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akjeOnce more, with feeling.
Literary fiction is not a genre. It's a quality of writing. There are four of them:
pulp fiction » » » commercial fiction » » » upmarket » » » litfic
• Just because a book is character driven doesn’t mean it's literary fiction. ALL fiction novels are character driven. The plot drives the character to do things he wouldn’t otherwise do. If the plot overwhelms the character development, then what you have there is a badly written book.
• Just because your book has no plot doesn't mean it's literary, either.
• Literary fiction is not the opposite of genre fiction; litfic comes in every genre commercial fiction does.
• LITERARY FICTION IS DEFINED BY THE DEPTH! LITFIC IS DEEP, AND HAS LITERARY MERIT!
• Litfic tends to have heavy themes, says something about the world we live in and the human condition, and usually has a message.
• Litfic has no tropes. Just because your book has symbolism, stream of consciousness and a navel-gazing character doesn't mean it’s litfic.
• Just because a book is famous, recommended by Oprah or has won awards doesn’t make it litfic. The Lovely Bones, The DaVinci Code and American Dirt are not litfic, no matter how many influential people say so.
Literary fiction is not a genre. It's a quality of writing. There are four of them:
pulp fiction » » » commercial fiction » » » upmarket » » » litfic
• Just because a book is character driven doesn’t mean it's literary fiction. ALL fiction novels are character driven. The plot drives the character to do things he wouldn’t otherwise do. If the plot overwhelms the character development, then what you have there is a badly written book.
• Just because your book has no plot doesn't mean it's literary, either.
• Literary fiction is not the opposite of genre fiction; litfic comes in every genre commercial fiction does.
• LITERARY FICTION IS DEFINED BY THE DEPTH! LITFIC IS DEEP, AND HAS LITERARY MERIT!
• Litfic tends to have heavy themes, says something about the world we live in and the human condition, and usually has a message.
• Litfic has no tropes. Just because your book has symbolism, stream of consciousness and a navel-gazing character doesn't mean it’s litfic.
• Just because a book is famous, recommended by Oprah or has won awards doesn’t make it litfic. The Lovely Bones, The DaVinci Code and American Dirt are not litfic, no matter how many influential people say so.
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