Experimental fiction: Thinking outside the page

Mar 03 2009

Are you bored writing the same old linear story lines, predictable characters, and mundane settings? If you answered "Yes!" than you might need to shake up your writing life a little. I’m almost getting to that point in my own writing, where I want to do something innovative and different (doesn’t every writer?).

Experimental fiction just might be the way to go! By it’s very definition, experimental fiction is hard to peg down as a series of "how to" articles, or a step-by-step process for writing something that would be considered "experimental."

The best definition I have found for experimental fiction comes from this website I came across. The article says experimental fiction…

"…is fiction that sets up its own rules for itself [...] while subverting the conventions according to which readers have understood what constitutes a proper work of literature."

Did you catch all that? Basically, the above quote is saying that experimental fiction A) makes its own rules and, B) destroys any preconceived notion of what a reader considers to be literature. In other words, there are no rules.

Here’s the catch: Because we have been so programmed about correct writing, story structure and so forth, it’s much harder to break free from these traditional constraints. The freedom experimental fiction offers a writer is also one of its most limiting factors.

I’m not going to go into any detail about how to approach writing experimental fiction, as there are plenty of other sites for that. But if you want a good jumping off point, start with this website – they give some good techniques to get you going. Remember, though, experimental fiction is just that, experimental, so let loose and break free!

Have you ever written any experimental fiction? Do you read experimental fiction? If so, give us the details in the comments below!

One Response

A GREAT piece of experimental fiction out now is HANDLE TIME by Lincoln Park (also at amazon). Park has got images, fonts, foul language and sarcasm running rampant over the funniest and saddest working-class story; about people who work her in the USA in call centers everyday. The thing is, the book has the greatest flow to it. Once you start reading, you cannot put it down. you are compelled to finish; which makes for a quick read. I think experimental fiction is a natural progression which reflects the times we live in. Even the methods of reading are not the same, if you consider the kindles and ebook readers we have today.

Julie J. 5/11/2009 7:36 pm