ladybusiness | (Reply)

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Another point the panelists made is that literary fiction tends to be more accepting of villainesses, unlike pop fiction, where they have to be likable. Gone Girl and Girl on the Train are examples.

But Gone Girl and Girl on the Train are pop fiction. They aren't marketed as literary fiction. They're packaged as mystery/suspense with maybe a potential for litfic crossover. I think the pertinent difference might be mystery/suspense (particularly noir) vs. speculative fiction. Crime fiction tends to be fascinated by--and frequently sympathetic to--transgression.

I'd also note that becoming a good mother is considered an end to a story; the Bad Mother is a fairly common villainness or at least obstacle.