tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762622439282650752.post7052702957446987618..comments2023-09-17T07:46:57.550-05:00Comments on Charity's Writing Journey: Literary vs Commercial FictionCharity Bradfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01960821077619680661noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762622439282650752.post-5618983688453543102012-02-11T17:59:46.434-06:002012-02-11T17:59:46.434-06:00I love that this post generated some discussion!I love that this post generated some discussion!Charity Bradfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01960821077619680661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762622439282650752.post-35567117854430703362012-02-08T22:14:17.160-06:002012-02-08T22:14:17.160-06:00I don't really agree with Sara either. I don&#...I don't really agree with Sara either. I don't enjoy commercial fiction with "skin deep" characters. I usually won't read it, and if I do it's getting a neg review.Bethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09962862566388212238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762622439282650752.post-44509916951545744442012-02-08T22:12:14.661-06:002012-02-08T22:12:14.661-06:00I don't really agree with Sara either. I don&#...I don't really agree with Sara either. I don't enjoy commercial fiction with "skin deep" characters. I usually won't read it, and if I do it's getting a neg review.Bethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09962862566388212238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762622439282650752.post-74874451602349387702012-02-08T11:35:34.232-06:002012-02-08T11:35:34.232-06:00Ah, but there are awesome stories among "lite...Ah, but there are awesome stories among "literary" fiction. I'm thinking James Joyce, Hemingway, Fitzgerald. And how do I classify To Kill a Mockingbird? As a literature major, just thinking out loud. Excellent post, Charity, that GOT me thinking!<br /><a href="http://annbestblog.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow"><i>Ann Best, Author of In the Mirror & Other Memoirs</i></a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762622439282650752.post-48819056207774719102012-02-08T11:34:46.849-06:002012-02-08T11:34:46.849-06:00I'm not sure I agree with the way Sarah define...I'm not sure I agree with the way Sarah defined it. The whole point of writing is communication so literary fiction should make us want to read more. And I think good literary fiction is inspiring, has a great story and makes us want to read. Bad literary fiction is like bad fashion--ridiculous. <br /><br />Me, I have genre issues. I can't figure out what it is I write!Johanna Garthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15515478890074610814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762622439282650752.post-48049344517380530552012-02-08T10:50:06.981-06:002012-02-08T10:50:06.981-06:00It's interesting that you mention it, because ...It's interesting that you mention it, because I've been thinking about this exact thing a lot lately. Actually, I've been thinking about it since I finished reading The Fault in Our Stars. When I finished, I realized it was exactly the kind of book that will be taught in classrooms, and with that realization came another: mine will never be. <br /><br />Even if I go on to be wildly popular and famous (*snort*), I will never have books that can be taught in such a straightforward way. My books are about the story and the poor characters who get caught up in the crossfire of plot and scenery. I've decided that I don't mind. I'd rather have people enjoy my work. I hated all the books we were forced to read in high school and elementary school, so I'd rather not be despised because I wrote something that students were forced to learn.<br /><br />So yeah, fun fiction with some kernel of wisdom, that's how I'd prefer to be known.Renahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02767762370997304308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762622439282650752.post-26449843236711681892012-02-08T10:15:03.418-06:002012-02-08T10:15:03.418-06:00I fall in the commercial fiction, but I write with...I fall in the commercial fiction, but I write with gay characters that have gay sex so that puts me in a niche market. My story is primarily science-fiction but there is always that awkward elephant in the room if someone comes to my book expecting there to be a love story between a man and a woman. I don't ever expect to be a bestseller. There just aren't enough kinds of people that like my kind of writing. Of course I write other kinds of stories for straight folk. I try to feature as many minorities as possible from Hispanics to blacks and to avoid stereotypes. I'm kind of hoping that with a little luck, I may find a suitable audience. I've met a lot of great authors through networking but most of them (like 90%) seem to be very conservative/religious, and they all seem to write commercial YA. There are some days when I feel like a lone banana hanging out with bright red apples at the apple stand. There are other bananas, but they really have no place to hang out either. I see them on the orange stand and hanging out with the pears. We are odd things...bananas.Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762622439282650752.post-18412999129234449492012-02-08T09:21:33.891-06:002012-02-08T09:21:33.891-06:00I can't help disagreeing with her assessment. ...I can't help disagreeing with her assessment. <br /><br />First, it doesn't make any sense. How can "commercial" and "genre" be the same if commercial is aimed at a wide audience while genre is obviously aimed at a focused group of people who like a particular genre? Romance, for instance, is not written for people who like military sci fi. <br /><br />What audience a type of fiction is written for seems to me to be more a matter of content than style anyway. People usually read a variety of styles, but might only be interested in certain types of content. With that in mind, in my opinion literary fiction is so generic in its content that its audience is everyone. Not that everyone does read literary, but literary doesn't automatically rule anyone out the way genre does.<br /><br />Second, if all genre fiction is commercial and all commercial fiction always focuses on plot then why is there so much genre fiction that focuses on all the aspects of story? Me thinks someone has not actually read enough genre fiction to know anything about it. <br /><br />My thinking is that genre fiction focuses on Story (not just plot, which is only one of the legs on which Story stands) and literary fiction focuses on Style. Commercial is, in my opinion, a label that does not apply to any one type of literary content but can be found everywhere. There are commercial books in every genre, but not all genre books are commercial. There are also commercial literary books. <br /><br />Commercial refers to something that is produced primarily with money in mind. Something for which the producer (in this context, the author) didn't really care much about and so didn't focus on quality.Sarah McCabehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10985261436020635823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762622439282650752.post-22249485827392196552012-02-08T08:59:23.297-06:002012-02-08T08:59:23.297-06:00I definitely fall in with commercial fiction.I definitely fall in with commercial fiction.Cherie Reichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16663147386014122939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762622439282650752.post-33696688772902257362012-02-08T08:13:50.778-06:002012-02-08T08:13:50.778-06:00Interesting post. I never thought about it before....Interesting post. I never thought about it before. I'm starting to think my problem may be that I am actually more literary trying to be commercial. Round peg in a square hole. May my true self win out. Isn't that where the 'good' writing comes from. The heart.farawayeyeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17578277501054242356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762622439282650752.post-49284243963352860282012-02-08T08:02:04.969-06:002012-02-08T08:02:04.969-06:00Nice. I'm more commercial. =)Nice. I'm more commercial. =)E. Arroyohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06634213563563094173noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762622439282650752.post-69276131914401796822012-02-08T07:47:34.009-06:002012-02-08T07:47:34.009-06:00I'm glad you posted this. I sheduled this last...I'm glad you posted this. I sheduled this last week and this morning I thought I should add a note saying that i'm not dissing literary. For some people it comes naturally, and it's what they prefer to read. It just isn't me. However, my book club group are all literary. I'm like a fish out of water, but i'm trying to learn how to see things from a new perspective.Charity Bradfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01960821077619680661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762622439282650752.post-29230508813749757662012-02-08T06:33:02.796-06:002012-02-08T06:33:02.796-06:00I've always preferred to focus on 'how'...I've always preferred to focus on 'how' I write rather than 'what' I write, so yeah ... definitely literary. But I don't do it because I want to IMPRESS people. It's just what comes more naturally.Jessica Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10889900730906728317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762622439282650752.post-91495746399136183702012-02-08T03:31:23.296-06:002012-02-08T03:31:23.296-06:00I think I'm more in the commercial, too. At le...I think I'm more in the commercial, too. At least with what I've been working on thus far.Miranda Hardyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17880449368013410349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762622439282650752.post-43163797873581678212012-02-08T02:41:18.791-06:002012-02-08T02:41:18.791-06:00I completely fall into the same category. I get an...I completely fall into the same category. I get annoyed with literary fiction so I can't see myself writing it (other than maybe an experimental short story or two). Anyway, there are more readers out there than writers so I prefer to appeal and sell to the larger market. :)Anna Mittowerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18367108488911684343noreply@blogger.com