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

What is "art" though? Writing is AN art, but is all writing art?
And how much of art is a science?

I suppose a work of fiction becomes "art" when people discuss it outside of itself - when something of the story remains behind after reading.

I think art just equals intent+effort. If both are acknowledged honestly, that determines if it's art. The flipside is delusion, and that applies to the creator and the eye of the beholder. If it isn't art, then it's debate, and debate is an art, so at the very least you're never far from some kind of artistry.

I know how this is going to sound but... here goes.

yet another way of choosing to define "art", and there are two requirements.

1) the artist, using "whatever" medium whatsoever... is trying to convey some emotion, abstractly.
2) the person experiencing this thing they made, feels some emotion, and this work caused it.

if you meet those 2, its "art"

if the artist is trying to convey emotion X, and the person experiences the same emotion X, then the art was successful.
the better the artist, the more people can connect to the same (intended) emotion.
the better the artist, the more emotions they can convey and the more people pick them all up.

a really good singer, or guitar player? can make you feel sad, or wistful, or happy or even energetic or angry... that's an artist.
the poet? if it stirs emotions, thats art.
as writers, when we learn to carry some emotional impact (make the reader cry, for example) thats art.

when emotion gets transferred, from maker to person experiencing, with no explanation... thats art.

If you like something and feel it has some kind of deeper meaning, that's art.

If you like it and feel there's no deeper meaning, it's entertainment.

If you don't like it and feel it's trying to have a deeper meaning, it's pretentious.

At least that's how people online tend to act. Personally, I just find stories to be artful when there's one major character that is really compelling. It's usually not the protagonist. Captain Ahab from Moby Dick is a famous example, and I'd call Ivan Karamazov from The Brothers Karamazov to also be a relatively well known one.

And for a modern light novel, I'd call Swim Swim from Magical Girl Raising Project to be a really great one too. Though the anime and the manga both completely butchered her in completely opposite ways... The former made her an unfeeling robotic psychopath while the latter made her a homicidal generic yandere. The LN had her go through one of the most compelling inner struggles I'd seen from a light novel, really bringing out her childish naïvete and unquestioning loyalty to her leader, to the point of ideological extremism. It wasn't something she was robotic about or even happy to do. She had a crippling fever because of it and had to separate herself from her group so she wouldn't cry in front of them. But being a young child, she felt like she had no other choice than to do what she was told by her careless superiors.

Those vulnerabilities contrast with her cold, calculating, brutally effective strategies in a way I loved. Even her dumb magical girl name takes on a new meaning when it becomes apparent her ability to "swim through anything" means she can pass through bullets like they're water and "swim" undetected under the ground itself. It sounds like a useless gimmick power at the start up until she's revealing how it can be used for assassinations and being nearly invincible alike.

Dawnathon said:

If you like something and feel it has some kind of deeper meaning, that's art.
If you like it and feel there's no deeper meaning, it's entertainment.
If you don't like it and feel it's trying to have a deeper meaning, it's pretentious.

Click to expand...

I like it. Nice summation.

what amazes me now, is that when I'm reading on edit passes (typos, etc) I find myself picking up on "themes" I hadn't noticed when writing it. I read my own stuff so much doing these editing/reading passes, I get to notice them more and more.
If I do it deliberately, its a theme.
I guess when I pick up on something I hadn't intended, its an "underlying theme".

sometimes I like it, and I'll start to "lean into it", so to speak.
if its jarring enough, i get to think of it like a crocodile under the water. you see nothing, but its there. unnoticed.
I know its there, but a first time reader most likely doesn't.

so late in the game, when the "crocodile" surfaces, and you get a whole page of this "thing"... it makes for sudden emotion or surprise, or anything really. when i can manage to pull it off, its cool.

If it genuinely makes me feel strong emotions beyond just "entertained". If I read something and think "hey, that was fun" then it was good, sure. But if I'm genuinely moved- getting philosophical, cry, thinking about meaning of things, theorizing, passionately wanting to share: art.

If it exists

I'd rather adopt the widest possible definition of art than to try and draw arbitrary lines

Love, effort and determination that you'd put into your story.