Why are national publishers so reluctant to publish anything with LDS content? It seems like when you do find mention of Mormons...someone is commenting on how odd they are. Do you think we'll ever see serious LDS content in the national market?
Yes, I do think we'll see some serious LDS content in the national market. Aside from the fact that Brigham Young prophesied it, and so I believe it, there are indications that we are moving that direction now. Our prophet has been interviewed by Mike Wallace and positively received on prime-time national television. The Other Side of Heaven, a movie about an LDS missionary, was nationally produced and did okay. The Work and The Glory movies get national distribution. LDS artists, illustrators, musicians, and authors are getting national attention. So yes, I think it's only a matter of time before a novel with LDS content makes the national market.
I hope I get to publish it. And perhaps you'll be the one who writes it.
4 comments:
Some publishers have specifically requested LDS themes. For example, AE Cannon (Ann Cannon)wrote a YA novel with a distinctly LDS theme because her editor asked for it, and it's done really well. The story is about a girl in one of the handcart companies. You can't get much more Mormon than that. I think the problem is HOW we sell our stories. Either they're poorly told, or we're trying to convert the world. Neither will work. And then there's the publishers who just want the weird stories about us--things like funky weird polygamy stuff, voyeurism, things that aren't the normal, everyday LDS people living their lives. But I believe there will be great literature about us out there eventually.
Chiming in late but I love Brigham Young. What prophecy are you referring to?
The one where he says we have yet to produce our Shakespeare's or Milton's... which implies that we WILL have writers of that quality.
Or was that someone else who said that?
C'mon you prophet-quoting buffs out there--did I attribute that to the right person?
I know in a more recent conference talk someone asked where our LDS equivalent of Shakespeare or Milton was - why there weren't more LDS movies/books/media of quality, things like that.
My thought on that was, in all of known history, there's only been one Shakespeare.
I don't know if there will ever be an LDS equivalent, but I do think it's good for us as a group to push our writing and/or other artistic endeavors to strive for that ideal.
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