Attention must be paid

Look, everyone. It’s simple.

From Dictionary.com:

nov⋅el

/ˈnɒvəl/  [nov-uhl]

–noun

1.a fictitious prose narrative of considerable length and complexity, portraying characters and usually presenting a sequential organization of action and scenes.

By definition, a novel is a work of fiction.  When you say something is a “fictional novel,”  you betray a gap in your rudimentary knowledge of English.  It’s three hundred times worse if you’re trying to convince someone you’re a writer when it’s obvious you can’t curtail blatant redundancies in your work.

I’m creating a virtual swear jar for violators.  If you ever use the phrase “fictional novel*, ” you owe me a dollar.  You owe me ten dollars if you make any sort of money from writing (and if your editor let you say that phrase, she owes me twenty).

Yes. I’m surly today.

*=Except in cases where you are using it to tell people not to use it, as I am doing.