Will Our Next Wave of Fiction Be Escapist, or Corrective?

This week, Julia, Tod, and Rider discuss Dolly Parton, Brandon Hobson’s The Removed, and what they expect post-2020 fiction to look like.

From the episode:

Rider: I keep wondering if it’s all going to be escapist. If all the art that’s going to come out of 2020 is going to be like aliens! And superheroes! I don’t know. I’m curious. I know a lot of people are writing stuff that’s really tackling all the despair and fears and anxieties that we’ve been going through, but I’m not sure if that’s what’s going to be popular. That’s what I’m curious about. What are we going to want as a culture, as readers and watchers? Are we going to want escapism, or are we going to want stories that hit some of this stuff head-on and really wrestle with these issues?

Tod: I think right now what you’re seeing, at least with books since January 20th, is there’s a lot of like, “Hey, we’re going to correct the asshole. We’re going to bring order to chaos.” We’re going to have a lot of anti-heroes who are fighting back against governmental oppression, and that government can be big or small. You’re going to see a lot of that.

Julia: And it’s a lot easier to do it in fiction than real life, so I totally agree. For writers who are feeling pent up—and who are really skilled about some of these issues—I think there’s going to be a landslide of corrective work through art.

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