Literary Fiction vs. Genre Fiction

I read all kinds of books, but I write primarily genre fiction. When I was in college I took a creative writing class. I had all kinds of expectations for this class, until the professor opened her mouth. In the first twenty minutes she explained that she wasn't going to waste her time reading genre fiction because all genre fiction was fluff. I think I am pretty safe in saying that 90 percent of the class was expecting to write some kind of genre fiction story. The teacher was actually a non-fiction author who had been asked to teach the fiction class because there wasn't anyone else. I have listened to several discussions from other people about how genre fiction isn't literary and isn't worth reading because of how poorly it is written. They continue to say that people who read genre fiction are settling.

I don't agree. I am not saying that all genre fiction is ground breaking amazing writing, but poor writing isn't limited to just genre fiction. There are plenty of famous books out there that haven't survived the test of time because the writing is stellar but because people like the story. I'm not excusing bad writing, I'm just pointing out that it doesn't matter what type of books you read. Some are written well, others are not.

I was going to give excerpts from my favorite fantasy and science fiction books as examples of genre fiction being written well but I decided that I didn't want to risk mistyping something and then making the authors look bad, so I decided to go about it another way. There are a lot of people who give speculative fiction flak, so I am going to point out well received novels that fall into a genre fiction category.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens published 1843. Paranormal. Ghosts? Time Travel? Need I say more.

WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Emily Bronte published 1847. Paranormal. Heathcliff seeing visions of Catherine on the moors can be taken as a ghost story.

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA by Gaston Leroux published in 1909. Horror. Though there isn't really a ghost, the torture chamber and Erik's background gives is a fantastical feeling.

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY by Oscar Wilde published in 1890. Fantasy. A man doesn't change but his picture does.

HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAM by Victor Hugo published in 1831. Horror. A disfigured man and quite a bit of death.

SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury published in 1962. Fantasy. A carousel changes peoples ages.

FAHRENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury published in 1953. Science fiction. Involves technology that didn't exist during the time it was written.

DRACULA by Bram Stoker published in 1897. Horror. Vampires anyone?

FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley published in 1818. Horror/Science Fiction. A man-made being brought to life through science.

THE GIVER by Lois Lowery published in 1993. Science Fiction/Fantasy. One person stores all the memories and can pass them on to another.

RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER by Samuel Taylor Coleridge published in 1978. Fantasy. A ship is cursed because they kill an albatross.

THE ILIAD and THE ODYSSEY. (And other Greek literature and plays.) Fantasy.

And last but not least, William Shakespeare around 1590. Fantasy and Horror.

The point is it doesn't matter whether you are writing about a ghost story or a contemporary drama, it should be well written. There is no excuse for lazy writing. It shouldn't be literary vs. genre. It should all be excellent.