potboilers
Formulaic commercial fiction
Potboilers are works of art—typically novels, films, or paintings—produced quickly and primarily to earn money rather than for artistic merit.
The term suggests something thrown together to keep the pot boiling, to pay the bills: He wrote potboilers between his serious novels.
The word carries mild contempt, implying formulaic or hackneyed work, though some potboilers prove more enduring than their creators intended.
Overused and unoriginal
- clichédOverused to meaninglessness
- derivativeFunction's rate of change
- predictableAble to be foreseen
- triteOverused, lacking freshness
banal · stereotyped · conventional · rehashed · uninspired · stale · imitative · tired
Top-selling books
- paperbacksBooks with flexible covers
- mass-marketFor widespread commercial sale
- blockbustersHugely successful entertainment products
- publishingDistributing written works publicly
bookstores · readership · popular · serialized · newsstand · dime-store · supermarket · disposable
Compulsively readable book
- grippingHolding attention completely
- escapismHabitual mental retreat
- engrossingCompletely holding one's attention
- captivatingDeeply holding one's attention
suspense · thriller · intrigue · adventure · unputdownable · cliffhanger · fast-paced · breezy
Tough, cynical fiction style
- noirHard-boiled film genre
- serialsContinuing episodic stories
- sensationalArousing intense excitement
- luridShockingly vivid or gruesome
exploitation · gumshoe · detective · spicy · chapbooks · melodrama · bodice-ripper · gothic
hackneyed
Overused and unoriginal
- clichédOverused to meaninglessness
- derivativeFunction's rate of change
- predictableAble to be foreseen
trite · banal · stereotyped · conventional · rehashed · uninspired · stale · imitative · tired · worn-out
bestsellers
Top-selling books
- paperbacksBooks with flexible covers
- mass-marketFor widespread commercial sale
- blockbustersHugely successful entertainment products
publishing · bookstores · readership · popular · serialized · newsstand · dime-store · supermarket · disposable
page-turner
Compulsively readable book
- grippingHolding attention completely
- escapismHabitual mental retreat
- engrossingCompletely holding one's attention
captivating · suspense · thriller · intrigue · adventure · unputdownable · cliffhanger · fast-paced · breezy · diverting
hardboiled
Tough, cynical fiction style
- noirHard-boiled film genre
- serialsContinuing episodic stories
- sensationalArousing intense excitement
lurid · exploitation · gumshoe · detective · spicy · chapbooks · melodrama · bodice-ripper · gothic · trashy
- popular fictionbestsellers, genre fiction, page-turners, popular novels, pulp fiction
- lowbrowreality TV, tabloids, gossip magazines, trash TV, celebrity gossip
- pulp fictionpulp, pulp fiction, pulp magazines, pulp novels, dime novels
- bad writingflat characters, cliches, stock characters, derivative work, purple prose
potboilersmasterworks
Supreme creative achievements
classics · magnum opus · literary fiction · high art · canonical works