Literary

[RidingRossPoldark]

Had some feedback from an editorial report and amongst various bits of advice and criticism, there is a mention of my writing being of a "literary style". I've googled it and I'm not sure what it means. Literary fiction is serious heavy duty stuff which is not my book at all(dystopian YA)
Any ideas what the heck they mean. I could ask them but am worried they'll think I'm dumb😂 The report is being done by an editor/agent...
Cheers

Hi Riding I can't help sorry, I thought literary style was an individuals style of writing . Was it said as a positive or a criticism of your work? I would definitely ask them what they mean by it. I'm sure they wouldn't think you were dumb at all, and to be fair I think they should have been a bit more specific about what they meant by that.

They probably mean your writing is more elaborate and beautiful than the average for your genre. It usually encourages your reader to slow down and pay attention to the words being used (so the reading experience slows down and maybe becomes a little less plot-driven).

Thanks guys. To me, it read as though it could be positive in the report but if you don't know what it means you can't do more of it! Having googled it, I was worried that she meant it was too high brow for the genre but I wouldn't know high brow if it hit me in the face so I'm presuming she just liked the language. I've just seen that in another place, she has called it 'of a literary standard.' I might find a creative way of asking her to clarify without sounding completely clueless 😂 Cheers again.