contemporary genre literary fiction

At a recent conference for thriller and mystery writers, obvious tensions and resentments were expressed by two best-selling authors in their genres about the state of contemporary literary fiction. The most frequent theme was that contemporary literary fiction is boring, lacks resolution, is self-serving, and small. Who wants to hear about another dysfunctional family or an abusive childhood? Why is there no resolution in literary fiction? (There is often no conflict.) Why is literary fiction always, in some way, about me, the author? For many literary fiction writers in the audience, there was absolute agreement. It was a session where … Read More…