The types of fiction created by writers sometimes appear to fall into endless categories; walking through a bookstore or browsing sites like Amazon for a new book to read demonstrates the variety of fiction written today. However, it is not so difficult to classify writers and the type of fiction they produce. Fiction writers fall into two groups, commercial writers and literary writers.
The first major category of fiction writers are the commercial fiction writers. Commercial fiction writers “attract a broad audience” with their published pieces and a hallmark of commercial fiction is that it has an easily read style accessible to people of many educational levels (Zackheim and Zackheim n. pag). Commercial fiction writers may write stand-alone pieces, a series, or a collection of short stories. Their fiction generally falls into one of several popular genres, such as mystery, romance, women’s fiction or “chick lit,” science fiction, fantasy, suspense, thriller, western, romance, horror, young adult, or children’s books (Zackheim and Zackheim n. pag.). Commercial fiction writers also fall under the additional categories including genre fiction writers and mainstream fiction writers (“The Three Types” n. pag.). For example, the books we think of as following a typical pattern or formula, like a Harlequin romance, are genre fiction. The audience for genre fiction writers has a clear idea of the kind of book they want to read and even the basic outcome of the story, such as a happy ending. These authors generally write shorter novels with strict requirements from the publisher about the book’s content, length, characters, and style. On the other hand, mainstream fiction writers have more leeway when it comes to what they write when it comes to content, length, characters, and style. An example of a mainstream fiction writer is J.K. Rowling, who wrote the Harry Potter series. Unlike genre fiction, where readers know what to expect, Rowling’s fiction thrived on presenting the unexpected to its readers. Another sign that Rowling’s writing is mainstream is because it appealed to such a wide variety of readers, including children, adults, men, and women. Fiction writers such as Nora Roberts got her start as a genre fiction writer with Silhouette romance books, but her popularity allowed her to move into the mainstream category and an almost constant presence on the bestseller lists.
Literary writers are not different from the commercial writers in that they can write in any of the genres that commercial writers do, but often write cross-genre pieces. In general, literary writers do not write genre fiction like Harlequin novels. Additionally, their writing will “appeal to a smaller, more intellectually adventurous audience” (Zackham and Zackham n. pag). The hallmark of literary writers is that high-quality writing and an original style characterize their fiction. Literary writers, like commercial writers, hope their books will sell well, and often vie for prizes such as the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, Edgar Award, Newbery Award, Bram Stoker Award, and many more (“Book Awards” n. pag.). Winning a prize can boost the sale of a literary writer’s book and even catapult it into the ranks of mainstream fiction on the bestseller lists.
Fiction writers tend to write what works best for both themselves and their abilities and what appeals to their audience, and therefore tend to stay with the category of commercial fiction writer or literary fiction writer. Once a reader understands these categories of, it is not difficult to see to which category a particular writer belongs.
Works Cited
“Book Awards.” Amazon.com (n.d.). Web. 09 Aug. 2012.
“Types of Fiction and Which One You Should Write.” Creative Writing Now (n.d.). Web. 09 Aug. 2012.
Zackheim, Sarah Parsons and Zackheim, Adrian. Exploring the Different Types of Fiction. Dummies.com (n.d.). Web. 09 Aug. 2012.
