Sorry, guys. My Japanese Student Association meeting went long, and I am again too wiped to write up the workshop I've been planning. Discussion question it is!

This is something I've been thinking about since a conversation I had with one of my teachers yesterday. Like many college writing programs, my Creative Writing department has a preference for what they consider "academic" or "literary" fiction, and frowns upon handing in works of what they call "commercial" or "popular" fiction for assignments. This distinction is made in the publishing world as well, although there, "commercial/popular" fiction is seen to have the advantage.

So I'm curious: how would you define these terms? Do you think they're useful, or problematic? Have you seen any books that you think successfully fused the two? I'd love to hear your opinions.