The Writer Will Take Your Questions Now (#93) -- Different Strokes

What are some of the specific differences you mean when you say that you
write differently for pulp and action stories than for literary fiction?

Now that I'm primarily writing more action-focused fiction, I've noticed that I have to be more creative with the ways I establish character. Long internal  monologs are no longer something I have access to in my toolkit for the most part.

Neither are the multitudes of subtle symbols sprinkled through the prose. In contemporary action stories, all those things typically need to be brought to the surface more literally. Sure, I can still exercise my literary subtlety from time to time, but never at the expense of comprehension. As much as I'd love to have classrooms digging for those symbols and character bits, that's not likely for the pulp field, sad to say.

Another big difference is the conflicts the protagonists face. In my early literary work, the conflicts tended to be more emotional than physical, with personal growth or failure at stake rather than the life and death of the sidekick or love interest.

There are obviously more, but these are the ones that come to mind at the moment.