Asynchronous Post #3: Literary Fiction? Literary Fiction!

2/26/2021

As we have seen in Interior Chinatown, it can be hard to really pin down what "literary fiction" is because any text can take risks of form and structure. And, also, if what makes something literary fiction is that it deals with big and heavy truths, wrestles with important, sometimes topical, sometimes timeless, human emotions and ideas, well, there again, any text can do that as well.

WHAT TO POST
Sometimes it seems that what makes something literary is that other people, reviewers, publishers, editors, the litterati (whoever they actually are) are the ones who decide. Writers, I think, just write. And yet, it's a category of publishing because there is something different about literary fiction than genre fiction (which we will read later in the semester)--something about a text that can not be reduced to genre like fantasy or science fiction or detective/mystery. It's the something more that others (at least) see as different, as having a certain depth. So the prompt for you to respond to--in 200-300 words--is both sort of simple and sort of not: What is your idea for a piece of "literary" fiction then? It can be a novel-length idea or an idea for a short story.

I know, you didn't sign up for this class to write novels (some of you anyway), and I'm not making you write the actual novel. I'm asking you to play with an idea. Consider the story you'd want to tell, think about your options for how you might tell it, and then try to explain what ideas/theories/philosophies/burning questions of the day your story might try to explore. If it looks like genre fiction on it's outside, what about its inside makes it "something more."

THEN RESPOND TO (AT LEAST) ONE COLLEAGUE
Whose story do you you really love and why? You can respond to more than one if you love more than one. Essentially, whose story do you really wish they'd write because you would want to read it.

You have until next class to post, but, as always, I suggest you get this done in the half hour after our class ends.

21 Comments

Brittany Ann Oppenheimer

2/26/2021 10:22:02 am

My idea for a literary fiction piece needs to focus on the story and characters above all else. When the book starts, we need to care about what the main character or others characters are goin through right away. Readers should be able to sympathize with them on a whole different level that makes us jump out of our seats if something good or bad happens to them. If we cannot sympathize with them or what they are going through, then it becomes hard to get invested. The same came be said for the story. Since fiction is more broad, it would make sense for the fiction story to be about something that would never happen in real life. Sure, you can create a fiction story based off of real events, but if your not pushing the boundaries of fiction, then is it really fiction?

I'm actually writing a novel right now called Xendraya, where the main character name Amelia Vertigo is locked in a Dungun where her adoptive parents abuse her. At the same time, the universe is disintegrating at a rapid pace because, at the time, there is no Blue Bloods in the universe that can take over for The Guardian, the being who creates all life. When Amelia discovers her powers, she is able to escape her prison and find her way into the world where she comes across the white void eating away her planet at every second. That's why Amelia has to go to Xendraya in order to be called "worthy" of her blue blood and go through several trials to gain her full powers. I'm gonna stop cause there is much more to this story by I would be here forever so, lol.

Paige Couture

2/26/2021 05:12:44 pm

Hi Brittany,

I will admit that I also need to concentrate on characters more than anything else. However, not to the point where I get off track in the story and steer away from the plot. I think a good idea to get readers to sympathize with characters is to have them go through something in life that everyone goes through at one point, like heart break. However, you don’t want to use an idea that’s overused or thought of already (example: Titanic). Not only do I think it’s important for a reader to sympathize with a character, it’s also important that readers can comprehend character’s thoughts, actions and ways they handle situations… as humans would in real life. You don’t want a character going through heart break and not showing emotion. That doesn’t work in real life. The title for your story reminds me something that would be used in science fiction, which I’m assuming is the genre you chose, considering Amelia is eating planets. That’s a good thing, because you don’t want a title that would make your reader assume is in another genre. I’m not a fan of science fiction, but your story sounds interesting and I would read it! Just one question: what’s a blue blood?

Emily Spagna

2/26/2021 11:48:01 am

I'm honestly having a little trouble figuring out what literary fiction is. Personally, I like to write fiction stories off things that actually happen to me. So I guess if I'm understanding this right, I would write a story about a disabled woman coming to terms with her disability and discovering how a service dog can be helpful to her. This would explore stigmas around disabilities, the struggles disabled people face when grieving their disabilities, and relearning how to live and exist in society. It would discuss issues surrounding service dogs, like the many fakes that handlers encounter, and what dogs are capable of.

Rebecca Monestime

3/1/2021 08:05:08 am

Hi Emily, yes I agree with you on the part where you said that you are having a hard time figuring out what literary fiction is. It was my first time learning about it too but then I realized when we read Interior Chinatown and our discussion about the book during class, it helped me understand it better. I also like your story idea it sounds very emotional and endearing and I'm sure it will make a powerful story. The literary world is in need of more stories of people with disabilities so show that they are capable of doing things a person without disabilities can.

2/26/2021 01:18:51 pm

To be honest, I have never really thought of literary fiction before until today and from reading Interior Chinatown. I always thought of fiction as writing events and characters in a made up world, a world in which the author themselves could never live in or wish to live in. I always thought of fiction as a fantasy where dreams come true or where things severely falls apart.

But if I had to come up with my own literary fiction, it would be based on the things I don't have at the moment or wish to have such as a relationship. I would like to write about a woman in her late twenties (almost thirties) named Zoey Brown struggling to find love. She is receiving pressure from her family to find a husband or else she will be deemed a disgrace. The woman feels so pressured that she moves to another country solely to find love and it ends in disaster. She ends up dating the wrong men, gets hurt, and brings her back to square one and it is a vicious cycle. She even gives her virginity away to the first man she dates just so he can consider as a potential wife. But instead he uses her for loveless sex and cheats on her.

Then Zoey struggled with gambling, alcoholism, sex, and drugs because of him. But there would be a sliver lining at the end because she did find her match and they ended up married with children but the scars of her family calling her a disappointment and her past relationship continues to haunt her even in her happy marriage.

2/26/2021 03:54:08 pm

Something I would love to do someday, which I had actually not thoroughly thought about until now was detective/mystery fiction. I’m literally obsessed with anything that has to do with true crime. My idea of a “literary” fiction novel is a true crime case that an author reopens with new evidence. Now that I have thought about this idea, I may actually go forward with it after I am done writing my other projects. A good example would be Lizzie Borden’s case. It’s local. I could easily take pictures of the house and gravesite to include in. I could even get a tour of the house to learn more about the case that we have not learned from movies. What’s interesting about this case, is that most of us know about it through conversation. Honestly, I would not have thought to look up this case if I had seen it on a commercial for advertisement. I would write about my thoughts and feelings about how this case played out. I have my own theory. I do believe that Lizzie Borden is innocent. The first reason I believe Lizzie was not alone in the house the day before. Even though her sister, Emma, was out of town it was rumored that Andrew Borden’s brother was visiting the night before. The second reason is not really “plausible”, but I can speak from my own experience. The night before the murders, Lizzie had an eerie feeling hanging over her that she could not get rid of. I can back up Lizzie’s statement to explain that I have really strong intuitive feelings and I sometimes know before something bad is going to happen the next day. Since Lizzie had that gut feeling, something was warning her about the murders, and she would be involved in it. The feeling did not leave her because that was going to be her life forever. That may not be enough evidence to unlock the case, but it is rumored that the uncle worked as a butcher. Back then, it was unlikely that a woman would murder. There is just so much evidence today that I could play around with a theory that maybe Lizzie had planned it out with her uncle. I don’t think she did the physical murder. Lizzie read a lot and was very studious. It is likely that Lizzie had enough knowledge to plan something like this out. Who else would know that Andrew Borden takes a nap after work or Abby Borden did not run away after seeing who walked into the bedroom?

Kate Bazarsky

3/2/2021 05:14:57 am

Hey Paige, I really dig this idea particularly because it is so close to home and it is something that almost everyone (around here) knows about and has an opinion on. Since it is literary fiction, you could even include what everyone else thinks about Lizzie and how that stigma affected the case (if it did at all). However, I like the investigative side you planned on taking because most people have their minds made up. Im not sure if you remember but at the beginning of quarantine, the Fall River court reopened the Lizzie Borden case for 1 day and had a hearing (truthfully it seemed like one big publicity stunt to me because they obviously cannot change the outcome or serve justice...but its fine). regardless, maybe you could look into that and see if there's any new findings from it. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lizzie-borden-accused-killer-axe-48-hours/ (I'm pretty sure that is what I am talking about haha)

Matt McGuirk

3/1/2021 08:12:49 am

For a piece of literary fiction, I’d write a novel about a person who lives their normal, everyday life in the middle of a pandemic. However, I don’t want to even use the word “pandemic” in the story—instead, I want to focus on how the main character is oblivious to what is going on around them (widespread illness and death, stores are closed, attractions and entertainment venues are closed, etc. You know, basically what we experienced for most of 2020). Let’s just call the main character John. John thinks life is totally fine and pokes fun at other characters in the book for social distancing and mask wearing. Again, I don’t want to specifically state why social distancing and mask wearing is happening. I want it to come from John’s eyes because he thinks everyone else is crazy. John just doesn’t pick up on all the implicit cues around him. At some point in the story, he will have a personal experience with the disease and at that point it will force him to open his eyes. I want to explore how this character was blinded by the obvious issue in front of him by personal beliefs and politics, and show how his ignorance affected others. I don’t think I could do this if I presented it in a way that showed that John knew about the pandemic. By making him oblivious to it, I think I could achieve what I want to achieve.

One random idea I had: Each chapter doesn’t just begin with the boring “Chapter 1: Insert Chapter Name Here” formula. Instead, I want each chapter title and heading to basically be a news report of the case numbers and death numbers. For example:

“March 1 – 79 Confirmed Cases, Zero Deaths” (This is Chap. 1)
“March 30 – 4,000 Confirmed Cases, 267 Deaths” (This is Chap. 2)

Obviously I made these numbers up and would have to do my research, but that’s the idea. I think it would be more creative than just saying “Chapter 2: John Goes to the Park.”

Derek Krysko

3/4/2021 07:28:08 am

This would be a really cool story, and it reminds me of how people in zombie shows never actually say the word "zombie." They will say things like "oh look a dead person that has come back to life and is now walking," but they refuse to acknowledge that it is a zombie. It would be cool to try and understand the experiences of someone who thinks the pandemic is a myth, because on the outside it would seem like they are completely crazy. Trying to get the audience to empathize with this person would be a challenge, but I would definitely be interested to see how you could tackle it.

Maddie Staples

3/4/2021 07:04:06 pm

Matt, this sounds like an episode of The Twilight Zone! I think keeping up the dramatic irony would be a fine line to walk, but you could definitely do it, and it would be a thrilling read in my opinion. My biggest question right now is whether you think we would get the sense that John's ignorance is willful or if he is somehow truly oblivious. Either he is so callous that he choses to ignore the devastation going on around him, or he is so far disconnected from society that he really does not understand what is happening. The former would make him a little harder to empathize with, but I think either option would give you the chance to explore some of the issues that we have run into during this pandemic!

3/2/2021 05:09:19 am

I would like to write a literary fiction novel that focuses on the stigma of mental health. The story would follow a non-binary main character who has synesthesia. I chose synesthesia instead of any other disorder particularly because it is rare (only 2-4% of the population has the disorder) and it holds a 'weird' stigma. When someone has synesthesia, their senses are heightened and their brain responds to color stimuli differently.
Kind of like Yu did in Interior Chinatown, I would split my main character up. There would be their inner monologue--what their brain was thinking (how it was reacting to the stimuli) and then the character themself reacting to the situations. The purpose of the inner monologue is to show not only their brain itself, but also how the reactions of other people effect the synesthesia. A lot of people in society think that synesthesia is a mental disorder or that it is the same as having hallucinations... which points people to the stigma of 'crazy'. I think it would be useful to use the imagery of Synesthesia because it is such a broad idea to play with in terms of how I can make it affect the character.

Lynne Campbell

3/4/2021 01:00:07 pm

Hey Kate I think this is a really interesting and compelling idea for a story! You can do so much with the descriptions of how this character perceives the world through their synesthesia. I feel like synesthesia isn't talked about a lot, so I would love to learn more and see this incredibly unique worldview.

Marissa Merlino

3/5/2021 12:09:20 pm

I really like your idea and your focus on themes of gender identity and mental health. I think that your idea of making the character have synesthesia is a compelling idea, but I think your idea could also work and be very interesting if you gave your character dissociative identity disorder. Since there is such an extreme amount of negative stigma surrounding this disorder, I think writing an entire novel about a character that has this disorder could also be helpful for raising mental health awareness/helping reduce stigma. Both disorders are great for playing around with format in a literary fiction piece.

3/4/2021 07:23:36 am

I have always been interested in historical fiction, because I feel like there is such a great opportunity to subvert audience expectations when they have a preconceived notion of what actually occurred. With that in mind, I would be interested to write a story about a character (man or woman) from the 1960s and 70s who was alive and very much involved in the post-civil rights era political scene. Now, I imagine the focal character would be white, because writing from the perspective of an ethnicity other than my own would feel disingenuous and irresponsible. However, I would love for this character to be involved with or support the actions of the Black Panther Party, because that is an area of history that simply NEVER gets spoken of, especially in the modern American education system. My brother-in-law’s father was a part of the Black Panther Party, and that section of American history is full of fascinating stories that have yet to be told. So essentially the story would be from the perspective of a white character who has joined or supports the Black Panther movement, and I feel like it could have the potentially to reveal quite a few poignant truths. Ideally, the story would shed light on the trials and tribulations of members of the party, and I think it would be interesting to insert this character into the lives of Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, the founders of the party. The thematic focus would be empathy, because I would want to establish through the eyes of a white person that the Party’s goals were reminiscent of the political activism we see today. The Black Panthers protested against police brutality towards African Americans and were met with hate and hostility. I would hope to establish ideas of unity and support, and showcase how the fight against racial injustice cannot be won alone.

3/4/2021 07:57:36 am

I think writing historical fiction through literary fiction would be an interesting route to take, mainly because literary fiction isn't always to write. With your idea, though, I think it could be doable and it's totally a story I'd want to read. If you're going to use real events, which I assume you would, it might be worth exploring the significance behind these events and how they affect the main character. I think this would help you achieve the literary genre instead of just retelling events from the main character's perspective.

3/4/2021 12:51:45 pm

I have never really considered writing a work of literary fiction before, I am not really sure how to start if I were to write one. When I write stories, the most important thing to me is the plot and different story elements. I think an interesting story concept would be a family dealing with a tragedy. Perhaps someone in their family was killed or committed a crime. The story would be written from the perspective of a very young child who doesn't understand the severity of the situation. The other members of the family don't know how to explain the situation so they choose to avoid it. To fill in the blanks, the child imagines a different reason why that particular person is gone every day. As time passes, and the child matures the fantasies become less fantastical and more probable and concerning. Eventually the child becomes paranoid that whatever happened to their family member will happen to them. Which leads them to discovering the truth. I want this story to be about the importance of having difficult conversations with children for the sake of their mental health.

3/4/2021 06:49:16 pm

This is a difficult question for me because I typically don't write fiction. However, I did some thinking about it, and I think that I would write a short piece about someone being stuck in an elevator with the person that killed them. Kind of Waiting for Godot style, these two people wake up in an elevator and realize that they are dead, one person having senselessly murdered the other, the murderer maybe having died in a police chase or something afterward. They assume that the elevator is taking them to the afterlife, but the ride goes on long enough for them to be forced to talk to each other, to question whether it is going to Heaven or Hell or if its even going anywhere at all. I don't know how I would end it, but I think that would be an interesting space to explore questions about life and personal responsibilities to one another, even strangers.

3/5/2021 09:25:07 am

That’s a book I’d like to read. I wonder how it would be if you made it into a play? It seems like the setting would be good for the focus to be entirely on the dialogue. The twist and turn of one character or another realizing they are dead or wondering why the other one isn’t dead (when they killed them) would be a great scene.

3/5/2021 09:22:17 am

My idea for literary fiction would be to take on a character from ancient stories and make it modern. Something rich enough to fully develop, but not so fantastical that it knocks the book out of the running for awards (ahem: no dragons or harpies here). I would change the physical description and names to protect the guilty ;) If I were to write a short story, it would be based upon one of the stories of my family. It would be creative non-fiction, I guess, and I would want to play with the format. I remember a book from HS that was all notes from handwritten from the narrator and only typed text from the other characters. That could be something to explore. I’m not going to lie: this topic scares me off. I don’t consider myself able to construct a piece so complex and yet universal that would have critical appeal...

John Walden

3/5/2021 09:33:35 am

My idea for a short story is to write about a family torn apart by addiction and loss. I have seen countless families torn about by members succumbing to addictions of all kinds, including alcohol, gambling and drugs to name a few. These addictions can leave lasting scars on people and shape the rest of their lives even if they did not have an addiction themselves.
The main focus of my story would be a family torn apart by the heroin addiction one of the adult children develops. Each member of the family copes with his struggles and their impacts in different ways, some in healthy ways and others not so healthy. The focal character would be the youngest member of the family, a young teenager, who bears witness to how the adults react to his older brother’s troubles as he holds on to the hope that his brother will turn his life around.

3/5/2021 12:00:50 pm

For my literary fiction piece, I would write a novel about a suicidal person who constantly wishes for death, and then is involved in an accident that takes her life. After she dies, the novel will be divided into multiple sections describing the different afterlives she could experience based on common beliefs/theories. For example, a section where she goes to heaven, one for hell, one where her soul is reincarnated as another person, one where her energy is transferred into the soul of an animal or a plant that has grown and been fertilized by her decaying remains, and one where she is forced to relive the life that she has already lived. In the final section, there will be blank pages to signify another common belief that there is no afterlife. To avoid completely wasting the pieces of paper, I might decide to add some details scattered along the pages, such as a bird perching on her grave or a squirrel feeding on an acorn on the dirt she's buried in to emphasize the fact that the world is still turning even though her soul no longer exists. I think this would only fit into the literary fiction category because it follows no clear narrative or plotline, it simply goes through and describes different scenarios that do not occur within our known reality.

Asynchronous Post #3: Literary Fiction? Literary Fiction!

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