For librarians and readers with advanced degrees in English, literary fiction is like porn; you know it when you see it. For folks who have lives outside the pages of books, literary fiction is not as easily recognizable. Unlike genres such as mystery, science fiction, romance and chick lit., there are no specific techniques that govern and easily distinguish it.
At its best, literary fiction makes you grow smart exponentially with its big words and deeper psychological, sociological, or historical context. But at its worse, literary fiction feels like school and is just plain boring.
Here are some basic guidelines to help you determine if it is literary fiction:
· Beach Read – NO
· Anything with a pink or mint green cover -- NO
· Award Winner – YES (except for the genre awards in mystery, horror and western writing)
· You need to have a dictionary nearby to understand what you are reading -- YES
· The sentences are long and fluid with advanced punctuation techniques like semi-colons and ellipses – YES
· A New Times Best Seller – Typically NO, Occasionally YES
· A book sold at the check-out counter at Wal-Mart – NO
· A book for adults that your third grader can read with ease -- NO
· Novels about vampires – Typically NO for Contemporary Works Maybe YES for Gothic Novels
· James Patterson – HELL NO
