Great article—concise but rich in both variety of topics & ideas.
On genre: Your breakdown of the differences and similarities made me realize there’s the same sort of division in film.
As someone writing at the margins—late Cold War DC setting, but aiming at a character-driven & thematically rich story—I hope the lines will blur more. I love so many “spy novels” that are more literary than commercial thriller (like Le Carre’s A Perfect Spy, and more recently Rosalie Knecht’s Vera Kelly series). Gratified to see them in the literature section of bookstores more and more.
Reading: If not for a smart bookseller at Edgartown Books, plus an article I read somewhere (NYT? Publishers Weekly?) about the unfortunate cover choice, I never would’ve cracked open Lessons in Chemistry. An enjoyable read, unexpected plot twists, plus for me a rare instance of an animal’s POV that really worked. (630 is the character I remember best a year later.)
And after your post I know I need to read again (& use the techniques described in) Butler’s From Where You Dream.
And to echo Emily Levin: THANK YOU for voting. Every single ballot counts, today more than ever.
Yes--I was thinking about film as I was writing this. I also hope the lines will blur more. Nothing like a good literary spy novel/film or literary romance. This is what readers and moviegoers want!
Good point about 6:30. He was a fantastic character!
Great post—thanks Liz. I’ve struggled to understand whether I’m writing literary, genre (historic), or a hybrid. Thanks for the tip on the Butler book too.
I think historical fiction can go either way. Sometimes it's very literary, other times more commercial. Hybrid is probably what most readers want, although publicists might say otherwise...
I really liked the way you described the difference between, and nuances within genre and literary fiction. As someone who has come to depend on happy endings, I am reading lots of romance right now. But I am drawn to the more character driven ones you describe, with flourishes of literary language and lots of interior work on the page. I am a big fan of many literary writers and marvel at their acrobatics on the page. And funny that you mention Lessons in Chemistry— my own genre expectations made my experience in reading it frustrating. The book is well crafted and well told, but I would have gone in with a totally different mindset. I know she has been quite successful so my cognitive dissonance does not affect her success, but it made me feel manipulated by the marketing, which seems a poor business model for the industry. As a reader who also writes, I don’t ever want a reader to feel that way about my published work. But again, this is all my very specific and personal experience as a reader and writer. I fully accept I may be out of sync and step with trends because I usually am! Thanks for voting and thanks for your dispatches. Happy to have found you.
Thanks for reading, Emily! I like happy endings too but not when they're too tidy (Lessons in Chemistry being a case in point). I like endings that make me keep thinking about the characters after I've closed the book, and that doesn't happen for me as much when I already know their happily-ever-after. I agree about the marketing of Lessons in Chemistry. It took me a while to get into the right mindset, but after that I enjoyed it (despite the ending). Happy reading and writing!
Great article—concise but rich in both variety of topics & ideas.
On genre: Your breakdown of the differences and similarities made me realize there’s the same sort of division in film.
As someone writing at the margins—late Cold War DC setting, but aiming at a character-driven & thematically rich story—I hope the lines will blur more. I love so many “spy novels” that are more literary than commercial thriller (like Le Carre’s A Perfect Spy, and more recently Rosalie Knecht’s Vera Kelly series). Gratified to see them in the literature section of bookstores more and more.
Reading: If not for a smart bookseller at Edgartown Books, plus an article I read somewhere (NYT? Publishers Weekly?) about the unfortunate cover choice, I never would’ve cracked open Lessons in Chemistry. An enjoyable read, unexpected plot twists, plus for me a rare instance of an animal’s POV that really worked. (630 is the character I remember best a year later.)
And after your post I know I need to read again (& use the techniques described in) Butler’s From Where You Dream.
And to echo Emily Levin: THANK YOU for voting. Every single ballot counts, today more than ever.
Yes--I was thinking about film as I was writing this. I also hope the lines will blur more. Nothing like a good literary spy novel/film or literary romance. This is what readers and moviegoers want!
Good point about 6:30. He was a fantastic character!
Great post—thanks Liz. I’ve struggled to understand whether I’m writing literary, genre (historic), or a hybrid. Thanks for the tip on the Butler book too.
I think historical fiction can go either way. Sometimes it's very literary, other times more commercial. Hybrid is probably what most readers want, although publicists might say otherwise...
I really liked the way you described the difference between, and nuances within genre and literary fiction. As someone who has come to depend on happy endings, I am reading lots of romance right now. But I am drawn to the more character driven ones you describe, with flourishes of literary language and lots of interior work on the page. I am a big fan of many literary writers and marvel at their acrobatics on the page. And funny that you mention Lessons in Chemistry— my own genre expectations made my experience in reading it frustrating. The book is well crafted and well told, but I would have gone in with a totally different mindset. I know she has been quite successful so my cognitive dissonance does not affect her success, but it made me feel manipulated by the marketing, which seems a poor business model for the industry. As a reader who also writes, I don’t ever want a reader to feel that way about my published work. But again, this is all my very specific and personal experience as a reader and writer. I fully accept I may be out of sync and step with trends because I usually am! Thanks for voting and thanks for your dispatches. Happy to have found you.
Thanks for reading, Emily! I like happy endings too but not when they're too tidy (Lessons in Chemistry being a case in point). I like endings that make me keep thinking about the characters after I've closed the book, and that doesn't happen for me as much when I already know their happily-ever-after. I agree about the marketing of Lessons in Chemistry. It took me a while to get into the right mindset, but after that I enjoyed it (despite the ending). Happy reading and writing!