The Washed and the Unwashed (Once Again)

Literary fiction, genre fiction. What are the differences?

I fully understand that we've discussed this and argued about it many times, at this blog and elsewhere, but the question is still asked--and I still agree that it's an interesting subject.

And an important subject, to those of us who write and (try to) publish fiction, and especially short fiction. Why? Because even though markets for our work seem to be fading as we speak, those markets that remain are usually looking for either literary stories or genre stories. But not both. So, to avoid wasting our time and the editors' time, we need to know and understand the difference.

"Okay, then," says the beginning writer, or the hopelessly bored dinner companion, "what IS the difference between literary and genre?"

Views and Opinions

Some have said literary fiction is an Oprah's Book Club pick and genre fiction is a "beach read." Others say lit fiction is what you find in The New Yorker and genre fiction is what you find in AHMM, Asimov's, etc. I once read someplace that literary stories are good for you and genre stories just taste good. (I like that one.) My wife says literary stories are what she watches on TV and genre stories are what I watch. One of the most straightforward observations I've heard, although it's wrong, is that genre fiction is mystery, Western, SF, romance, and horror, and that literary fiction is everything else.

I've even heard some rude folks say that literary fiction should be read by those who want to be challenged mentally, and that genre fiction should be read only by the mentally challenged. Others, just as rude and not to be outdone, say that reading too much literary fiction can make you mentally challenged. 

In my short-story writing classes, I used to tell students that so-called literary works deal mainly with relationships, emotions, and "the meaning of life," while genre writing deals mostly with action, excitement, and adventure. I think that's a pretty fair definition.

 

Examples

An extreme example, I think, of a literary story is Hemingway's "Big Two-Hearted River." It's a short piece about a guy who hikes into a pine forest, pitches a tent beside a river, spends the night, and fishes for trout, and that's pretty much it. There's no plot, no conflict, nothing except one character doing a lot of thinking and (hopefully) making the reader think as well, about implied but never-mentioned subjects like war and rehabilitation. There's also symbolism, as he watches the river (like his own life) flow past him. 

The opposite extreme, the ultimate genre story, might be something I remember hearing in elementary school, a story called "The Hook." You've all heard it: (1) A teenaged boy and girl go out parking despite warnings that a deranged killer with a prosthetic hook is on the loose, (2) they think they hear someone sneaking around outside their car while they're romantically involved, (3) they bug out for the dugout, screaming and spraying gravel, (4) they later decide they overreacted and probably really didn't hear anything at all, and (5) when they get to the girl's house and the boy walks around the car to open her door for her, there's a hook hanging from the passenger-side door handle. No deep meanings there, no profound messages, no disillusioned or dying or suicidial characters. The whole story is plot--a twist-ending plot designed to scare the bejesus out of you--and the characters are there only to carry out the storyline. And it works.

Straddling the fence

Sometimes the difference between literary and genre is obvious: The Grapes of Wrath on one end of the field, let's say, and a Rambo movie on the other. But sometimes, as is true of many things in this life, the lines can get a little blurry. 

James Lee Burke's mystery novel Cimarron Rose is considered by some to be both genre fiction and literary fiction, mainly because of his use of beautiful, elegant, descriptive language; crime novels like Mystic River, L.A.  Confidential, and The Silence of the Lambs combine the categories because of the strength and depth of their characters; and classics like To Kill a Mockingbird and Shane are a mix of literary and genre mostly because of the life lessons they teach. Scout Finch and Bobby Starrett both undergo extreme changes in the way they look at life and their fellow man, and many consider this process of "becoming a different person during the course of the story" to be the single most important gauge of whether a piece of fiction belongs on the literary side of the courtroom.

Lucky with critics, unlucky at love

One thing you can count on: the critics will like you if you succeed at writing literary fiction, and the public will like you if you succeed at writing genre fiction. There's a reason that genre fiction is also called "commercial" fiction and "popular" fiction: it sells. Stephen King once said, and I'm paraphrasing, that if you specialize in writing literary fiction there's a good chance you might find yourself sitting down with your family one night to an Alpo-and-noodles casserole.

Does that mean that all of us who actually want to earn something (rather then just learn something) should try to write only genre fiction? Of course not. I think you must write the kind of stories and novels that you most enjoy reading, and feel comfortable writing. If you try to do otherwise . . . well, you'll probably fail.

It's sometimes not even safe to try to write in more than one genre. Some can do it effectively (Nora Roberts/J.D.Robb with her romances and mysteries, Loren Estleman with his mysteries and Westerns, etc,), but it's not easy. I don't know either of those authors, but I would bet the house and farm that both of them enjoy reading the two genres they've chosen to write in. And my hat's really off to those who can successfully write both literary novels and genre novels. There are many, but Larry McMurtry and Ed McBain/Evan Hunter come first to (my) mind. I still find it impressive but hard to believe that the same writer created both Lonesome Dove and Terms of Endearment.

More Opinions

The often-stated view that literary fiction is character-driven and genre fiction is plot-driven is correct, I think, but it's an oversimplification. To be successful, both categories need engaging plots and interesting characters. But I do agree that in literary fiction the characters are probably more important than whatever it is they're doing, and in genre fiction what they're doing is more important than who they are. As you probably know by now, I love to quote Stephen King, and I often find myself thinking about his observation of literary vs. genre. "Literary fiction," King once said in an interview, "is about extraordinary people doing ordinary things. Genre fiction is about ordinary people doing extraordinary things."

Here's another quote that I wrote down in a notebook long ago--I think it's attributed to Bill Stephens: "The characters in literary fiction spend so much time thinking, they never get around to doing anything. They constantly are confronted with deep issues of: Who am I? Why am I here? What should I do? Where am I going? Why can I not love/be loved? . . . and a myriad of other 'Woe is me' considerations. There just is no time left to do much."

Alas, there is also no time left to do much in this post. Let me say, though, that I am primarily as genre reader and a genre writer. I admit it. I do occasionally read and enjoy literary works, I certainly appreciate the effort and talent that it took to write them (I've actually sold some stories to literary journals), and I understand that many folks prefer to always read and write that kind of fiction. As Seinfeld would say, "There's nothing wrong with that."

But, God help me, I usually prefer to wallow among the unwashed. I simply LOVE stories like Die Hard, Jaws, Psycho, Blazing Saddles, and The Big Lebowski, and I love the goosebumps I get when I think of "The Hook."

I also still remember the childlike excitement I felt a few years ago when I heard about an upcoming movie called Cowboys and Aliens, featuring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. Good grief, I thought--James Bond and Indiana Jones, fighting it out with Predator? How could that not be fun?

How about you? Do you like to write, and read, literary fiction? Genre fiction? Both? If you're a writer, have you been successful in either, or both? I'd love to hear your thoughts on all this, in the comments section.

Over and out.