5 Tropes in Literary Fiction (the best and worst!)

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  • Опубликовано: 3 дек 2024

Комментарии • 80

  • @Robin-ih9jv
    @Robin-ih9jv 6 месяцев назад +7

    5:03 I think the best use of no quotation marks I've seen is Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, where it's essentially used as a tool for characterization of the narrator (there aren't any quotations around the narrators lines) It blurs the line between the internal monologue and external dialogue which makes sense because yk, famously during most of the book he's just talking to his own hallucination. Really adds to the overall disassociated tone of the story.

  • @vikillustrations
    @vikillustrations 3 года назад +61

    genre-bending is such a great thing. Most stories aren´t just one thing. I don´t understand people who try to force themselves to fit just this one thing. Write the story you want to write and worry about the categories later. Genres aren´t walls, they are for readers to know if the story is what they are into

  • @Snarflelocker
    @Snarflelocker 3 года назад +25

    I didn’t know my novel was literary fiction until these past two videos. It’s been a revelation, thank you so much. I thought my prose was too proletarian for my novel to qualify, and now I feel like I’m understanding it completely for the first time.
    Which is convenient since I’ve only been working on it for 9 years.

  • @judsonl8990
    @judsonl8990 2 года назад +13

    One of my favorite literary fiction writers is Cormac McCarthy. His book The Road is such a great example of genre-bending. Post-apocalyptic and beautifully written with plenty of retrospection.

    • @Exayevie
      @Exayevie 2 года назад +3

      And no quotation marks! 😂
      In all seriousness, yeah you’re spot on. Cormac McCarthy is a different breed. My favorite of his is All the Pretty Horses, which is one of his many Western genre-bending literary books. And I can’t wait for his new release this November taking on science fiction… I anticipate greatness.

    • @judsonl8990
      @judsonl8990 2 года назад +1

      @@Exayevie I love that he doesn't use quotation marks honestly haha
      I've started doing it in my own writing sometimes.

    • @Exayevie
      @Exayevie 2 года назад +1

      @@judsonl8990 When I first picked up the Road, I rolled my eyes soooooo hard - I definitely thought it was pretentious! But by the end of the book, I was just impressed - it added so much to the sense of intimacy and isolation - like, is this actually dialog or just some innate understanding? So I admitted it worked in that case, but I still held that it would never fly in a Western...
      And then I read one of the Westerns and immediately that theory was shot lol

    • @judsonl8990
      @judsonl8990 2 года назад +1

      @@Exayevie Yeah, he takes a little effort to get into. But, All the Pretty Horses is one of my all-time favorite books. And he does the same thing in that book - no quotations, simple dialogue, and beautifully exposition and prose. He's a master!
      And you're right - the lack of quotations makes the dialogue become just part of the scene. The reader hears it the same way they hear a creak in the floorboard when a character walks across the room. It's great if done well!

  • @Ozgipsy
    @Ozgipsy Год назад +1

    Young lady, I have no idea why you don’t have way more views. Very insightful. Every time.

  • @billyalarie929
    @billyalarie929 3 года назад +9

    thank you for saying this about genre-bending.
    i think so much of my time has been wasted on worrying about leaning too heavily on A Genre, that i forget that literary fiction is FAR more interested in the W A Y it is written, rather than it being about completely normal day-to-day shit and pointless introspection.

  • @karenboyd6293
    @karenboyd6293 2 года назад +4

    Very interesting and helpful video. I have been buying literature from sites that categorize some novels as literary fiction and I have wondered what it was. As a former teacher of writing and literature, among other things, I have struggled at times to explain to students what good literature and good writing is and why it is worthwhile. One of the first topics we covered that a good (worthy) book is not defined by what you like. Books are important for many different reasons. A book that makes a person think and analyze the issues in the book, is best. IMHO. However I had a student who, when writing a persuasive essay without out a clearly stated thesis, said she wanted to make the reader think.... My point is that excessive framing, especially when it goes back and forth often, can be confusing and combustion is not a good way to "make people think." The same is true for un-marked dialog. Certainly, things get boring with a lot of "he said," "She replied," He shouted, She screened. But as a reader I get irritated when I need to reread to know who said what. Good writing should be unobtrusive. By that I mean is that the writing techniques should not be blatantly in your face. If the reader thinks, oh framing again, or Oh there's a dog barking, it is a distraction. But when they are subtly included, they make for a wonderful read. ON the other hand tropes in things like romantic comedy can be fun since they lend themselves to humorous, sarcastic or snarky comments to share with friends while you watch.

  • @mcrumph
    @mcrumph 9 месяцев назад +1

    The great thing about writing about writers is they are one of the few professionals that have the time to sit around (or walk around) thinking; but, you are correct about the writer's block aspect of it. I would much rather see a writer at the top of their game (say, Umberto Eco) pounding out words. This would be a significantly better way to address creativity & the process of turning ephemeral thoughts into words on the page. Concerning fiction, all I read is literary & I am currently working on a novel where the reader is introduced to three characters & as those people move around the reader is introduced to other characters, each told in a specific way with an individual point of view. Give me another 10 or fifteen years & I will have my first draft finished.
    Great video, keep up the good work. Yes, I did subscribe, but not the notification, because, as a writer, have plenty of time to sit around & think & see who has put up new videos.

  • @newtocamelot
    @newtocamelot 3 года назад +15

    Regarding retrospection, I thought that could only be done in past tense, but I think the novel “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue” does it in present tense, if I’m not mistaken. Here’s an example:
    “She could not break the figurine.
    But she could take it.
    Amid the growing list of negatives-she cannot write, cannot say her name, cannot leave a mark-this is the first thing she has been able to do. She can steal. It will be a long time before she knows the contours of her curse, longer still before she understands the shadow’s sense of humor, before he looks at her over a glass of wine and observes that a successful theft is an anonymous act. The absence of a mark.
    In this moment, she is simply grateful for the talisman.”
    Is this an example of retrospection?

    • @Reedsy
      @Reedsy  3 года назад +9

      This isn't really retrospection, more like projection into the future! Retrospection means you're thinking back and reflecting on past events, this is more the main character interpreting what her thoughts might be in the future. Kind of a reverse retrospection in a way!

    • @leandre8896
      @leandre8896 2 года назад

      This is like the hundredth time this book has come on my radar; I'm going to read it next.

    • @zny_syd
      @zny_syd 2 года назад +3

      @@Reedsy But the voice does seem to know what's happened in the future. It simply seems to be commenting on the fact that the past self does not know the future as the voice does, and therefore is more retrospective than predictive I think. No?

    • @ameliaayers1435
      @ameliaayers1435 2 года назад

      ocean vuong does a lot of this i think

    • @newtocamelot
      @newtocamelot 2 года назад

      I found another example of this in Celeste Ng’s “Everything I Never Told You”:
      “His father is hardly home these days anyway, and his mother has locked herself in Lydia's room again; through the wall he can hear her pacing, like a prowling cat. Hannah raps at his door, and he puts on a record, loud, until he can't hear the sound of her knuckles, or his mother's footsteps, anymore. Later, none of them will remember how the day passes, only a numbed blur, overshadowed by all that would happen the next day.”
      The narration is in present tense but the narrator seems to know the future. This means that if we choose a present tense for a novel, we’re not necessarily locked in present and past tense, but we can access the future this way too.

  • @r.harlansmith7282
    @r.harlansmith7282 Год назад +1

    Your talks on literary fiction are very good. I write almost exclusively in Literary/Upgrade fiction. Your information and examples are reaffirming for me. Thanx.
    R. Harlan Smith

  • @seandavidcomedy
    @seandavidcomedy 3 года назад +4

    Would love a recommended reading list at the end of these genre videos.

  • @paulapoetry
    @paulapoetry 3 года назад +5

    The writer character is encountered a great deal in fiction, not only in literary fiction, but in romance and womens' fiction, and very much so in crime/mystery type genres. A crime writer with a tendency to get involved in solving real life crimes...! It isn't always annoying, but can be.

  • @IanHollis
    @IanHollis 3 года назад +5

    If you haven't already, could you do a video on self-publishing a *second edition* and what differs and how it differs to self-publishing a first edition? Thank you.

  • @Iloveliterature
    @Iloveliterature 7 месяцев назад +1

    Two tropes. 1. Protagonist returns to home town to see mum who has dementia. 2. Goes for a walk - sea-gulls. Also over-doing the 5 senses thing. Boy fancies girl and goes to a café with her. Buys a scone. Smells the scone, tastes it, watches butter melt on it, the texture of the scone, its taste . . . as if he would give a **** about the scone if he's with a girl he fancies for first time!

  • @demn8042
    @demn8042 3 года назад +5

    On number 2, from tv tropes: “most writers are writers”

  • @rahelmadhira7331
    @rahelmadhira7331 3 года назад +1

    I'm finishing the first draft of my novella, it's upmarket fiction, it has literary elements of retrospection and some romance. Told in the first person in the past tense.

  • @Zigurat7
    @Zigurat7 3 года назад +1

    Is "upmarket" still a thing? Or have publishers and agents moved away to either literary or commercial?

  • @freedomthroughspirit
    @freedomthroughspirit 6 месяцев назад +1

    I guess I'm old school (?) but I'm still not comfortable with reading books writing in first person. I never know if I should trust the narrator, interestingly, and it's not me but it's saying "I" which is odd and as a result puts me off. I know some folks love the immediacy of it but I value the distance between me and the characters, allowing me to let the characters "in" and to put myself in their shoes at my comfort/convenience/choice. To each their own. Great video, thank you for this topic, very interesting.

  • @nealabbott6520
    @nealabbott6520 11 месяцев назад +1

    i was taught that someone famous (can't remember who) who make a dog bark when he's stuck on a scene and make the characters react. raymond chandler did the same, except someone would walk into the room with a gun and people would react to that

  • @DalCecilRuno
    @DalCecilRuno 3 года назад +2

    Literary sci-fi!!!! 💜💜💜 Sorry, I had to say it. I love that blend so much.

  • @Exayevie
    @Exayevie 2 года назад

    Oh my gosh I love this discussion of no quotation marks. I remember picking up The Road for the first time and rolling my eyes aaaaalll the way back in my head lol. I almost put the book down because I thought it was so pretentious. But by the end, I had to acknowledge it really added to the stark, isolated feel of the book.
    At the time I insisted it would never work outside of an apocalyptic setting, and then I read All The Pretty Horses. So that theory was immediately shot lol.
    I still refuse to do anything completely without quotation marks like McCarthy does. But I found it’s useful to pull out in select situations, specifically when dialogue is happening but it’s not the main thing on the character’s mind. Hemmingway did that very subtly in just a few passages of Farewell to Arms.

  • @Elslein
    @Elslein 3 года назад +3

    I agree about writers writing about writers 😃 As for genre-bending literary fiction… there is a bit of confusion in this one, because literary fiction is not really a genre - it’s a marketing category.

    • @jacquelinewhittaker4651
      @jacquelinewhittaker4651 10 месяцев назад +2

      I don't like the device either of a book within a book. Neither do I like a play within a play...The Dresser. But Shakespeare used it.

  • @jayashreechakravarthy4949
    @jayashreechakravarthy4949 Год назад

    We’ve no choice but to ramp up security from now. The royals will forever be watched.

  • @JosephFuller
    @JosephFuller 3 года назад +1

    _This comment is me asking for help._ I wrote a piece of historical fiction during a class to show the students how to do their writing assignment for that week. The short story that came out of the lesson was given to the students and they have since encouraged me to turn it into a book.
    I have outlined everything, written a few chapters and put together *_extensive_* notes. However, my greatest obstacle is keeping on task and staying motivated. If there is someone behind me putting a fire to my bottom, I get it done but if left to my own devices, I rarely finish anything I start.
    There are many reasons for this ranging from depression, to being consumed by a fear of success, or an overpowering belief that it is pointless to continue. I really want to finish this one and I really want to tell Ilse's story but I have a hard time initiating the flow of words onto paper or screen. Once I start, it is not an issue but... ....any advice on how to get rid of this villainous shortcoming? I've seen a few doctors and while they have helped greatly with the larger life issues; writing is still an issue.

    • @____uncompetative
      @____uncompetative 2 года назад

      If your protagonist mirrors some problematic aspect of your self writing that she credibly overcomes challenges to change as a character and overcome her problems could stimulate your own subconsious with a vision of hope. Regular exercise is also therapeutic for depression, and worth just going out for an hour long walk without headphones so that you listen to the world and don't stay wrapped in your cocoon of media. It can help to think things through, but also, too much introspection isn't helpful. Seeing a psychologist is probably the best treatment I can recommend from a medical perspective, as it helps to understand your own psyche as you are usually too busy living it to analyse it dispassionately, and need help unpacking your own list of maladaptive personality disorders (I have six). Maybe, take your novel idea and write it as a short story, allowing it to become a novella if it wants to be that length. Then go back over this and elaborate on it to make it novel length, by following the lives of ancillary characters who have a tangential connection to your protagonist and show us how they seem from the outside view.

    • @freedomthroughspirit
      @freedomthroughspirit 6 месяцев назад

      Wait But Why did an incredibly insightful and funny long post series on procrastination and I've never looked at it the same since. Recommended. : ) I'm pretty sure it's still online. FYI in case you find it helpful.

  • @vamsirock692
    @vamsirock692 10 месяцев назад

    Ma'am, you do proofreading of Novel manuscripts??

  • @zenaryder1412
    @zenaryder1412 2 месяца назад

    I'd never noticed the dog barking thing and didn't think I had one in my literary WIP. But I searched the manuscript for "dog" and lo and behold, I do have one! 😂

  • @jacquelinewhittaker4651
    @jacquelinewhittaker4651 10 месяцев назад +1

    Good video thankyou. I have lousy hearing and so quieter background music would have helped me. It was nice music though.🤗

  • @tworiversmeet
    @tworiversmeet 11 месяцев назад

    How can I get in touch with you? Do you offer mentoring services? I need help with plotting ( finding a basic structure) for a piece of retrospective literary fiction. I have worked on an MS for 7 years and I wish to rewrite.

  • @raytrix1
    @raytrix1 3 года назад +2

    I hate novels about writing! If I pick up a book, read the back, and see that it's about a writer/novelist...I put it back down, lol. Just feels like a weird type of self-insert fanfiction.

    • @freedomthroughspirit
      @freedomthroughspirit 6 месяцев назад +1

      Romancing the Stone is a film, obviously, but she's a writer and it made sense for the plot so sometimes it works, albeit perhaps not in literary fiction. But yeah the writer's block trope? Ugh, nope. Hard pass. 😆

  • @SandyRobinett
    @SandyRobinett 2 года назад

    Are there successful memoirs written with some literary fiction in them?

  • @martellc1008
    @martellc1008 16 дней назад

    What’s was the name of literary horror author name ? Please 🙏

  • @leech1355
    @leech1355 3 года назад +1

    “Everything Under” has a dog barking and also skips quotation marks 😂 I liked that story though and think no quotations made sense because it made the scenes feel more like a memory which was relevant to the story

  • @graceswee7961
    @graceswee7961 Год назад

    What is the name of the short story author who writes literary horror? Amanda…?

  • @starfire1
    @starfire1 3 года назад +1

    Sorry what's the name of the horror writer you recommend

    • @Reedsy
      @Reedsy  3 года назад +1

      Samanta Schweblin!

  • @butternut8901
    @butternut8901 3 года назад +1

    What was the name of the woman who writes literary horror? I tried a few times but can’t understand the name and am not sure how to spell it. Thanks

    • @butternut8901
      @butternut8901 3 года назад

      Hey never mind. I turned on CCs!

    • @Reedsy
      @Reedsy  3 года назад +3

      Samanta Schweblin!

  • @r.harlansmith7282
    @r.harlansmith7282 Год назад

    Reedsy, Try "Outpatient" by R. Harlan Smith at Barnes & Noble. Literary Fiction.

  • @newtocamelot
    @newtocamelot 3 года назад +2

    I honestly didn’t mind the “no quotation marks” thing in Sally Rooney’s writing.

    • @rizzypizzy
      @rizzypizzy 3 года назад

      I found it impossible at the beginning of Normal People, but quickly got used to it.

    • @rahelmadhira7331
      @rahelmadhira7331 3 года назад

      If one is used to reading classic literature, it can be annoying

    • @blessedtobealive
      @blessedtobealive 3 года назад

      lol I hated it with Margaret Atwood

  • @charliebrown4624
    @charliebrown4624 3 года назад +3

    Woof!.... Woof, woof, woof, woof...... Woof!....... I like dogs.

  • @sumayyahkhan8897
    @sumayyahkhan8897 3 года назад +2

    For the next few videos could you please explain every single type of book genre. They are so confusing

    • @Reedsy
      @Reedsy  3 года назад +2

      We already have a video on this topic! It's called the ultimate guide to literary genres :)

  • @johneyon5257
    @johneyon5257 2 года назад

    fiction writers writing about writers annoys me too - it's like movies about movie makers - it's like the writer/moviemaker has lost sight of the outside world - and sees everything in terms of their profession - if it's well done then of course - but the more writers & moviemakers do it - they narrow the focus for the audience too - so i avoid those self-indulgent stories & movies
    i chuckled at the dog barking scene - i've never noticed - it must be like having a storm accompany a deadly event - or rain a tragic one

  • @oliverford5367
    @oliverford5367 8 месяцев назад

    Movies about movies are generally more interesting to the director, who's probably a lifelong movie nerd, than it is to the general public. Same with writing about writers.
    But most people want to feel the world is real, imagine the characters actually exist. Going meta is like showing how the magic trick is done.

  • @Harry-mf6rq
    @Harry-mf6rq 2 года назад

    I've never understood the 'you can do anything' thing. What can you do with literary fiction that you can't do with genre fiction?

  • @danielkibira4064
    @danielkibira4064 Год назад

    Was George R.R. Martin's Armageddon Rag an attempt at Literary Fiction? Because the setting of the story is based on a certain 20th Century era, as well as the main protagonist being a writer.🤔
    Love this channel in a tube world full of genre fiction ranters , you're a rare gem. 👌🏾

  • @adobejuan2160
    @adobejuan2160 3 года назад +1

    More examples, please
    Thx

  • @Starburst514
    @Starburst514 3 года назад +1

    I think the "main character is also a writer" thing is like a stage all writers go through 😅 I did (and yes I don't like it now) I think because other than the "well I know what being a writer with writere block is like" aspect it's also "easy" like don't want your MC to worry about money? Make them a rich writer whose at the moment having trouble on thier next book. Want a character with surface level knowledge on things for plot reasons but can't justify it? MAKE THEM A WRITER we're also looking up random stuff for books. Need a reason for this character to be witness the main event in an area they know nothing? MAKE THEM A WRITER GETTING RESEARCH
    I think it can be fine in stories but I just...can't personally do it. Read it or write

  • @Frank-e3x8z
    @Frank-e3x8z Месяц назад

    my favourite lit fic is american psycho, its so gory but it is so hilarious, i liked misery even though it isnt lit fic even thoug paul sheldon was a writer. btw i love to genre bend, i do lit fic that is basically some sort of subverted version of another genre idea.

  • @missellie1
    @missellie1 3 года назад

    I HATE the framing devices in Heart of Darkness. There are a ton of other reasons why I hate that book, but it started on a bad foot due to the framing. I feel like if my AP English teacher had to explain it to us before hand, it isn't a functional way to write the book.

  • @RachelB.BookReferences
    @RachelB.BookReferences 3 месяца назад

    I don't really write myself, but I love reading about writers. Not so much the writer's block, but just in general. Also, I hate when there are no quotation marks... it seems incredibly lazy to me, and often makes the story confusing, causing too much rereading, which ultimately wastes my time. Why should I have to do the work to reread someone's book because they were too lazy to write it well to begin with?

  • @jayashreechakravarthy4949
    @jayashreechakravarthy4949 Год назад

    Maximize security for tsugumi.

  • @lakeshagadson357
    @lakeshagadson357 2 года назад

    literally fiction is should be something I could teach is there way it can be taught

  • @geoffreynhill2833
    @geoffreynhill2833 2 года назад

    I think folk should read old novels as well as contemporary. Especially writers...

  • @carolclark8767
    @carolclark8767 Год назад

    What is this person's name?

  • @yvesgomes
    @yvesgomes 2 года назад +1

    Wait... so is literary fiction all about the prose, then? The distinction between genre fiction and literary fiction is so weird. And there are still the age categories on top. XD

    • @oliverford5367
      @oliverford5367 8 месяцев назад +1

      Some publishers like Harlequin/Mills and Boon won't publish the book without a happily ever after. You can't go full Romeo and Juliet in a genre romance. So the concept makes sense, books that have defined genre conventions and those that don't.

    • @yvesgomes
      @yvesgomes 8 месяцев назад +1

      @@oliverford5367 Thanks.

  • @sangamithranataraj531
    @sangamithranataraj531 3 года назад

    Oh no😂😂😂 I'm writing a kunstlerroman about a writer😂😂😂