Ann Herendeen

Dec 19, 2012 10:16 PM EST

I haven't read Swamplandia, but you exactly summarized my beef with today's literary fiction. I also think, along with Lev Grossman, that lit fic is just another genre that elevates form, experimentation, and beautiful writing over substance. Yech.

- lawless

Dec 21, 2012 9:54 AM EST

Thanks for commenting, lawless. It's such a rare pleasure on this lonely blog.

I don't have as negative a view of lit fic as you, if only because, as a writer, I feel an intense need to experiment, and at this point, after two "romance" novels, feel constrained by the demands of genre fiction. I don't want to spend what's left of my writing career locked into one particular format or one particular narrative style.

But I do think lit fic has become insular, to the point that it protects its own at the expense of old-fashioned storytelling. Without good storytelling, "experimentation" is meaningless, self-idulgent bs. Not all "lit fic" is bad, but if you're not already part of the in crowd, writing a good story and telling it well, in a way that readers can enjoy and follow (the sole purpose of novels, in my opinion) won't win you acceptance.

- Ann Herendeen