Literary Thriller a thing?

Google says "Literary Thriller" is a thing. Who am I to argue?

Based on your post, I'm wondering about the "literary" label more than the "thriller" label. I'm curious what you want to convey with the literary label, and if there's a way to bring that out more in your pitch.

However, I'm not an agent; my question about the literary label may not matter. Good luck!

Literary Thriller a thing?

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Why, yes it is. I wrote one. If you get it right, and it hits the spot and the book gods are with you, you can get massive sales.

I did not hit the spot.
(Some awfully nice reviews in the lit'ry mags, but. )

ETA: Not getting a literary vibe from the "gist" that you posted. Be aware - when you write your query, you'll need to bring all the book's literary voice to bear. Can be tricky.

Receding Waters said:

Is the "literary" label something that needs to be there? Would an agent pause on that term favorably? Does it set the bar too high, in terms of content or pure snobbery expected? Can't a thriller posess all and more of what I wrote above? I say, yes. So, then, is there merit in retaining the "literary" label?

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Myself, I wouldn't use "literary" as a selling point with a ms - that's more something you use to decide which agents to send it to, I think. I don't know for sure - I'm in Australia, and I think we do it differently. I was surprised when I heard mine was a literary thriller, because I'd never heard of the crossover thing before. I thought it was just, yanno - a book.

Receding Waters said:

is there merit in retaining the "literary" label?

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If an agent were seeking literary and thrillers, and otherwise seemed a fit to represent the manuscript, I'd definitely highlight both aspects.

ETA: mccardey has more experience than I do, though!

Receding Waters said:

Thanks for the responses, Anna Iguana and McCardey,

The literary aspect I see in the MS stems from the focus on how China stretches people, changes them into extremes, and from how the inner turmoil Elijah faces due to his guilt around the divorce and the miscarriage propels him into the shady side of China. Reflections on life, choices, guilt, and redemption ensue.

The suspense label comes from the way in which revelations routinely come up for the MC and the reader, along with hieghtened consequences that come with each revelation. The criminal world of the fighting circuit, the gangsters, and graft is the vehicle it's all presented in, and supports the suspense label.

Wondering...

Is the "literary" label something that needs to be there? Would an agent pause on that term favorably? Does it set the bar too high, in terms of content or pure snobbery expected? Can't a thriller posess all and more of what I wrote above? I say, yes. So, then, is there merit in retaining the "literary" label?

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I wondered the same thing the iguana did and reflecting on choices, guilt, etc., can be in any genre novel -- those don't really have anything to do with something being litfic or not. While it's a somewhat mushy appellation, the writing is what's normally the primary distinguishing feature of literary works.

Literary thrillers are definitely a thing and I love them.

Australia seems to do them quite well. Peter Temple, Jane Harper and Alan Carter come to mind.

Hi, I think I can answer this one since I'm roughly in the same shoes.

My books are sort of like what you described -- deep character and yet lots of suspense/adventure elements in unusual settings. I consider them drama because that's the focus, the personal transformation of the lead characters. But this is a hard line to walk marketing wise. When I first got my agent, the book she signed me on was more thriller-y in the sense of pacing and the sheer load of exciting events. But she and other agents interested in my book admitted they couldn't sell the book as a genre thriller. It was too deeply personal and complex. So my agent recommended (and I did) a series of pretty massive revisions that re-balanced the book more toward the core character issues. I ended up cutting huge swathes of action to give the book room for the characters to grow.

She plans to pitch the book as a kind of thriller because I think these days that's just slang for "it has a plot." But it's also being pitched as "mainstream," ie the book could be positioned in the general fiction category or the thriller category. As others said here, if the book hits the spot, this kind of thing can scale big time. Part of the key is that the book is high concept; it's got that little something something that makes it stand out.

In your pitch, there's a lot going on, and it does tend to favor the thriller-y aspects of the story. If the climax of your book is your character boxing with the bad guy in front of a bunch of people, that's a pretty thriller-y finale. It definitely can work in a more thoughtful piece of fiction, but you may have to work at making that moment emotionally meaningful beyond just defeating the bad guy. In a drama, your character might enter that ring, he prepares to fight, and something makes him walk away from that brutal circus. Or whatever. Something unexpected and emotionally transforming, not just action.

When you pitch to agents, you can say it's a thriller if you want. I think all agents look at those (or most seem to). If they're intrigued by the story they'll re-position it with you. That's what happened to me. The big thing is to research agents who represent both thrillers and drama/literary fiction. I did that, and hit the right people pretty fast. You'll want an agent with successful clients in both genres.

(*as an aside, I'm not quite sure why a miscarriage would cause a divorce, so I'm not sure that should be in a pitch. It raises a question you don't really need to raise.*).

I'd just call it a thriller. It's for others, not the author, to judge whether it's "literary." And that designation is not an unalloyed good, either. All too often, "literary" is publisher-speak for "Won't sell above a few thousand copies," and who wants that label attached to their book?

This is something I've often researched, as well, since my own preferences for reading (and also my writing) tend to cross those lines. You may find this information useful: https://carlywatters.com/2015/11/16...een-literary-upmarket-and-commercial-fiction/

Based on that information, it's likely my latest manuscript could be classified as an upmarket thriller (slightly slower pace than a full-on thriller, very character-driven, strong psychological threads because I'm a major psychology dork), but I don't generally pitch it as that in query letters because I think it sounds kind of pretentious. There are several sources that consider Gone Girl to be a literary thriller, given that it plays with the method of story-telling and digs deep into the characters. I think a lot of psychological thrillers/suspense could be considered literary because of the methods they use, focusing so much on the character's mind and using clever, subtle methods to mislead the reader.

But I don't think it's necessary for a writer to know exactly how to label their book (beyond basic genre) since there's a lot of disagreement on the specifics even among professionals. I mean, the promo quotes on the back of The Woman in Cabin 10 refer to the book as an old-fashioned mystery, psychological suspense, and an edge-of-your-seat thriller. Even those genre distinctions are being blurred by the industry. My guess is that books being published now, especially those with elements of suspense, are moving toward a multi-category sensibility which provides broad appeal.

Like the others said, based on the elements you've described (the amount of action, imminent danger, threat of death), it sounds like you can safely call your work an adult thriller and let the publishing professionals decide any additional labels.