Slow Lit: Talk me to sleep

Exploring the implications of a literary genre designed to put someone to sleep

Photo by Matheus Farias on Unsplash

The "boring writing" genre

One of the worst insults this writer can receive is to have someone call my writing "boring." I work very hard to create writing that is exactly the opposite: engaging, entertaining, educational. Imagine my surprise, then, when I learned there is actually a growing market for boring writing.

I was searching the "writers wanted" ads for a consultancy to round out my work schedule when I saw a call for "slow lit" writers. Not being familiar with the term, I asked Google for help.

That was how I discovered a new trend in sleep aids: the slow lit podcast. People listen to soothing voices reading uninteresting material to help them fall asleep. The articles on the topic used words such as "dull," "monotonous," "drivel," "snooze-inducing," and even "super-boring." It struck me as the writer's version of a show-closing negative review, but it was intended as praise.

My first thought? "Excellent! That is the job for me! I can write boring!"

My second thought was just the opposite. "Wait a minute! I don't want to gain the reputation of a boring writer! What writer would want that kind of notoriety?!"

The inner questioning that ensued, that continues today, is tantamount to an existential crisis.

Should there be a market for boring writing?

This question touches upon the nature and purpose of the written word. At its essence, writing is a communication tool. We use it to share our ideas with others or, in some cases, ourselves. At the risk of over-simplifying, we communicate for one of two overarching reasons: leisure or function.

Leisure writing is usually meant to entertain, to share ideas, or to provide an escape from daily life. Functional writing meets a specific need for knowledge, guidance, or behavior change.

I would argue that, with the possible exception of the escapism aspect, writing that purposely induces slumber fails in its true purpose of communication. If functional writing is boring, nobody will read it or learn from it, and no exchange of ideas can occur. Not a very effective communication strategy.

Who decides what "boring" is, anyway?

Adding to my uncertainty about slow lit's value is the fact that boring, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Growing up on a dairy farm, our family eagerly awaited the sire selection guides and animatedly debated different bulls' ability to improve our herd's milk production, udder health, ease of delivery, conformation, and temperament. Boring? No way!

On the other hand, I barely glance at my investment statements, going straight to the overall gain/loss column and ignoring everything else. I leave all the "boring" details to my financial advisor, who finds them engrossing.

For slow lit to be effective, it would need to include a system of well-defined sub-categories, based on topic and presentation style, that would enable each individual to easily locate the literature that they considered "slow." Come to think of it, I rather think Melvil Dewey's Dewey Decimal Classification accomplished this in 1876 (exactly one hundred years before I was born, by the way!).

Does the subjective nature of slow lit preclude its recognition as a genre?

Think of the traditional literary genres. Each genre has certain objective characteristics that distinguish them from one another. Fiction: made-up content. Non-fiction: factual content. Novel: contains characters, plot, conflict, setting...you get the idea. As we saw above, however, slow lit lacks such objective criteria; it only claims the subjective criteria of snooze-worthiness.

This would have given my high school math teacher hives. Remember those old if, then statements? I loved those. They were like puzzles, and I really love puzzles. Let's apply some conditional logic and see if we can honestly consider slow lit a genre.

If a literary genre has certain specific characteristics,

and

If slow lit is characterized by the ability to bore one to sleep,

and

If what bores one person energizes another,

Then slow lit cannot be considered a literary genre.

According to this logic, the slow lit "genre" is a puzzle that's missing some pieces.

Isn't there already a sufficient supply of boring writing?

Let's be honest. The world has an abundant supply of written material that is really only interesting if you are solving a specific problem, highly interested in a specialized topic, or related to the author. Rather than creating a market for arguably sub-par writing, couldn't we just appropriate the existing materials and avoid further diluting literary standards?

I can think of several existing writing types that might meet our needs.

Parts lists (see image). Reading that list of numbers and descriptions would have me snoring by the third row.

Image downloaded from Veleda Services LTD

Installation instructions. Unless you really like knowing how to put together a shelving unit or install a Murphy bed, there is nothing too interesting about "Insert the large screw into hole A and tighten by turning clockwise with the enclosed screwdriver. Be careful not to over-tighten." (See? Eyes are blurring already, aren't they?!)

Knitting (or any other handwork) instructions. Without needles and yarn in hand and a project in mind, "Knit, Purl 2, Yarn over, Purl" might just as well be...zzzzzzzz.

Literature in a foreign language. Listening to a foreign language can have the same effect as ocean sounds on loop. Get an audio book in a language completely unrelated to yours, hit play, and get ready to dream. The bonus to this one is that you can actually support quality literature and experience a soporific effect.

Is a slow lit writer a literary sell-out or a selfless servant?

I do wonder, however, if my perspective on slow lit is a bit elitist and, dare I say, narrow. According to a study from the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, "Various studies worldwide have shown the prevalence of insomnia in 10%–30% of the population, some even as high as 50%–60%" (Bhaskar, Hemavathy, & Prasad, 2016, p. 780).

Just to put those statistics into perspective, there is a higher percentage of insomniacs in the world than total confirmed COVID-19 cases. (As of November 8, 2023, the World Health Organization reports a total number of cases at 771,820,937 [WHO, 2023] and a world population of 8 billion. My math makes that out to be 9.6% of the population.)

Those are pretty significant numbers, to my way of thinking. COVID-19 was labeled a global health crisis and was afforded commensurate investments in awareness-raising, treatments, and materials. Insomnia? Not so much. Granted, COVID-19 is contagious, and insomnia isn't, but the effects of long-term insomnia can be just as devasting to the sufferer, their family, their career, their finances, and their social circle. (There are reasons sleep deprivation is used as a technique for interrogation and torture.)

Here's another conditional statement to consider:

If insomnia is a global health crisis,

and

If insomniacs find relief from newly created "slow lit,"

Then writers of slow lit are providing a valuable medical treatment.

Hmmm. I am finding it hard to beat that logic.

Talk me to sleep

In truth, I was (unknowingly) making use of slow lit decades before it became a thing. During our sophomore year of college, my roommate and I developed a unique bedtime ritual. We would turn off all the lights, our computers, and the CD player. I would hop in the top bunk; she would slide into the bottom bunk. We would lie there in deep silence until I said, "Roomie, talk me to sleep."

And my roommate would start talking. I really don't remember any content from those episodes, but I do remember the feelings. Comfort. Peace. Companionship. Enveloped by those powerfully tender emotions, I would drift off to sleep. Note: my ability to sleep did not come from boredom. My roommate was never boring! Rather, my sleep came from the safety and security of our deep and abiding friendship.

It reminds me of the scene in "Three Men and a Baby" where Peter (played by Tom Selleck) is reading a recap of a boxing match to the baby in a soft, soothing voice. Michael (Steve Guttenburg) walks in and asks, somewhat incredulously, "What are you reading her?"

Continuing in the same soft, soothing tones, Peter remarks, "It doesn't matter what I read. It's the tone you use."

I suspect the same is true of slow lit. What you read isn't important. How you read it is.

So I suggest we abandon this idea of "boring," "dully," and "monotonous" writing. I feel it dishonors the purpose and craft of writing. In fact, I advocate for abandoning the idea of "slow lit" altogether and rebranding it to reflect what it really is: soporific sounds. That appropriately shifts the focus to the desired effect, not the vehicle being used. If someone wants to listen to Homer, they can. If someone wants to listen to someone reading their weekly grocery lists, they can...without unconsciously buying into the idea that Homer and grocery lists belong to the same genre.

Still awake? Your turn to talk.

What about you? What do you think about slow lit as a genre? Have you used it? Written it? If not, what strategies do you use to get a good night's sleep? Share them in the comments.

Like this discussion? Repost this on social media.

Did you find this post boring? Let me know. Maybe I have a future in slow lit after all!

REFERENCES

Bhaskar, S., Hemavathy, D., & Prasad, S. (2016). Prevalence of chronic insomnia in adult patients and its correlation with medical comorbidities. Journal of family medicine and primary care, 5(4), 780–784. https://doi.org/10.4103/2249-4863.201153

World Health Organization (WHO). (2023) WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard. Accessed November 10, 2023. https://covid19.who.int/

I value open, honest, and respectful discourse and am eager to hear your thoughts on this post. Please respond to others as if you were talking to your grandmother. I reserve the right to remove or edit any comment that features name-calling, curses, insults, bullying, or just plain rudeness. Thanks for your support!