 pending novel are neither. But the present craze is created by the readers, and writers seeing that continue to feed them. I'm hoping this genre will soon run it's course. That people will start to really write. I was amazed to hear some say they edited their work before publishing on e-books and PODs. Most career writers know that you cannot edit your own work.
I intend to continue writing in my present voice and genre until the fad ends. I hope others will realize that to help the so-called hood is to put something substantial and redemptive out there for readers to chose from.
I'm having trouble finding a cover artist, haven't seen any work I like.
We've had this conversation before on this board and many others. There is good general commercial fiction out there. I read the back text and look at the cover before I buy, and noticed seniors, who love to read because they have time, do the same. "Easier Said Then Done" is a good clean read. I'm reading "Betrayal of Trust" by Leslie Esdaile Banks, a good action, suspense book. I've read all of L.A. Banks's Vampire Huntress series, another suspense story line with a twist. Even has a bit of history. But then I love vampire stores. I wrote two.
"Their eyes were watching smut" set off a big fight on another group site. But it brought the issue out that no one wanted to discuss for fear of hurting it's authors and indie publishers. (It did.)
The only answer I can come up with is your writing is your legacy, your family's legacy. Make it good, make it last beyond you. One day the ghetto is going to clean up it's act (that's a prayer). |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 1995
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 03, 2006 - 10:41 am: |
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Afroerotik:
This is a thread that pops up here often and all over--
Usually it assumes there was a time when all black people were reading nothing but Baldwin, Wright, Hurston, Morrison, etc and that somehow the beknighted black sheeps has lost dey way.
Well, up until the 1960's few blacks were reading anything. Most black authors wrote for white folks.
Depsite what people in the information business (teachers, writers, critics, etc) think--reading especially for pleasure is a leisure activity. Many people enjoy fame, fortune, good health, etc without ever doing it--see your current President and about 99% of all Americans.
Reading the "good" stuff? Try lacing into "Beloved" after 12 hours mopping floors, moving boxes, flipping burgers--etc.
People who do want to read are usually people who want to do it after work and relax. Sorry for all the people sitting on their asses making 5 and six figures a year who want to decry the masses for not staying up late reading Cornel West after working, seeing after the kids, etc.
I see few articles taking white people to task for their support of junk lit--somehow the black people are supposed to rise above it all and read what the better people are telling them to read
Before I read "the good stuff" I read junk lit. After a while you get bored and look for something else. Under your jackboot intellectual regime, they wouldn't get the chance since they would have to take the challenging work up or have nothing at all.
And what about these writers? Maybe you would be happier if they whored, pimped or sold dope in the street like heroes. You won't be thankful that they have the money and leisure time to even read at all.
You know you don't have to read that stuff if you don't like to. I don't and I sleep fine. |
Emanuel
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Emanuel
Post Number: 169
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 03, 2006 - 03:49 pm: |
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Ms. Prissy,
I know a great graphic designer if you're interested. Her name is Renee' Johnson (owner of N'Digo Design), and she specializes in AA covers. She also designs websites, bookmarks, and more. Check out her site at www.ndigodesign.com . Be sure to tell her Emanuel Carpenter sent you, and she'll give you a discount. |
Msprissy
Newbie Poster
Username: Msprissy
Post Number: 15
Registered: 03-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 03, 2006 - 08:30 pm: |
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Emanuel, thank you. I'll look in on her. Is she employed by N'Digo, the newsmagazine? If so that means she works in Chicago. |
Emanuel
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Emanuel
Post Number: 170
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 04, 2006 - 02:14 pm: |
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Msprissy,
Hit me up off site at emanuelcarpenter@yahoo.com . |
Afroerotik
Newbie Poster
Username: Afroerotik
Post Number: 12
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 18, 2006 - 01:36 pm: |
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I write erotic literature for and about people of color from an Afrocentric perspective. I'm comared to Zane every day. I’m not the next Street or Ghetto Lit phenom. You won’t find one reference to an Escalade, Manolo Blahniks, or anything rhyming with humps, pumps, bumps, or trunks. I appeal to those people of African descent who don’t consider video hoochie or thug as viable employment options. I stand alone as the writer to give voice to issues that shape the collective consciousness of Black people and who will facilitate healing, introspection, and greater understanding under the guise of an erotic story.
It hurts me to know that publishers won't consider my work because it's not ghetto enough. I ache for the black women that believe that being portrayed as an adulterous nympho is empowering. It's not only the same sad story being recirculated but it's a sad commentary on what we've allowed ourselves to embrace. |
Va_sis
Newbie Poster
Username: Va_sis
Post Number: 17
Registered: 02-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 19, 2006 - 04:00 pm: |
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This is the very reason why I came across this site, and stayed, three years....trying to find reviews of books that are about more than ghetto lit or the "woe is me, I'm single" story.
I'm REALLY done with the street lit stuff. How many ways can you write about the diva, ghetto wife of a drug dealer?
BTW, our club just read Cinnamon Kiss by Walter Mosely...we really enjoyed it. |
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