What Is The Difference Between Literary Fiction And Commercial Fiction?

Two of the most widely discussed categories within fiction are literary and commercial fiction. Understanding the differences between literary and commercial fiction can help both readers and writers navigate these two categories and appreciate the unique qualities of each.

What is Literary Fiction?

Literary fiction is often seen as a more artful, sophisticated form of storytelling. It places a strong emphasis on character development, thematic exploration, and language. In literary fiction, the style of writing itself can be just as important, if not more so, than the plot. It tends to deal with philosophical, psychological, or existential questions as well as twists and turns and emotions.

The audience for literary fiction is typically comprised of readers who seek depth, intellectual engagement, and emotional resonance. Literary fiction often appeals to those who enjoy exploring complex ideas, intricate character studies, moral ambiguity or engage with the history of literature itself, about which readers are knowledgeable.

Literary fiction tends to prioritize character development and thematic exploration over plot, or at least use plot to consider these deeper priorities. Characters in literary fiction are often multidimensional, with complex motivations and conflicts, and make poor moral or personal decisions, or even be “bad people”. Literary fiction often requires more from the reader. The storytelling might be slower, or more demanding, or harder to follow. Writers pay close attention to language, word choice, and rhythm, and readers want that. Plot in literary fiction tends to be less rule-bound, and can have less emphasis on action and pacing.

What is Commercial Fiction?

Commercial fiction is generally seen as being more plot-driven, more morally or thematically straightforward and designed to appeal to a broad audience. (Another big difference between literary and commercial fiction is sales figures!) Both forms are entertainment but commercial fiction more obviously so, engaging readers with compelling, fast-paced, easy to follow stories.

Commercial fiction usually has a strong, clear plot that propels the story forward, is set up quickly and resolves clearly. The narrative will have twists and reveals, suspense, conflict and drama. Literary fiction can have these too, but here it is designed more nakedly to keep readers hooked and turning the pages quickly. Strong genre rules (thriller, crime, romance) might apply and should be followed. This is not usually the place for genre experimentation – although when that does happen successfully, the rules will be changed. You can easily use rules about Classic Novel Structure, outlined in my book, below.

Language in commercial fiction tends to be more straightforward and accessible than in literary fiction. Accessibility makes commercial fiction ideal for casual readers or those seeking a quick read. Commercial fiction readers might either be very occasional readers, who read only one or two novels a year, or contrarily, might read this or even a higher number a week, and be very knowledgeable about their genre. The commercial fiction reader has to write in such a way that allows both. Literary fiction writers do not have this pressure.

But some of these differences are quite theoretical. Most novelists are still trying to create stories. Very many novels employ elements of both, and many writers do not see them as being distinct. Commercial fiction can have deep literary merit or be adventurous, and some literary fiction can appeal to a broader audience. A deeply evocative and complex novel like The Road by Cormac McCarthy was also clear, compelling, relentless storytelling that found a mainstream audience.

The distinction between literary and commercial fiction is not a matter of one being superior to the other but rather a matter of purpose, style, and audience. But for you as a writer, there is another important distinction. This is how the industry talks, and your ability to talk about it is important, which leads me to one more word of warning.

Don’t Rush To Be Literary

Often writers feel the need to say that their work is literary, and in my opinion, this is often a mistake, unless you really intend to write literary fiction. Most people do this because they want to be taken seriously and to look as if they are bookish people who just love writing. So here’s some advice to help clarify your mind. Sadly, these days, literary novels sell almost nothing, and most literary novelists do not make much money. And if you need any more convincing, the person writing these words is a literary novelist. “I know of what I speak!”

If your book is actually more attuned to crime, thriller, romance, historical, or whatever, embrace it. Seek out agents and editors that say they are looking for that. It’s much better to write a brilliantly tight, tense psychological thriller, if that’s what your book is and what you are good at, and really own that. Even experienced novelists can get a bit lost when trying to write in genres other than their own. And some very smart people have made excellent careers writing very smart genre fiction.

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