So, here's the thing! Some reviewers, in their reviews of my books, have said that they're not literary fiction! Excuse me! That's like buying a fridge and then complaining because you can't get the television channels on it! I think titles such as A Life for a Life and The Wages of Sin would give most people some idea that they're not literary fiction or 'high brow' to paraphrase one reviewer. Other clues, for the forensically-minded, would be the categories of 'police procedural' and 'thriller', and the blurbs might also suggest that my books are aimed at people who like a good murder mystery, with fabulous characters, and twists and turns like a roller coaster ride to a thrilling conclusion. And, so that there's no doubt, none of my books are literary fiction. That's not to say I couldn't write some literary fiction if I wanted to, but I don't want to. For one, I don't particularly like literary fiction - it's too serious. For two, it's a slog to read and write. For three, it doesn't sell because it's not popular or genre fiction, and these are what most people like. For four, life's too short to sweat over a work of art that not many people will read. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm not going to win the Pullitzer Prize, or the Nobel Prize for Literature - I think I can live with that omission from my CV. Here's a website that explains what Literary Fiction is: Write Anything. Here's some books that have won the Man Booker Prize, which are classified as literary fiction: The Sense of an Ending (Julian Barnes), The Finkler Question (Howard Jacobson), Wolf Hall (Hilary Mantel), The White Tiger (Aravind Adiga), The Gathering (Anne Enright), The Inheritance of Loss (Kiran Desai), and The Sea (John Banville). I haven't read any of them, however, I do possess a copy of Wolf Hall because my first love is historical fiction, and I particularly enjoy books about Thomas Cromwell. In fact, I think he's a distant relation, because I'd like to rule England when I grow up as well!
So, I suppose I'm a philistine! And I know some people read those literary books to say that they've read them. I'm probably the first person to not read them to say I've not read them! I better just get back to writing my old mass market penny dreadfuls!
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AuthorHi, I'm Tim Ellis - I write a lot and I hope you enjoy what I write. Archives
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