The more I think of it, the more...

[Dr.Gonzo]

...I think that my novel is literary.

Forgive me. I'm still not clear on what literary is, but the last few weeks I've been in here reading up and it's making me think that it is. The tipping point was hearing some of you say that a literary novel has nothing to do with flowery prose, but is more to do with the novel being deeply character driven. That's what caught my attention. My prose is somewhat affectless and sparse. I like to leave a lot of space for the reader to see the character between the lines.

I have a plot, a small one, but it's all I need: My MC moves to the city to get away from his one-road town and the friends and the drugs... When he arrives he finds that most of what he was running from followed him, including attention from an ex. Over the story, the MC gets a new partner, and the ex starts to show she isn't just going to leave alone by causing trouble for him--small things that build throughout. There's a theme of lonliness, partnered with digital dependency that seems to be seperating him from his friends rather than helping them be closer (he knows some guy halfway round the world who's just been promoted but fails to see his missus is crying beside him--that kinda deal, although I've been careful not to preach; I'm raising questions but not answering them).

That kinda thing. Anyway. Sorry, it's been a long day and I've got a buzz on. Now I'm very happy with my work on this. It excites me just writing about it here. Does it sound literary?

If so, by the time editing is done, it should be around 60K.... Is that okay?

I've probably, in my excitement, skipped over some detail or another that's vital to you being able to answer this question, so I'll pop back in a bit--maybe a week given the traffic in this section (joke)--to make sure there's nothing else you need to know before you're able to sort my head out, which at the minute is as busy as a bag of cats.

Kind regards, you little beauties.

[backslashbaby]

It sounds like it has the elements I like in a literary piece :) I'm not completely straight on how to tell literary works from not, though, until someone else classifies them. I read what interests me and don't know much about the rest of it.

[CaroGirl]

It's really difficult to tell without reading it. Your novel could be literary but it could also be mainstream. How commercial would you judge it to be? When querying my last novel to an agent it got rejected on a full for not being commercial enough. I guess that makes it literary?

[amyashley]

It depends. Read a few literary novels and a piece or three in the literary section here.

If you feel most comfortable about it, that's likely the best indicator. You're right. Language isn't where the genre splits.

The novel sounds interesting, and if there are still edits to go word count is in flux. I'm a sparse writer as well. My final count on my last book surprised me. I thought I was cutting more in the last revision, but I added material too. You never know.

[Dr.Gonzo]

It sounds like it has the elements I like in a literary piece :) I'm not completely straight on how to tell literary works from not, though, until someone else classifies them. I read what interests me and don't know much about the rest of it.

Thanks :)

That's exactly the same as me, and as this is my first, I've never had to worry about it before.

It's really difficult to tell without reading it. Your novel could be literary but it could also be mainstream. How commercial would you judge it to be? When querying my last novel to an agent it got rejected on a full for not being commercial enough. I guess that makes it literary?

I suppose it has some commercial themes--loneliness, the digital era; I was actually going to use status updates as chapter titles but then working on it I decided not to have chapters at all, instead scene breaks, and on the very odd occaision I'll place an update between scenes.

There's humour in it. Not really from the character but more the situation. It's something of a satirical social commentary.

It depends. Read a few literary novels and a piece or three in the literary section here.

If you feel most comfortable about it, that's likely the best indicator. You're right. Language isn't where the genre splits.

The novel sounds interesting, and if there are still edits to go word count is in flux. I'm a sparse writer as well. My final count on my last book surprised me. I thought I was cutting more in the last revision, but I added material too. You never know.

Thanks for the advice. You are a helpful soul :)

[paul_in_arlington]

Hey Gonzo,

I like your concept. As someone who's writing in a similar niche, I going thru the same pain. It's been difficult for me to force my book into a pigeon-hole, since pigeon-holes are what literary agents look for in a query. (Many are open-minded, I'm sure, but to get past the query stage you have to fit within a known genre).

I've toyed with labels like "literary fiction" (sounds pretentious, as if I were trying to write poetry and not prose) and "general fiction" (sounds, well...., too general) and "character-based fiction" (Is that a legitimate category?)

At any rate, keep us posted on your progress.

Have you thought about posting your work on Share Your Work?

[Libbie]

actually, here's all you need to do to avoid the pigeonholing thing and still find a good literary agent.

Just refer to your novel as a "novel" in your query, without defining it by genre or category. But instead of shotgunning your query at every agent out there, research agents carefully and query only those who already represent books that are similar to yours in some significant way: similar tone, similar theme, similar writing style, similar characters/settings/plots. this means you'll have to do a lot of homework and a lot of reading before you query, but it should pay off much better than the shotgun approach.

[spentastico]

I'm starting to think (whether it's accurate or not) that literary is a state of mind. Maybe it's my insecurity shining through, but I tend to think that I would be told from someone else if they considered my work literary and not the other way 'round. If I were to call my novel literary, I'd be afraid of being called pretentious or given an exceptionally harder critique since I was setting the bar higher than a "genre" novel with my declaration.

Tell ya what. Once I get published, I'll get back to y'all on this subject. Until then, I'm just a random dude on a forum. :P

[backslashbaby]

I'm starting to think (whether it's accurate or not) that literary is a state of mind. Maybe it's my insecurity shining through, but I tend to think that I would be told from someone else if they considered my work literary and not the other way 'round. If I were to call my novel literary, I'd be afraid of being called pretentious or given an exceptionally harder critique since I was setting the bar higher than a "genre" novel with my declaration.

Tell ya what. Once I get published, I'll get back to y'all on this subject. Until then, I'm just a random dude on a forum. :P

I know, right? OTOH, I just had to categorize something of mine for readers, and it became clear that the story wouldn't be pleasing to everyone. Whether I like to say it out loud or not, it's a story that you probably do have to think about. Folks don't always feel like doing that, because it is so nice to just sit back and enjoy the ride. I know I like that, too :D

So, mine's something you have to read carefully, and it's only fair to the readers to give them a heads up, I think. I certainly don't think it's a better style than others. It's just one choice among many good ways to tell a story.

[kuwisdelu]

I know, right? OTOH, I just had to categorize something of mine for readers, and it became clear that the story wouldn't be pleasing to everyone. Whether I like to say it out loud or not, it's a story that you probably do have to think about. Folks don't always feel like doing that, because it is so nice to just sit back and enjoy the ride. I know I like that, too :D

So, mine's something you have to read carefully, and it's only fair to the readers to give them a heads up, I think. I certainly don't think it's a better style than others. It's just one choice among many good ways to tell a story.

That's why I feel genres and categories are more about reader expectations that anything else.

[HoneyBadger]

I plan on targeting agents who are seeking mainstream/commercial *and* literary first, then agents who just want commercial, *then* agents who just want literary. And also just calling it a novel. Maybe, if I'm feeling lucky, I'll call it a fictional novel. That should surely show how clever and ironic I am, right? ;)

I don't care where they shelve the damn thing, I just want the fame and glory and beautiful riches that comes from writing fancy books for wicked smaht people.

brb writing erotica under an assumed name

[Dr.Gonzo]

I'm starting to think (whether it's accurate or not) that literary is a state of mind. Maybe it's my insecurity shining through, but I tend to think that I would be told from someone else if they considered my work literary and not the other way 'round. If I were to call my novel literary, I'd be afraid of being called pretentious or given an exceptionally harder critique since I was setting the bar higher than a "genre" novel with my declaration.

Tell ya what. Once I get published, I'll get back to y'all on this subject. Until then, I'm just a random dude on a forum. :P

I see. I think that just the way you're looking at the difference is why you'd worry about being called pretentious. I don't see literary as setting the bar higher. It's just another form of story, one that concentrates more on internal rather than external conflicts.

Other variables like style can be seen in genre. I'm still getting my head around it myself. With the books I'm into, I hear the word 'transgressive' used a lot. The more I look, the more I see. And the more I learn, the more I realise I don't know shit.

You know. I like Palahniuk (earlier works), Clevenger, Ellis, Welsh, McCarthy, Salinger, Baer. They're just novels. For the most part, they're just contemporary novels with characters trying to get through the shit that's in their lives--there's no Da Vinci code to be solved, no terrorist threat or zombie attack to fight. So, I'm going with contemporary novel as my safe zone. People want to push it further into one corner or another, by all means they can.

Can you tell I've exhausted myself thinking about this while looking for agents that seem a good fit? Haven't sent anything out yet. I'm researching while editing.

:poke:

[Marya]

Affectless, spare and character-driven may well be literary -- the quality of the writing is what draws me to certain novels regardless of genre categories.

What about posting a brief extract in SYW and getting some feedback?

[Al Stevens]

I have a plot, a small one, but it's all I need: My MC moves to the city to get away from his one-road town and the friends and the drugs... When he arrives he finds that most of what he was running from followed him, including attention from an ex. Over the story, the MC gets a new partner, and the ex starts to show she isn't just going to leave alone by causing trouble for him--small things that build throughout. There's a theme of lonliness, partnered with digital dependency that seems to be seperating him from his friends rather than helping them be closer (he knows some guy halfway round the world who's just been promoted but fails to see his missus is crying beside him--that kinda deal, although I've been careful not to preach; I'm raising questions but not answering them).

I don't know where you will pigeonhole it. And I don't care. But from that description, I'd like to read it. Particularly from the last sentence. A writer after my own heart.

[Dr.Gonzo]

Affectless, spare and character-driven may well be literary -- the quality of the writing is what draws me to certain novels regardless of genre categories.

What about posting a brief extract in SYW and getting some feedback?

I may do that with certain scenes I'm unsure about once I've finished editing. Probably the more experimental scenes where I use certain devices to show a frame of mind or a different tone. Maybe maybe maybe. I've made my peace with the genre worries now. It is what it is, and I'm not reinventing the wheel, just rolling it down a different road.

I don't know where you will pigeonhole it. And I don't care. But from that description, I'd like to read it. Particularly from the last sentence. A writer after my own heart.

:Hug2: