NY resolution? I’ve resolved my second novel will be doing the rounds of the publishers by next month. First to tell them what I write. I think it’s literary fiction. Every now and then I look up some definitions to make sure:
Wikipedia: Literary fiction is fiction that is regarded as having literary merit, as distinguished from most commercial or “genre” fiction. The term and distinction has been criticised by authors, critics and scholars, especially because a number of major literary figures have also written genre fiction, including Doris Lessing, John Banville, Iain Banks, and Margaret Atwood…
Oops! I don’t want to offend anyone. My work isn’t necessarily better than the work of the genre writer next door. And Doris Lessing is (was) amazing. Serve me right for relying on Wikipedia.
Goodreads: Literary fiction is a term … principally used to distinguish “serious fiction” which is a work that claims to hold literary merit, in comparison from genre fiction and popular fiction.
Crashing in with the size 9s again…Then again, that “claims” to hold literary merit suggests anyone can join in. I expect Trump along any day with something he wrote between tweets.
In 2014 Huff Post’s Steven Petite thought he knew what it isn’t:
…To put it simply, Literary Fiction is anything that does not fit into a genre.
…Literary Fiction separates itself from Genre because it is not about escaping from reality, instead, it provides a means to better understand the world and delivers real emotional responses.
I hope my writing does that. But where does his definition leave, say, Kazuo Ishiguro, Philip Pullman or the wonderful YA author of dystopian philosophy, Philip Reeve? And Lessing and Atwood are causing trouble again.
The recent Arts Council report on the plight of literary fiction authors also found it heard to define its subject:
Literary fiction…is not an absolute category. As with other art, it is what people believe it to be; hence we leave its boundaries undefined. What it definitely is not, for our purposes, is poetry or plays. We are looking at fiction.
NowNovel (quoted for no better reason that that it’s flying high on the Google radar) says literary fiction…
- Is valued highly for its quality of form and creative use of language…
- …explores subtleties and complexities of language, theme and symbolism and tends to be character-driven rather than plot driven. …Often, literary fiction makes more demands on its readers than genre fiction…
Hmm. Star Wars in any form makes incomprehensible demands on me but I’m quite happy with Jane Austen – surely it depends on the reader?
My favourite and final definition came from Sandy Day on a recent Book Connectors thread that started as a discussion of the Arts Council Report: …literary is a style not a genre. Every literary book fits into a genre, love story, mystery, thriller, social drama, etc. It’s the style of writing, the subtlety, the metaphors and originality of language, that make it literary. (Do investigate Book Connectors: there are some refreshing discussions there with readers, authors, bloggers, reviewers…)
I work hard on subtlety, metaphors, originality etc but if they fail to ignite, maybe my book could sneak in as contemporary fiction. Waterstones, I notice, put both E L James and Kate Atkinson in this category and add “modern” to the label. It should be broad enough for me, then. If Zadie Smith doesn’t quibble at sharing a genre with Jeffrey Archer, why should I, veteran of the Great Amazon Dinner Party that I am?
Or do I write commercial fiction? Well, no, since I couldn’t possibly make a living, or even pay for another holiday, from what I earn as a writer. However, if my work did start selling by the shelf load, would it then become “commercial”? Having been to the Oxfam shop with duplicate Christmas presents yesterday, I could suggest one defining characteristic of commercial fiction is anything you can find multiple copies of there. But this definition from the grandeur of Curtis Brown Creative is probably better:
Lots of our students … don’t want to be told what they’re writing is “commercial fiction” – but really what we mean by this is that a novel’s strongly story-led and with potentially broad appeal. Commercial fiction is less about style, voice and innovative use of language/form than literary fiction but there’s also an area where the two meet and blur – that’s often called ‘sweet spot fiction’ and it’s top of many publishers’ wish-lists.’’
Sweet-spot fiction! That’s what I write (in my sugar coated dreams).

How can I get from where I am now, to the sweet spot?
Harvey Chapman quotes literary agent Nathan Bransford:…Sooooooooo much literary fiction I get in the old query inbox is plotless. It’s just a character musing about the vagaries and eccentricities of everyday existence. The prose is lush, the character detailed, but one problem – absolutely nothing is happening and thus it’s (forgive me) extremely boring. Good literary fiction has a plot.
Ah. I do have a plot. I’m just not sure where it is. It’s not heavy enough to have sunk below the surface (good), so perhaps its subtlety has floated it free altogether, flotsam on a sea of interior monologue (bad). We dipped a toe in the water with two submissions in 2017. One editor replied: I think Jessica is a very accomplished writer, and it’s great to see how much she achieved with THE INFINITY POOL, but I’m not sure this is for me – I felt it just didn’t have a hook that was quite commercial enough for (name of publisher).
Adrift in an over populated ocean, I need a net to gather in my shoal, or even just one hook. As the second editor pointed out:
While there was a great cast of characters I just felt that there were perhaps too many so it was difficult to really connect with all the characters and there were too many changing viewpoints so the narrative didn’t quite have that flow. (Her words certainly flow, unsubmerged by punctuation, but she makes several very valid points so I mustn’t carp. There’s a plaice for what she says – sorry, I’m away with the fishes.)
Stand by for a rail disaster or perhaps a bomb in the shopping centre. That should dispose of a few changing viewpoints, and at least I’ll be back on dry land. I never liked (him/her/them) anyway. Then for my hook!From the same rejection email quoted above: I really liked the device of… (my secret device, patented to me: when it hits the sweet spot you’ll know what it is)… to bring out the stories, I thought that was a really nice touch and something quite different.
The hook’s there, it just needs sharpening. Happy New Year and watch this space!
©Jessica Norrie 2018
I would say I DEFINITELY write ‘Literary Fiction,’ too! 🙂
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Always good to be clear if you can!
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Personally, as a reader, a literary fiction is something that makes me fall in love with the English language in a philosophical way. I mean, it possesses the real, in-depth beauty of language as a unique tool in presenting a story. 🙂 I think it’s the one thing other kinds of novels lack.
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… a literary novel, I mean 🙂
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The intention was clear!
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I agree absolutely. Maybe the categorization problem presents itself when there’s a novel that manipulates language with depth and beauty some of the time but not throughout, or that has an equally strong claim as a thriller (etc). Also I think some writers establish themselves as “literary” with their first book – and then hold on to the stylistic (if not financial) advantage. then they have to make a public statement if they want to try other genres (eg, Kate Atkinson). The rest of us can only dream of having that problem! (Or work very hard towards it.) Thanks for your comment.
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Happy New Year to you too Jess. And thanks for another perky, thoughtful, beautifully written piece
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Thank you Neville. Just feeding my own soul at the Cézanne portraits exhibition.
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This is a great article on the subject. So true. Thanks for sharing, Jessica. 🙂
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Thank you. It is a minefield, but there’s room for all good writing in there somewhere, I’m sure.
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What readers want is stories. A strong narrative and characters you can empathise with. The trouble with giving books labels is that there are so many potential readers who are put off by definitions such as “literary fiction” or “thrillers.”
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Yes, I do agree (95% – occasionally there is some writing so lovely that it can stand alone without story – but that borders on poetry.) I think some authors are getting equally fed up with labels too. And I’d love to hear from agents/publishers about what they really think!
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Love this!
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Thank you!
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Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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Thank you for the reblog. I’m especially pleased by your support for my blog because the German translation of my first novel will, I hope, hit the presses in 2018. Happy New Year to you!
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An interesting post, Jessica (and I enjoyed being side-tracked to read about your Amazon dinner party) which I’m sure will resonate with many writers whose books don’t fit neatly into a publisher’s category. I had the same problem with No More Mulberries, which even had an agent who ‘loved’ it and although the publishers who rejected it all claimed to ‘love’ it, too, they didn’t see where it fit. I wanted to scream, ‘On a bookshelf in a bookshop.’ Good luck.
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…and have you been on the receiving end of “but ultimately I just didn’t love it enough?” Never mind… thanks for commenting and tweeting and Happy Hogmanay up there!
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Oh, yes, I’ve had that – and that it’s ‘too quiet’. I htink that means they wanted more blood and guts and war stuff. Happy New Year!
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I came across the new verb “to thillerise” in this context recently. Nasty idea…
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An interesting lot of thoughts about your writing, Jessica.
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Thank you and Happy New Year!
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Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
Jessica Norrie is back from her festive break and is raring to go with her second novel which is due to be doing the rounds of publishers this year. One of the areas that all authors struggle with is which niche in the ever broadening genres list do we fit in. Jessica explores the definitions of literary fiction… contemporary fiction and commercial fiction. Jessica makes a good point.. commercial fiction usually pays the bills and for the odd holiday! #recommended
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Thank you Sally. Actually I’ve justified a few holidays this year on the basis of blogging about the books where they’re set! But it’s made the book buying habit more expensive…
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Literary fiction frightens me – I always think of it as being high brow!
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THanks for your comment. I’m sorry to hear it frightens you – some can safely be left to the professors but some is just a good story, well written – what you want of any book, really. Try Helen Dunmore?
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Thanks, I will!
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