Visionary Fiction became a recognised fiction genre around
the turn of the millennium, but stories using visionary elements have always
existed. In fact, Visionary Fiction (VF) might be the oldest genre of storytelling.
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I first heard of VF when I was trying to decide which genre
my debut novel fell into. Addled:Adventures of a Reluctant Mystic is the story of one woman’s quest for
self-realisation, and although the story uses Zen philosophy, the Spiritual
Fiction category didn’t seem to fit. I didn’t want to label it as Literary
Fiction because that wasn’t right either. It does contain elements that could
be classed as magic realism, so did it fit the Fantasy or Speculative Fiction
genres? No, again. I looked at similar novels by authors like Paulo Coelho and
Anne Cushman, but they seemed to be classified under standard genres like
Contemporary Fiction or even Non-Fiction.
And then I found Visionary Fiction.
What is Visionary Fiction?
In a nutshell, VF is about growth of consciousness and the
expansion of the human mind. It embraces spiritual and esoteric wisdom, and
shows the limitless potential we have for transformation and evolution.
“What separates VF from other speculative fiction is intention. Besides telling a good story, VF enlightens and encourages readers to expand their awareness of greater possibilities.” – Margaret Duarte
Jung made a distinction between two types of art form:
psychological and visionary. Psychological art is what we would call mainstream
or realism, while visionary art is anything that takes us out of the familiar
world:
“It is a strange something that derives its existence from the hinterlands of man’s mind – that suggests the abyss of time separating us from pre-human ages, or evokes a superhuman world of contrasting light and darkness.” – Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul
The Visionary Fiction Alliance describes three main
characteristic features of the genre:
- growth of consciousness is the central theme of the story and drives the main character(s);
- it uses paranormal elements such as ESP, dreams, visions and other metaphysical plot devices;
- it is universal in its worldview and scope.
The spiritual elements of VF are often embedded into the
story so that the reader experiences the truth of the wisdom, rather than just
reading about it. Spiritual teachers have always done this, illustrating their
wisdom with parables and metaphors. This is good basic storytelling and follows
the number one cardinal rule: show, don’t
tell. The reader then shares the transformative experience of the
character(s).
All the best fiction does this: it encourages the reader to ‘feel
with’ the character(s) and experience their journey from the inside. The
difference with VF is that the journey is explicitly about growth in
consciousness. The main arc or driver of the plot is Self-actualisation or
Individuation.
In fact, you could argue that the earliest stories told
covered exactly that theme. Ancient mythologies and legends can be understood
as metaphors for the transformation of the human mind: the hero undertakes a
journey away from the tribe, encounters trials and learns new skills, and then
returns transformed to share his wisdom. This basic plot structure, identified
by Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a
Thousand Faces, is the basis for much of the storytelling seen in films and
on TV today.
Is VF really a genre?
Since VF is an emerging genre, there’s still a lot of debate
about exactly what it is and where it fits in the marketplace. Many genres
contain visionary elements and VF often overlaps with these causing more
confusion. There are many blurred lines, as I discovered when trying to fit Addled into a neat little box. Other
genres that are often linked with VF include: Speculative Fiction and Fantasy,
Sci-Fi, Spiritual Fiction, Metaphysical Fiction, and in literary circles, Magic
Realism.
Mainstream publishers seem wary of taking a risk on anything
seen as overtly VF because it’s hard to categorise, so a lot of the books end
up being self-published.
But an even bigger problem is cynicism. Many see VF as too
spiritual and don’t want to read these kinds of stories because they think
they’ll be ‘preached at’. Nobody enjoys being evangelised, but there’s an
innate cynicism that seems to characterise our current age. We believe we’re
rational and have outgrown such stories. It’s almost as if we’re scared of
anything too ‘meaningful’, or perhaps we don’t want to be challenged to change
ourselves too much. Stories are there to be consumed as entertainment. They
might make us think – a bit – but not for long, and certainly not in a way that
would undermine our cosy lives.
“The reading public for the most part repudiates this kind of writing – unless indeed it is coarsely sensational – and even the literary critic seems embarrassed by it.” – Jung
VF isn’t the only genre to cause embarrassment. Even
Speculative Fiction and Fantasy still suffer from literary snobbery. In fact,
all genre novels do, despite the popularity of TV and film adaptations such as Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. I don’t want to get
into the whole ‘it’s not real writing unless it’s literary’ debate here, but it
does raise an important point about one of the problems with VF.
Perhaps one of the reasons publishers struggle to take VF
seriously is because much of it has been of inferior quality. Although millions
have bought books like The Celestine
Prophecy by James Redfield, it couldn’t be described as good writing. The
characters are one-dimensional and the plot is driven by coincidence and
contrivance. There’s plenty of mainstream fiction that suffers from similar
problems, but there’s no reason VF couldn’t include quality works. Perhaps it
will mature as more writers embrace the genre and explore the possibilities it
contains.
These are some of my favourite VF novels, all of them
expertly written and at least one is a classic:
- Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
- Chocolat by Joanne Harris
- Life of Pi by Yann Martel
- Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
To celebrate the launch of Addled in paperback, I’ve joined the Visionary Fiction Alliance.
You can find out more about their work and the VF genre here.
