What Is a Novel's Purpose?

What is a novel for? What is the point of them? Why do we even bother to read them?

Yes, I know these sound like stupid questions, but the answers really will help you with the job of writing novels - whatever type of book you intend to write.

First, I'll deal with the What Is A Novel's Purpose? question (and I'll do that by explaining why we read fiction).
Then I'll move on to explain how all this helps when it comes to writing novels. (And if you are wondering what this all has to do with literary, mainstream and genre fiction, it will be clear by the end!)

Why Do We Read Novels?

1. Entertainment and Escape

This is perhaps the biggest motivation behind us picking up a good book. Novels fill time that might otherwise be filled with boredom, and they offer a temporary escape from our workaday worlds.

And incidentally, entertainment and escape don't just explain a novel's purpose is, but also why we go to the theater, ride a roller coaster, listen to music, or do just about any of those things we do to take us away from our everyday lives and concerns.

2. Understanding of the Human Condition

From the day we are born to the day we die, we are all on a quest to improve ourselves. We might not always know it, but all of us are struggling to understand this world we call home and what it takes to get by in it.

Much of our understanding, of course, comes from our first-hand experiences. But it also comes from hearing about the experiences of others - and what is a novel if not one of the best ways there is to tap into what our fellow humans think and feel about this world and our place in it.

All good novels have something to say about one aspect or another of the human condition - about how to find true love, about the horrors of war, about a million things.

Sometimes when we read these thoughts and insights, we will have arrived at similar conclusions ourselves, and we will take comfort from knowing that we are not alone.

More often, an author will shed fresh, unexpected light on an issue, and our understanding of that issue is deepened or even changed, making us grow as a person.

How Does This Help With Writing Novels?

As you know, novels fall into two broad groups:

On one side you have genre fiction, or category fiction - crime novels, horror novels, and so on.
On the other side is literary fiction.
(Mainstream fiction, incidentally, falls somewhere between the two, though it is closer to literary fiction.)

Still speaking broadly, genre novels are seen as providing plenty of entertainment but not much understanding of the human condition.

With literary novels, you get plenty of understanding but very little in the way of entertainment.

But it seems to me that, if you are serious about writing novels of quality, you need to provide both these things.

What is a Novel's Purpose? To entertain and provide understanding, and you need to do both of these things, whatever type of book you plan to write.

Sure, genre fiction must always put entertainment first (in the form of a great plot), and readers of literary fiction will expect deep characterization and a profound exploration of theme. But that doesn't mean that you can concentrate on only the one thing and neglect the other...

On one level you must write a page-turning plot full of twists and turns and some well-paced action. That's entertainment.
On another level, you need to create a cast of fully rounded, believable characters who are struggling to overcome some very human problems. The way they deal with these problems will provide the reader with insights into the human condition, insights which will stay with them long after they have turned the final page.

And you must do both of these things whatever type of novel you are writing - genre, literary or mainstream. Providing lots of entertainment but little understanding, or vice versa, is a trap you must avoid.

To my mind, there are only two types of novels that matter...