Creative Writer, Creative Literary Noir PART 1

Creative Writer, Creative Literary Noir PART 1

By Jacob Malewitz

Just what do I mean by literary noir? It’s not quite crime noir, but it has elements of it. It’s more of the modern way of literary writing, the kind that brings out interest in it. This sort of literary noir—which is my own thought—seems to be growing in the literary world, where phrases like metafiction are the new wave. It can be fun, it can be boring. This article makes it fun.

Creatively, some writers go to far. For one, the novel is a purely creative act. The problem is you can be far too creative with stories. I once interviewed a novelist, who noted that comic books, which can be literary noir too, are often more about high art than entertaining loyal fans. Loyal fans should be entertained. The likes of Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and Frank Miller can make all the literary noir they can; they’re good at it. Other writers see art as a vessel of some kind, a vessel for winning awards and … well may that is a rant. Let’s get back to literary noir.