Comments on Nathan Bransford, Author: What Makes Literary Fiction Literary?

Thank you for writing this blog!! I'm in a fic...

2012-01-24T14:44:27.881-08:00

Thank you for writing this blog!! I'm in a fiction writing class at my university, and on the first day, the teacher informed us that no genre fiction would be accepted, that we had to writ literary fiction. My first response was, "What the heck is literary fiction???" She didn't have a good answer for me; she just told me to read the stories in our text and I would see. However, even after reading your blog, I still have no clue how I'm going to write literary fiction, when I mainly read and write genre fiction. Your blog has helped clear up some of my questions. Now the only question I have left: How do I write literary fiction???

Thanks for your blog, though! It was great!

Nathan — you've struck it spot on. There is pl...

2011-12-29T08:21:33.214-08:00

Nathan — you've struck it spot on. There is plenty of genre fiction out there that indeed works as literature (early Peter Straub; sci-fi's Larry Niven). Plot is not paramount to literary fiction, yet its importance for story movement makes even the densest work (eg, Joyce) brings you along to the next scene.

I'll take your definition one step further: scene development drives any story, be it internal or out in the world; and good characters should, for the literary novel especially (but not exclusively), drive story movement and pacing.

Now the question is, are there rules for writing g...

2011-10-31T16:35:29.996-07:00

Now the question is, are there rules for writing genre fiction that do not apply to literary fiction? Specifically, is it okay if your first chapter spends a great deal of time on backstory?

Thank you - this is one of the best explanations f...

2011-09-26T09:48:32.025-07:00

Thank you - this is one of the best explanations for "literary fiction" that I've found. I've struggled with defining it myself but I like what say about interior/exterior plot. That and go read a bunch of literary novels - you'll get a "feeling" about what's different from genre fiction, but you've put that "feeling" into words here.

Nathan, Great post! You've probably got the e...

2011-03-24T10:46:54.222-07:00

Nathan,

Great post! You've probably got the elevator pitch answer to "What's literary fiction?" down by now. I just finished my first novel which would not fit into any genre. When asked about genre, I have to go with literary fiction but, as you point out, that's such a nebulous term. I like your idea about the plot being below the surface. I need to work on a cool 10 second explanation.

-paul
www.pauldillon.net

Thank you, thank you. Had been wondering the same ...

2011-03-04T12:15:44.113-08:00

Thank you, thank you. Had been wondering the same thing myself. Love the "commercial literary fiction" designation. Gives us all someplace to put the books we can't decide about. Does raise the spectre, though, that most literary fiction is not commercial. I may be somewhat gun shy, having just come from reading a poetry blog that said that, basically, literary novelists ought to downsize our economic expectations and regard our work as poets do theirs, as something between an addiction and a hobby (my paraphrase). Ah, well, we do what we do. As for me, I had to put off writing literary fiction until I retired, was lucky to get publisihed, and now have a wonderful second career. Wish I had known at twenty this was what I wanted to do and gone the MFA track.

Hi Everyone, thoroughly enjoyed reading your comme...

2010-10-24T03:28:28.760-07:00

Hi Everyone, thoroughly enjoyed reading your comments regarding literary fiction and as a result would really appreciate any suggestions you could make on mine.

It's a kind of digital/interactive multi conciousness layered and complex theory in action. And it's meant to be witty!

The basic story involves a Middle aged woman in Britain who makes a wish to be a Fairy Godmother and grant wishes to deserving people who come to ask while she's in her favourite chat rooms on AOL.

She encourages those who'd like to make people happy, if they're GOOD, to support her.

Imagine that?

A Real Fairy Godmother?

What would YOU Do?

I love depth psychology and paralinguistics along with Neo-Stoicsm and of course... Postmodernism.

(what's life with a few ism's anyway?)

Chloe Sencounter

http://defining-whats-really-important.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-10-09T15%3A03%3A00%2B01%3A00

Personally, a novel is 'literary' if it di...

2010-09-05T14:35:28.036-07:00

Personally, a novel is 'literary' if it displays exceptional skill in the crafting of a story, both in the language and technique. But it should also leave us with ideas that are extraordinary, that pleasure us and give us emotional satisfaction. Great novels stay with us all our lives.

Nathan - Your idea about the plot lying below the ...

2010-08-29T08:02:24.897-07:00

Nathan - Your idea about the plot lying below the surface in literary fiction has really helped me out in a research paper I am doing for school, but I was advised to reference other writers or organizations which have the same idea, along with you, so that my argument has some weight. Please could you direct me to sources which also put across the idea of plot being the focus in commercial fiction and character development being the focus in 'real literature'? :)

Thanks again, Nathan, for illumination. I do thin...

2010-08-07T13:51:06.187-07:00

Thanks again, Nathan, for illumination. I do think, though, that literary fiction also means good--as in REALLY GOOD writing. For instance: Michael Chabon's "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay"--lots of action plus a happy ending.

I can tell you what it's not: it's not so...

2010-08-05T06:27:23.705-07:00

I can tell you what it's not: it's not some starlit's account of how many drugs she took while pulling in an insane amount of money; it's not some "reality" star's whining about how badly he/she was treated by the producer's of their insipid show; and it's not the "life story" of Justin Bieber. (really-that's going to be published. Really) Do I sound perplexed at what does get published?

I tend to think the distinction is a bit of an art...

2010-08-04T22:11:47.899-07:00

I tend to think the distinction is a bit of an artificial construct. We can all agree that there is plenty of unfortunately-written commercial fiction that makes the best seller lists, but there is also a great deal of high-quality genre fiction that has literary merit -- think Ken Bruen, James Lee Burke, Peter Robinson, to name just a few. Given 5 minutes I'm sure you, or I, or anyone who does a lot of reading could easily come up with three or four pages of great contemporary writers who have managed to get published and develop a following among the literary-minded. Andre Dubus, Michael Chabon, Jonathon Lethem, T.C. Boyle, etcetera etcetera, almost ad infinitum.

The idea of a literary novel qua literary novel always brings thoughts to mind of Mrs. Dalloway, or Ulysses, or not-so-popular-but-well-regarded-among-writer types like Lydia Davis -- where the author is pushing the edges of what is (or was) deemed to be the traditional format, and the reader is required to have (and use) some brainpower in order to keep up. Literary, in this context, means "esoteric," and is almost by default defined as having little appeal to the common reader -- so Nicholson Baker's extended experiment about breaking a shoelace would qualify as literary, while Jasper Fforde's hilarious The Eyre Affair -- chock full of literary references -- somehow comes under the catch-all category of contemporary fiction.

I agree with you that the novel in which nothing much happens, and in which the story is in the interior life of the characters, seems to be a much harder sell these days, but there are still so many great writers out there (more every day, it feels like) that I still feel like a kid in a candy store when I walk into my local bookstore (Rakestraw Books) and browse the aisles randomly picking up new novels from authors I've never heard of. For all the pap out there, the Murakamis and the China Mievilles of the world still seem to be finding a way to get published.

I read non-fiction and listen to literary fiction ...

2010-08-04T16:29:10.623-07:00

I read non-fiction and listen to literary fiction on audio. While I love the lilting turn of well written prose, if the story is not character driven my attention span fades. I make exceptions on certain fiction authors whose work is character driven and I read those books rather than listen on audio.

Oh my gosh, thank you so much for this. I now real...

2010-08-04T10:53:25.963-07:00

Oh my gosh, thank you so much for this. I now realize that my book is a hybrid rather than just straight out literary fiction. I’ve been asking myself for a while if my book was truly literary fiction with all of the things that happen in the plot, but you cleared this up nicely for me.I was feeling guilty because the emotional depth of my characters was tossed in with a mysterious plot in which a lot actually does happen, but now I see that it's just commercial literary fiction. *wanders off and picks up a pen again*

Would you say it's possible for a literary wor...

2010-05-07T14:07:51.321-07:00

Would you say it's possible for a literary work to be a genre within a genre. That is, is it merely a style? Could All The Pretty Horses be a piece of literary fiction within western genre?

I’m out here cruising the Internet looking for def...

2010-03-28T14:47:00.137-07:00

I’m out here cruising the Internet looking for definitions for literary fiction and came across your blog. Saw your picture and convinced myself that a handsome, young, man couldn’t have much to say to me on the subject. But, your comments on the Academy Awards caught my eye. Then your acid sense of humor tantalized. Having just read about a zillion descriptions of the term, the genre, the square pegs in round holes theory – and our tendency to define something new --and be open to stretching the precedents of writing and how immediately others start deciding what doesn’t fit. I’d have to say, all stereotypes aside, you’ve offered a description I can live with. I think it nails my writing to a tee. Explains a great deal to me after years of just trying to get the voices in my head onto paper. No sarcasm intended. I’ll have to bookmark you. Maybe query you someday if I can get past my own biased self-perception of being an old white lady with a story that’s not chic lit, a mystery novel, science fiction, or strictly memoir. Thanks for that!

Full disclosure before I comment on literary/comme...

2010-03-25T12:03:58.004-07:00

Full disclosure before I comment on literary/commercial: I love the Oscars. Watch every minute, every year. Like it when interviewers and MC's are NOT snarky, when all involved act like a community of supportive artists just a little embarrassed by the bling and the competitive nature of awards. Love all the clips and love making a list of movies I haven't seen and want to see. Always feel pleased when a movie that takes some brain-power beats a more "commercial" (AHA! There's my bias showing...) movie.

Sometimes I think trying to decide what the label for your fiction is is just one more way to procrastinate. And I don't think the writers whose work will last spend too much time worrying about it. They have stories to tell, and they tell them their way. If a story is boring, whether it's commercial or literary, you've got a problem.

It amazes me to see Salinger, Rushdie and Joyce getting slammed. Unique they are (I like the idea of "unique" being one line fiction must cross to move from commerical to literary)and strange they might be, but boring they are not. We should be so lucky to write even their worst books.

One other quick thought: Taking pot shots at professors who are hoping their students will read a few challenging books before heading out to put bread on the table and read Tom Clancy (nothing wrong with that, it's true)- that's kind of crass. And it smacks of a certain ex-president who bragged about not reading at all. Jabs at academics is a popular sport in America - you don't see it abroad, and I'm puzzled by it.

I dip in and read your blog from time to time and ...

2010-01-31T21:07:34.103-08:00

I dip in and read your blog from time to time and it is always interesting. Today I burst out laughing when I got to your aside about The House of Sand and Fog.

Without regret I also admit that I didn't even watch the awards show although I am given to understand that Celine Dion is now akin to a space station and we can go see her in 3D.

Look forward to reading more.

This explanation is thought-provoking. There's...

2010-01-05T22:15:39.411-08:00

This explanation is thought-provoking. There's another sort of book I've seen, though - one that uses the action-orientation and prose style of genre fiction but attempts to make the kinds of "deeper" statements about life that might be expected in "literary" books. (This approach usually does not work for my taste!)

Mr. Bransford My name is SPC LEIFI and I am in th...

2009-11-28T13:07:02.552-08:00

Mr. Bransford

My name is SPC LEIFI and I am in the U.S. Army and am currently training in the DC area. On June 16, 2008 while I was deployed in Iraq, a good friend Maril Delly sent me a link with your blog for no reason that I could think of, however, I saved your information.

I am published artist with Editions Limited in Santa Rosa, CA, and create vintage jazz posters for them that they sell worldwide to all the major retailers. I also have my own art publishing company that produces WW2 type posters for the families of fallen service members from the the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns.
http://freedomsonme.com/
I am currently writing several books and I have some questions about your services.
One book in particular is a novel regarding a soldier suffering from PTSD. I have taken all my military experiences and the experiences of families that I have worked with to create this book.

I don't have an online work for the art I do for my publisher, however you can do a google search on my name and some websites will come up.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Just want to say thank you to all contributors! Th...

2009-10-22T09:17:37.699-07:00

Just want to say thank you to all contributors! This blog has helped me learn.

I've just joined a "literary" book club and - being a selective and eclectic reader of whatever's on offer - had the same question: when is a good novel a "literary" novel? Google pointed me here.

I was relieved to read that there is no distinct and generally agreed boundary between "literature" and "genre" although I recognize the basic characteristics of both. Personally, I try to avoid black and white categorisation.

Now I'm going to google "Why do some novels stand the test of time" ;)

Mike
(Netherlands)

Thanks for your blog. Very funny and useful. (Mus...

2009-09-11T11:48:10.630-07:00

Thanks for your blog. Very funny and useful. (Must make your agency very popular with writers.)

Toby. (named after the English beer)

Nathan, I think your explanation is an accurate o...

2009-07-01T13:20:06.907-07:00

Nathan,

I think your explanation is an accurate one. I have been trying to explain this very comment to several people recently, and they are having a hard time grasping it. You explain it much better than I have been.

To Anonymous who said... "Nathan: I recently ...

2009-06-13T07:15:21.039-07:00

To Anonymous who said...
"Nathan: I recently submitted my work to a writer's competition back east & I listed the genre as "commercial literary fiction" (the hybrid). I came to this decision because of the 'eureka' that came from your description, i.e. more straightforward prose, accessible, but with a deeper emotional complexity.

One of the judges (a well-known agent) commented, "If you can't figure out what your novel is, then I won't take the time to read it. And it's not my job to tell you what the genre is." He dismissed my submission w/o a page read. Nice. All that work for naught."
An agent at a writer's conference I attended said the opening line of your pitch letter is the most important sentence. If you can make a connection in the agent's mind with something familiar to him, it gives him, or her, a better reason to read your manuscript."
So, Anonymous,next time maybe you could describe your work as "in the same genre as Elmore Leonard, Cormac McCarthy, since Nathan has pointed out that these two writers also cross the commerial/literary line. Good luck!

It's all opinion. It's commercial and popu...

2009-06-12T06:12:40.101-07:00

It's all opinion. It's commercial and popular if most people with the price of a book in their pocket buy it.
It's literary fiction if only a few people with the price of a book in their pocket buy it.