Novels come in a variety of styles and formats.

Novels can be written in various ways by authors using a variety of techniques. A simple story that follows a standard plot is only one method of approaching the problem, and others are as follows:

Epistolary

When writing an epistolary book, the author uses fake letters, newspaper and magazine clippings, journal entries, email messages, and other materials to convey the plot. The epistolary novels The Color Purple by Alice Walker and Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos are examples of literary works written in the first person.

Experimental

A novel that deviates from standard structure, story, character, and voice is known as an experimental novel. The author may develop new strategies or phrases to portray their narrative freshly and originally. Readers find such works demanding and thrilling at times, and they encourage them to consider the novel as a constantly growing artistic form. Wittgenstein’s Mistress by David Markson and Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn are two experimental books that are currently popular.

Modernist

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, modernism as a unique literary genre reached its zenith. Modernist fiction defied conventional conceptions of structure and linear storytelling, and it is considered a forerunner of experimental fiction in today’s academic world. Aspects of modernist fiction such as individualism, symbolism, absurdity, and uncontrolled experimentation were widespread. The books Ulysses by James Joyce and Nightwood by Djuna Barnes are archetypal modernist literature.

Philosophical

Novels of ideas are what philosophical stories are most often referred to as. They make statements and speculate on moral, theoretical, and metaphysical theories, assertions, and speculations. The works are not always academic; they still have stories and characters, but they serve as symbols of a greater philosophical idea than standalone works. Novels on philosophy include The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera and Under the Net by Iris Murdoch, to name a couple of examples.

Sentimental

Novels of love and loss tug at the emotions, and the authors write these works to elicit sympathy and compassion from their readers. While not considered a literary genre in and of itself, emotional novels (such as The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson) were popular throughout the 18th century as a literary form. Recent examples of this style include Stella Dallas by Olive Higgins Prouty and Beaches by Iris Rainer Dart, both published in 2012.

Verse

In today’s academic environment, novels written in verse are a rarity; nonetheless, they have origins as far back as Homer’s Iliad and Homer’s Odyssey. The tales combine fiction with poetry by narrating a fictitious story in traditional verses of rhythms and stanzas while also including conventional rhyme schemes. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson and Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow are two current poetry books worth reading.