I Write Literary Fiction…But What Is It?
At the heart of any type of fiction is storytelling. People love stories, they have since the beginning of time. Stories were recorded when we developed the ability to communicate. Stories are captivating because we love to find ourselves in them, discover something we find relatable, and identify with something that makes us feel less alone, and more human.
I write literary fiction, but I often get asked what that means. Fiction comes in many genres, and there are particular characteristics to each type. Literary Fiction is a broad genre that includes anything that isn’t crime, fantasy, romance, horror, or science fiction. It tends to be more character-driven than plot-driven in that the focus of the writing is the protagonist’s journey rather than the sequence of events.
A character-driven plot means that the purpose is to create characters that are unexpected or unusual. Literary fiction usually works under the assumption that life isn’t always fair, that happiness is not something that is taken for granted, and that human life is mortal and ambiguous. Events are important, but not as crucial to the story line as in other types of fiction.
The most important element to any type of writing is the story. According to the book Writing Fiction; A Guide to Narrative Craft by Janet Burroway, “A story is a series of events…
