What makes a work of fiction worthy of being called art?

[Eldoria]

In line with the question above, I'd like to hear your thoughts. There are no right or wrong answers here, just sharing your opinions.

 

[c37]

Haven't gotten to the point, but the way I am envisioning my MC and the world around him, if written well by me, to the point that the readers' pov is coinciding with mine. Then it may be worthy of being called art. I believe my MC's future goal may have potential.

 

[GlassRose]

If you're writing a story, that's art.

That doesn't necessarily mean it's good art, but it is art. Art is defined by the expression of some part of the human experience, and story telling is one of the oldest artforms out there.

 

[Zinless]

Where there's effort, there's art.

 

[LiteraryWho]

Hate to be basic, but I'm mostly going to agree with @Zinless, though I'd add that art is the intersection of effort and skill. A half-assed sketch by some master draftsmen, no matter how beautiful it might be to others, barely qualifies, whereas a total amateur pouring hours of tireless effort and every trick they could manage has produced art, even if it's ugly as hell.

I'd also add that there's a certain weakening, imo, of art if it's done with ulterior motives, even though we the viewers might never be able to discern them. A propaganda poster is less artistic than a passion project, even if by some coincidence they are identical.

Perhaps I'd define art as an expression of human mastery for its own sake?

 

[Jerynboe]

If you make an attempt to cause people to have a certain thought, feeling, or experience then that’s art.

If you successfully give people a certain thought, feeling, or experience then that’s good art.

If you successfully give people a certain thought feeling or experience that can be repeated iteratively, even if somebody knows what you’re doing, or which creates an alternative but intended thought, feeling, or experience upon future engagement or long-term meditation then it’s great art.

 

[Magic_]

Perspective and Opinion

 

[Author_Riceball]

Haven't gotten to the point, but the way I am envisioning my MC and the world around him, if written well by me, to the point that the readers' pov is coinciding with mine. Then it may be worthy of being called art. I believe my MC's future goal may have potential.

At A minimum, it’s not a subjective standard

 

[RepresentingCaution]

It only takes a moment of appreciation from anyone to be considered art. Our very existence is art.

 

[Daeron]

In line with the question above, I'd like to hear your thoughts. There are no right or wrong answers here, just sharing your opinions.

My opinion will be, If the work represent the author's genuine ideas or imagination.
If the effort come from stealing or duplicating or adapting others person's fiction, it's not work of art. It's just simply.... a work.

Like office worker, they just follow the task, adapting with work's environment. They do make an effort, they do work. But you can't called office worker as artist.

 

[Avarice_Of_The_Seven]

The answer should be obvious, every novel is art. but I guess that's not the answer you want or you wouldn't have created this thread.

In my opinion, there are two types of novels. Story based, and concept based.

Story based novels use the concept as a tool for the narrative. They have something to convey and they do through the story.

Concept based novels use a concept and base a story off of it. In this case, the story itself matters little.

I personally consider story based novels art. While I consider concept based novels as more of entertainment than art.

Remember, this is just my opinion.

 

[MFontana]

In line with the question above, I'd like to hear your thoughts. There are no right or wrong answers here, just sharing your opinions.

All forms of creative expression are worthy of being called "art".
Whether they are "Good" or not is purely subjective outside of the extremely rare, genre-defining and timeless works of legends like Tolkien, Rice, Shelley, Lewis, LeGuin, and many (many) others.

What I tend to look for though, is originality of style and authorial vision. The clarity by which this, and your authorial intent, are conveyed is what serves as the bar for quality (in my opinion).

If you have that vision, and intent, you have art.

I would personally like to consider my own works as fairly decent quality overall. That said, I am sure there are those who will love them and laud them as the best things they've ever read, whilst there are surely just as many out there who would call them the worst crap they have ever had the displeasure of looking upon, along with a whole spectrum of opinions in-between.

That's also part of what it means to be a work of art though. You get four people in a room to observe/read/view the work of art, and you end up with five (or more) opinions on it.

 

[MajorKerina]

Art is bullshit. The more bullshit you can pull out of something to talk about it and sound smart the more art something is.

I had a professor who talked about a little girl in a story climbing a tree as a sexual metaphor. Typically art is the stuff a story is saying which is not the stuff that it most obviously is saying. Not so much the plot as the subtext or the themes or the feel of it.

 

[Envylope]

A fiction is art when I like it.

 

[KennyCelican]

In line with the question above, I'd like to hear your thoughts. There are no right or wrong answers here, just sharing your opinions.

All fiction is art. It is something created by creative humans. That is art.

Now, you can grade it on quality and subject matter and all other kinds of things to determine what kind and caliber of art it is, but much like finger paint art on a refrigerator is still, in fact, art, all fiction is art.

Not so much the plot as the subtext or the themes or the feel of it.

I had a lit professor say that the quality of literature is not based on the grammar or spelling or subject matter or treatment, but by how many legitimate interpretations can be read into it. By how well it evokes emotions, and how many it evokes.

 

[Makimaam]

I wonder whether the term “art” itself even deserves to be seen as something… Idk, sacred? Put on a pedestal?

A childlike doodle wins first prize over an ultra-realistic painting that took months to complete. An invisible sculpture gets sold for 20k. What exactly does that say about art?

Art is subjective. What one person considers art might be vastly different from what another sees. One man’s garbage is another man’s treasure.

So, imo, if even one reader remembers your story, finds the imagined world you created compelling and keeps turning the page, then it is art.

 

[Omarfaruq]

It is impossible to answer this question. There is no story that is universally recognized as art. What I think of as art, you might not, and what you think of as art, I might not. There will always be a clash of opinions. Even a bad story that is seen as trash by everyone is art for the author who poured their soul into it.

 

[AliceMoonvale]

Because I say or think so. ez

 

[Anonjohn20]

All fiction is art. The thing is that there is good art and bad art.

 

[Sylver]

In line with the question above, I'd like to hear your thoughts. There are no right or wrong answers here, just sharing your opinions.

Depends on what the user sees values in. Breaking Bad is considered a work of art because of its writing and acting. Some anime like One Piece and Frieran are considered art for separate reasons, like writing, themes, or entertainment, fantasy and adventure.

Heck even some pornography is considered art to a degree though I think most examples refer to animation and art style.

I hope someone looks at my work and sees art art is beauty, and beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.