LOVE LETTERS TO LITERARY
We asked five agents who love literary fiction to explain what “literary” means to them, comment on the importance of character, talk about beauty in language, and detail what makes a manuscript magic. Interested in pitching one of these agents? Turn back to the agent roundup for querying details.
HOW DOES LITERARY FICTION DIFFER FROM GENRE FICTION?
CAPRON: As a general rule, literary fiction tends to be driven by voice or the protagonist’s emotional evolution. That creates the momentum of the story. Genre fiction is, generally, more driven by plot. However, we can see lots of overlap between genres these days. For example, it’s absolutely possible to have a very literary thriller. Even then, though, it still comes down to the question of the narrative being driven by voice and character.
HYDE: While literary fiction is a term that is widely used in publishing, it’s rife with issues, and I imagine every agent, editor, writer, bookseller, or critic you ask could have a different answer to this question. Perhaps it’s elevated language, a focus on character over plot, a seriousness, or attempt to get at “big ideas” rather than to simply entertain. But for me the line blurs so much between genre and literary, and my favorites are often books that straddle both. I want it all.
JOHNSON: Literary fiction is more about the telling of the story—in the voice, the observations, in alchemy of the characters—than in the storyline itself. It’s not the “what happened” so much as the how-did-the-narrator-think-it-happened. There’s generally no need for a spoiler alert with literary fiction, because the point isn’t only the plot; a good literary novel can’t be spoiled.
A few traits usually come up in this comparison: increased focus on the characters vs. plot, elevated writing, and experimentation. For me, it’s mostly a matter of seeing the
