Literary Fiction Writers, Please Stand Up!
I would love to know how many of my readers write literary fiction (we’ll use Wikipedia’s definition of literary fiction as “[focusing] more on style, psychological depth, and character, [versus] mainstream commercial fiction … [which] focuses more on narrative and plot.” If you do write literary fiction, do you have a terminal degree in literature, and do you teach in a university? And if you don’t have a degree — or your degree is in the wrong area altogether, like nursing or engineering — do you feel you’ve had difficulty getting publishers to take your literary creations seriously?
This may seem like an odd rant, but a new literary magazine started up in our community, and when I read the bios of the authors, they all seemed to be college professors. I think that’s odd. No, I really do; I suspect there are many, many closet literati out there who just aren’t getting published.
If you love to read and write literary fiction but feel the publishers of that kind of work have shut you out, I’d love to hear from you.
May 14th, 2008 at 12:48 am
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May 16th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
An excellent question. I am completing my second novel, Marital Property. This and my first, The Pastor’s Inferno, clearly focused on the inner workings of the protagonists. I have made some efforts to seek representation by the big guys, but so far with no success. I have self published my first three books. I don’t think my education is in the wrong area, a Ph.D. in Psychology, but I probably don’t fit into the literary set. I enjoy writing and sharing ideas. Until I found the term psychological fiction, I wasn’t sure what to call my writing. Thanks of opening this topic.
November 27th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Yes, the literary mags are heavily weighted towards academics. The most prestigious literary mags are (or were) all associated with universities, the last bastion of profitless hard-copy publishing. Students at these institutions may have a better chance of acceptance.
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Hello I think your post “Literary Fiction Writers, Please Stand Up!” is really great. Hope to see more good posts on this blog in the future. Take care. Dieter
March 21st, 2009 at 1:53 pm
I understand what you are referring to because I am an intellectual without academic docs or mentoring, although my writing — be it literary fiction or children’s books or social commentary, etc — typically reflects the rigors of research, knowledgeable editing, some leanings toward the application of scientific method and original thought.
Actually, at this point I find it challenging to appeal to the commercial media market, although I am learning to produce a lighter, breezier literary product over time. lol
It’s new information for me and a good heads up warning that the market drivers’ expectations of my work vacillate between the extremes of academic rigor and commercial scripts for t.v. and the like. I strongly believe that the market remains very hungry for new ideas well placed and presented. POM fruit juice, though placed in an entirely different area of what I call the “feel good” market, is a prime example to me of this observation. I welcome feed-back on these remarks.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:20 pm
I just found your website and blog, and it looks like you’ve got a lot of good information and thoughts. Anyone with a love of the short story is OK in my book! I write literary fiction, and have published a handful of short stories. I have a blog myself that focuses on the short story.
I have chosen not to pursue an MFA, and to study the craft in other ways. But I know a number of people who have gone that route. I read a lot of literary journals, and yes some seem to publish a lot of writers who are college professors, or who at least have MFAs. But there are a lot of non-MFA, non-academic writers getting published as well. And there are literary journals like Tin House that don’t have the same flavor as university-based journals.
December 23rd, 2009 at 11:51 am
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