Literary fiction tends to be intelligent? Maybe too deep for many readers.
Those kinds of readers probably tend to nonfiction.
Those kinds of readers probably tend to nonfiction.
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- Thread starter Louanne Learning
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Ouch! Even as someone who rarely reads non-fiction, ouch!
Publishers are marketing literary fiction under different categories. Agent referred to Book I as "high-end literary." It is marketed as historical Southern Gothic, among other things. More than one way to skin a cat.
Sorry!
Don't worry about it. I tend to (purposely?) forget that for every deep historical analysis of the social constructs underpinning the Roman Empire and its quest for conquest, there's 1,000 autobiographies of retiring football stars or product comparisons from some youtube influencers.
My introduction to what I thought literary fiction is was a novel we did in my book club - "Do Not Say We Have Nothing" -
- about the Chinese cultural revolution - and it was way over my head.
Hardest book I ever read.
Dragons and robots and bod. rippers are dumb
All my soapboxing about "why can't have have higher expectations for genre fic?" aside (I'm even going to leave out the Pratchett quote because I'm a good boi), I think it's more about investment and catharsis. Of the relatively few lit fic books I've read, I didn't realise I liked some of them until months or years later.
Meanwhile if there are dinosaurs, swords, guns, babes, and a plot that's actually progressing then I'm already digging it in the moment.
I just read the synopsis on wiki and even that confused me. A few thoughts:
Not all lit fic works for all lit fic readers. That's its charm.
Not all lit fic openly declares that it's lit fic. Sometimes it hides behind a dragon.
As a rule of thumb, there's more truth in fiction than will ever be found in non-fic.
Categorisation into genre is the work of peddlers and marketers. The rest of us need not dwell too long on it.
When I am writing a story, I like to make it easy to read, not hard, for the reader.
That's not always my primary focus, though I do try to make it worthwhile for the reader to bear with me. Not always effectively, I might add.
I'd like to add that literary and genre fiction are not mutually exclusive. You can have fantasy that is considered literary. I've always taken the term to mean that a novel has high artistic merit and is primarily character-driven. No reason why a fantasy, sci-fi or romance novel can't be written as such.
I could be wrong, but this is my understanding.
I could be wrong, but this is my understanding.
Exactly! Setting Wuthering Heights on a spaceship does not make it less literary. Maybe a little harder to gallop across the fields, though.
There's always been the matter of presentation and expectations, though, which those published on the literary pretense side at least seem expected to adhere to.
Perhaps more literary novelists will have to start dressing up their deep, nuanced explorations of the human conditions in . . . erotica or YA dystopia or something just to ends make.
Perhaps more literary novelists will have to start dressing up their deep, nuanced explorations of the human conditions in . . . erotica or YA dystopia or something just to ends make.
Well, I've decided to include a naked fist fight in all my stories, regardless of subject matter.
That literary fiction is too hard to understand and too highbrow for anyone but an Engish professor with a doctrate is a misconception. Artful use of language, emphasis on depth of character, and exploration of theme characterize literary works. It isn't necessarily difficult to read, but does seek to provoke a more thoughtful response than "I'll betcha Colonel Mayonnaise killed the cat with a silver cakestand." Don't misunderstand: good mysteries rank high among my favorite books. I am still mourning the death of Barbara Mertz, aka Eizabeth Peters, aka Barbara Michaels.
I'll have you know I write quite elegant, literary erotica, but just for the heck of it and not to make ends meet.
The key quote in that is "we're running a business here."Apparently 2 percent of the fiction market:
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I love literary fiction, but a lot of it is tedious and dull. I love genre fiction, too, but a lot of it is canned and insipid. I don't think either is inherently more/less highbrow or thought provoking than the other. More of a matter of expectations and appetite on any given day. Sometimes I want a 7 course meal with wine pairings and somedays I want a grilled cheese.
Thinking about this a bit more, I like my personal hit/miss rate of what I enjoy reading is probably equivalent across genres. I feel there's the same ratio of bad to good regardless. But I'm more a style, language, and mechanics guy, I think, rather than content. And strangely enough, what they consider meaningful and thought-provoking I found MUCH more interesting when I was younger. I couldn't sit through a chapter of Faulkner now but I inhaled it when I was in my early 20s. I think it's a life style thing. Now that I have all the reality I can handle, the last thing I want to do in the recreation department is use my noodle.
New puppy in the house is invoking memories of other housebreaking adventures.
I've never read Faulkner. Every time I start his work, I think, "Too many words," and go on to something else. Haven't made the attempt in years. Maybe I should try once more before I die. I used to love Tennessee Wiiams plays. I watched one a while back, and what I took for high drama at 21 smacks of melodrama at 70.
I've never read Faulkner. Every time I start his work, I think, "Too many words," and go on to something else. Haven't made the attempt in years. Maybe I should try once more before I die. I used to love Tennessee Wiiams plays. I watched one a while back, and what I took for high drama at 21 smacks of melodrama at 70.
As I Lay Dying is one of my favourite reads. It reached me at all levels.
