I would like to say, though, that there are some people out there doing incredibly interesting things with the genre. Immediately, I’m thinking of Nik Korpon’s “Stay God,” a brilliantly creative and original novel that’s along the lines of many noir novels. What Korpon does so well, though, (and I must admit that I haven’t finished the book) is create characters who are “full” and “real.” I think this happens because all of them–even the bad ones–have concrete, distinct wants and desires.

This is part of the reason, I think, why “The Wire” is such an heralded bit of television drama. When you think about all those “bad guys” like Stringer, Avon, and Bodie, you remember that they all want something human–by which I mean, we sympathize with them because what they want isn’t all too far off from what we want.

If I have a thesis here, it’s that all pieces on genre can learn something from The Wire–that there’s a danger in being too predictable.