You know you're writing Lit Fiction when...

-You explain what your book's about, and your friends ask, "All right...but what actually happens in it?"

-your narrator dies
-you had no idea what genre you were writing at one point in time

You look at the notes for the "plotting" phase of Nanowrimo and you suddenly realize what seemed like a credible artistic plot in your head written on paper looks like the rantings of a disturbed mind.

This was my favorite thread last year. Glad to see it's back!

You know you're writing Lit Fiction when the reader knows everything about your character except for how they look.

You're tempted to use your own therapy sessions to delve deeper into the neuroses of your characters.

You're 20,000 words in and none of your characters have names yet.

The only character in your manuscript who didn't have a traumatic childhood is the dog...

...and you're trying to fix that little oversight right now.

...you can picture a high school English class analyzing the sybolism in your novel
...you have no plot, just themes
...instead of saying that your novel is kind of like "Book A" meets "Book B" you list half a dozen authors, themes, and philosophies
...three words: stream of conciousness
...even you can't decipher the plot

... when writing under the influence of alcohol improves the coherence of your story.

When even your own mother says the book sounds....neat.

Yes! I like this.

I plan to try a night of alcoholic abandon for NaNoWriMo this year, just to see what pops out =) Oohh... Maybe the 21+ WriMos can pick a night to drink and work on novels...

when you lose all punctuation and capitalization and start formatting your text in interesting ways.
when your novel ends with "and yes I said yes I will yes"

your characters are so abstract a concept they have no names only "He" and "She"

You get to the end of the book, and the four main characters (with very traumatic pasts- I swear I am incapable of writing anything without SOME measure of angst) have a 'happy ending.' Then you decide it to write an epilogue in which they KILL THEMSELVES (for really good reasons, actually), just for the hell of it. [Fact: This REALLY screws with people's heads. Believe me, I know.]

You define a 'happy ending' as an ending in which the two main characters in a romance die, preferably together. [Guilty as charged.]

You can't even write decent fluffy, cute scenes without some deeper meaning. [TT]

You use so much description/imagery that the person reading it tells you to 'tone it down a notch.' [-.-+]

You see a scene in real life, and suddenly feel the urge to put it in the book. [Um... comedy relief, anyone?]

You can't even go outside without getting random bits of inspiration. [Q: How can a woman SWEEPING the sidewalk give me inspiration?!]

You start narrating your actions without realizing it. [Out loud in the middle of a crowded room, too. Hey, the voices in my head may not be real, but they have some VERY good ideas.]

You've looked at so many websites for mental/physical disorders, depression, relationship help, etc (for character realism research) that your spouse/roommate/parent sends you in for counseling when they see your browser history

You can sum up your plot in one sentence, but you think it sounds lame and insist that "it's really all about the characters", so you try and explain them all but realize you can't.

At least one of your characters does (or has done) some kind of drug.

The more you write about your characters' vices, the more you think, "Hmm...."

...You need a section in your book introducing the plot which is never explicit in the rest of the book. This introduction is problematic as it is part of the book and written from someone not in the story but who is erroneously passing judgment on the characters within from their own perspective. (Yes, I have created a character that serves my purposes of satire to erroneously introduce my other satiric characters yet not be a part of the story)

... ^that seems like a great idea

- You have fully fleshed out character sketches, including backstories, but you have no plot.

- You really want to just write a novel where your MC's sit around talking about life.

-

- You see your MC's personality starts to parallel yours, then realize they're slowly changing into a fictional version of you.

You worry more about symbolism and foreshadowing than character description.

When you think that in years in the future, people will study your story.

When all of the character's lead adventurous and whimsical lives in which they each keep a small secret. (This applies even to the stranger your MC passes on the street and the owner of the dog who urinated on his/her shoes. And possibly even the vet of that dog.)

Just getting rid of a double post.

You should ignore this. ^^

DivineFemme wrote: You really want to just write a novel where your MC's sit around talking about life.

Or - you really want to write a plot driven novel but your MC's refuse to do anything but sit around talking about life.

(Last year my MC's settled into a pub and refused to move. Everytime I forced them out, sometimes by burning down the pub, they just found another one. Particularly strange as I don't even drink)

Your characters talk back to the author. Or the author becomes a character. If the author character then starts disagreeing with the author who is writing you have a serious problem. Or some serious Lit Fiction.

-When most of your word count comes from your main character being on drugs or being a drug addict.

-You include sex scenes, but they're not really sex scenes, they're a metaphor for the character's mental and spiritual awakening.

-A large part of your novel consists of cursing.

Argggh. This used to be a double post. Carry on.

-you use random lyrics or prose as chapter titles or have your MC spout them at each other to show how real they are
(or to give them something to talk about so as to reveal their true intentions/feelings...

Seven pages into dialog later you suddenly think, "wait, what was my attempt at plot again?"

Or you crack up reading this thread. Either or!

You throw in random things with no symbolism whatsoever just so you can laugh at people trying to interpret them in English class years later when your book is published.

...and when the characters do finally have names it turns out that the names have either been lifted directly from canonical heroines/heroes or from Greek/Roman myth, or they are puns on major character traits, or they are anagrams of your pen name.

Any time an element of Greek/Roman myth worms its way into your story, even during a brief dream sequence, you are probably writing Lit Fic.

You are all hysterical! I'm obviously in the right place!

I seriously think my book will change the world. Hahahaha!