What is the test of a good contemporary or traditional novel?

by Adrian Sroka
30th January 2014

Will the best contemporary literature be regarded as traditional in years to come?

Replies

See the answer to that question is very relative. With all due respect to the greats, Dickens and Hemingway and Shakespeare, due to technological constraints,could not imagine worlds as crazy and amazing as those which we find in books today.

When something is "traditional or classic literature", it resonates with the sights, smells, and feels of our world many many years ago. Contemporary literature has broken bounds to take readers to worlds millions of years before and after this century. And so my friends, I conclude by saying that "traditional or classic" literature can only be those masterpieces which were penned by the greats.

Literature today will be great, no doubt, but it will never stand on a pedestal occupied by novels written in the 16th-19th centuries.

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Anushka
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Anushka Bhide
31/01/2014

Hahaha! I'd love to see that too!

My MC is definitely different. She's everything a female protagonist in current fantasy isn't - meak and vulnerable.

Emotionally she's a mess, but she can definitely hold her own and that's part of her problem.

In terms of publishing, I'm currently waiting on an agency. They have requested my MS after my editor told them to read it. It's why I can't put a snippet up on here at the moment. :(

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Debbie
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Debbie Ellen
31/01/2014

Katie, I agree.

There aren't enough kick-ass female characters in novels, or juicy parts for females in films. Most female roles involve some form of nudity, it's almost mandatory nowadays.

I believe that I have addressed the problem of kick-ass female characters in my novel, but I'm not yet ready to be published.

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Adrian
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Adrian Sroka
31/01/2014