I've been seeing quite a bit of buzz over on Kindleboards about what 'Literary Fiction' really is.

Some have said it 'is to evoke EMOTION from the reader', while others have found 'the whole concept snobbish'.

As a writer, isn't everything written considered literary? And aside from Non-fiction, isn't everything deemed fiction? Putting the two terms together should mean 'written fiction', right?

Now the question begs; why do I care?

Well, I care because one of my books has been labeled and tagged on Amazon (and other areas) as 'literary fiction'. Why? Well truthfully, it's because I was told books termed 'literary fiction' focused more upon style, psychological depth, and character. Meaning it's character driven, which The Kindness of Strangers is (or so I think/thought).

So, if this is the case, why did someone disagree with my 'literary fiction' tag on Amazon?

Well, based on a lot of the comments on KB, not a lot of people share the same idea of what 'literary fiction' really is. Some say 'literary fiction' is 'timeless', something that will be around for ages. Authors like Jane Austen and Charles Dickins.

One commenter stated, "Somewhere on another discussion group someone made the analogy to literary fiction being like a gourmet meal vs. eating junk food. He said, like a gourmet meal which leaves you satisfied for a long time, literary fiction makes you want to think about it for awhile before you start another book. However, books that you read one after another without thinking about them in between are like junk food."

Is that really what the majority feels literary fiction is?

If this is the case, should I be changing the tag for my book to something else? Something like 'coming of age'? I can't just say it's fiction, because well ... that's just too broad. How do I make it stand out? How do I define it properly? 'Literary fiction' really seemed to sum it up nicely; with the belief that it was character driven and something that makes you think.

Is my book perfect and am I just being a snob by leaving it tagged and listed as 'literary fiction'? I don't think so. I'm far from perfect and I don't believe I'm a snob, so what am I supposed to do?

This topic definitely made me go, hmmmm...

What do you think the term 'literary fiction' means?

So yesterday an idea hit me. I was at work (which is the WORST place an idea can hit me because I'm supposed to be concentrating on work, not writing!) and all of a sudden a short story idea popped in my head. Then barely two minutes later another one popped in my head, and within ten minutes a third filtered through.

These stories were completely different, yet all the same. I don't want to give any spoilers, but they all had a common theme. This got me thinking! Why not make a short story collection all based around this one theme? I've seen a lot of authors do this with other authors (collections), and other authors doing it for one particular genre (horror/romance). This idea just has to work!

I submitted 'Resurrecting Eve', a short horror story, to an unnatural disaster themed collection. Luckily it was selected to be included amongst several other really well-written ones. (I'm not 100% sure when that'll come out, but I'm told sometime this spring. There's some details posted about it on Goodreads - Unnatural Disasters {Daniel Pyle}.)

I also submitted another short horror story to a collection titled With Love ... Indie Writers United. All proceeds from the sales of this collection goes to Doctors Without Borders. It was our way of contributing to those in need of assistance, in light of the recent events that occurred in Japan.

I had also submitted two short stories with twist endings to a twist contest, though neither of them were selected. They're both now on my website under the Short Stories & Poems section (The Date and Repressed).

So anyways, why am I writing this blog (aside from the fact that I'm really excited for this idea and hope I can actually put it out the way I think it should be done)?

Well, it's to say that if I actually do get this collection out, I'm not going to use my 'real name' - J. A. Titus.

Why you might ask?

Well ... here's the deal;

A co-worker friend of mine read The Date and knew that it was for a twist contest. He has read some of my writing in the past and knows of my love of horror stories. He also thinks the horror pieces he's read (of mine), were really detailed and invoked gruesome images for him. After reading some of them, he  saw me in a whole new light (*snicker, snicker*).

So back to my co-worker friend reading The Date; he said he read it, thinking it was going to be a horror story and kept waiting for that *a-ha!* moment, which never really came (well, because The Date isn't a horror story; it's just got a twist ending). He said he enjoyed it, but had to re-read it to really get the gist of it.

Well poo!

When I asked him why he had a hard time initially, he further explained that he saw me as J. A. Titus 'the horror twist writer' and not J. A. Titus 'I can write other stuff, like The Kindness of Strangers, which is so, totally, NOT horror'. It made him sit on the edge of his seat, half expecting something tragically horrible to happen; and when it didn't come, he sort of felt let down. Like a movie that's been hyped to the max (*cough, Paranormal Activity, cough*); it has a few moments where your aching for something to happen and it happens, but it wasn't really what you expected and you feel let down.

I was shocked.

So ... I told him I will try to be more cognizant of this when I'm writing in a particular genre, and will try to separate what I can with my 'real name' and my 'pen name'. It makes things less confusing this way, don't you think?

So I'm not going to reveal my pen name (though if you're a savvy FB user, you can find it on my author page), but I will say I'm really going to try to make this work.

I will admit, I'm probably going to be lazy: meaning, I'm not going to create a separate website or twitter account or FB author page, just for this 'pen name'. I am who I am. I don't want to be confusing, but I just don't know where my writing will take me. So for now, all my writing will still be connected to this site, my regular twitter account and regular FB author page.

<3<3 Julie <3<3

This is a blog post that has absolutely nothing to do with my writing, except for the fact that I feel like writing about it.

I just got a phone call from my kid's doctor telling me my youngest has a reported 22 on his lead blood test. A normal 3 year old should be below 10 and his is 22. Even an adult should be below 20. Last year we had this scare, his levels were really high and when re-tested, they were reported much lower. At that time we were renovating our upstairs apartments and had a possible explanation for the increase in levels; our babysitter had fallen asleep and wasn't watching him while he went upstairs - where the renovations were being done. We don't know for sure if there is lead paint, we've tested some areas and the majority was wallpaper, with the exception of the upstairs. He never goes up there. Renovations are done in one apartment, and the other apartment just needs to be painted and have a kitchen put in. No lead paint there either. Where are these high levels coming from?

So the doctor would like my older children tested as well. I'm freaking out! What if they're higher too? How? Where is this lead?

The nurse, lovely lady there, suggested it could be the water pipes. She told me to let the water run a while before serving it, but I don't even recall giving my children tap water often. Even when making juice (kool-aid), I let the water run, or use bottled water.

I'm really hoping when they all get tested, it turns out to be nothing. I'm really worried that the lead is somewhere, lurking, like a silent monster ready to strike. My house is old, but still ...

My youngest isn't even home the majority of the time. He's over his great-grandmother's house. Even on the weekends, he's never upstairs or in the basement. Does this mean it really is my pipes? I'm always using water in my cooking, but wouldn't the boiling get rid of the lead - if there was any to begin with?

I don't have the money to remove every single pipe from my house, but this is my children's health and safety we're talking about. They're more important, and I must do anything and everything possible to protect them. Sigh ... Fingers crossed the hospital's blood work/tests come back normal.

Last week I read a blog post by someone who is also a writer, and it discussed what had happened in her life, explaining a lot of the things she does based on her past experiences. I was shocked she could be so frank discussing her horrid past.

While I'm not one to talk, considering my past is full of blemishes (not by my own causing unfortunately), I had to sit back and actually think about how I got to be who I am today. Why am I so positive? Why am I not a druggie, an alcoholic, someone living off of the state/welfare, with twelve kids and ten baby-daddies? How did I make it out ... ok? By statistics standards, I shouldn't be alive. I shouldn't be here! Shouldn't be so happy or so positive.

I grew up in foster care from the day I was born, until I was adopted at 13. Can't say everything was perfect even after that, but I can't discuss that - unfortunately. I don't think I'll ever be able to openly discuss what happened - but I can in my writing.

Do you ever read something and wonder if the author was able to write about it so vividly because they went through that experience? How does a writer get so much angst in their writing? How do they detail everything so perfectly? Research can only get you so far; sure it can help you explain the situation and the circumstance, but it can't really put you IN the situation.

When I was writing The Kindness of Strangers, I could feel everything as it was happening to Sydney. Flashbacks. I could sense the urgency of the situation. I tried my darndest to share the frustration, that pain, or whatever emotion that was happening in the scene. Some of the reviewers even picked up on that, which tells me I did my job and I think I did it well.

In the book, Sydney stays positive. Stays true to herself and depends on herself. Even when someone is there to offer a helping hand, she doesn't always take it right away. She has to feel like she's doing it on her own and failing before she reaches out for help. I guess you could say that's me.

As a kid, I stayed in my own world, my own thoughts and whatever happened to me - happened to me alone. I didn't take my pain and frustration out on anyone. It was only when I couldn't handle it anymore that I would give in and seek help. Perhaps The Kindness has a little more of me than I actually wanted it to.

While writing anything else, I will sometimes get into this 'writers mode' where I tune everything out and just let whatever thoughts I'm having come out - without even realizing the thoughts were ever there. I sometimes go back a few days later to see where I left off, and I'm shocked at what depth there is in that particular piece. Did I really write this? I always think afterward. Not that I'm tooting my own horn, because I'm not. There are times I've gone back and cringed at what was written - total crappola!

My question to you is, how much of you is really in your writing pieces? Do you take past experiences and infuse them in to your work? Does writing help you feel better, like a therapy session? Do you ever get into 'writer's mode'?