"So what genre are you writing in?"

[WriterDoug]

The nature of this thread may seem silly to some, but I certainly can't be the only person out there who has written a novel and been unable to put the darn thing neatly into a genre or subgenre.

Allow me to elaborate a bit.

I have written numerous novels (most of which I deemed quite bad,) but then finally I had my shining star around the age of twenty. I spent the next four years plotting out this story, taking notes, doing the research and ultimately writing the entire thing in a month-long cram session.

Once completed, people began to ask me, "So what genre is it?" and the amazing thing is I often had this vapid look on my face and mumbled that I really didn't know! I had done ample research on genres and what-not, but I really felt I wrote something odd that fell into a classification I was not heavily exposed to, and so for the longest time I labeled the piece as "historical fiction," which I still feel is fairly accurate. I certainly did not sit down one day and say to myself, "Alright, I am going to write a high/epic/dark/urban fantasy!" Naturally, I let the ideas take their course.

Now months later, I have laid the matter to rest and concluded that my novel falls under a "fantasy of manners" subgenre, which is often intertwined with "historical fiction," so I definitely feel I have correctly labeled my own work (finally!) Interestingly enough, Teresa is mentioned on the wiki page for the definition of fantasy manners, if anyone is interested in seeing it below:

Fantasy of manners - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I suppose the questions that I am wanting to ask out of this thread deal with any difficulties you may have had (or not had) in deciding what genre your OWN works fall into. If so, did it feel embarassing for awhile? Did you wonder if maybe people doubted your own understanding of the piece you wrote? Is it really a matter of life and death if you are not entirely sure what you wrote?

Perhaps my biggest fear was mis-labeling my own novel and then appearing ignorant to potential publishers or avid readers.

cheers,
WD

[jenna]

I don't really know how to describe the book I'm working on to people who don't read genre stuff. I try to say "It's fantasy, but without the magic" or "It's historical fiction, but set in another world", but mostly people have no idea what I mean. People who do read a lot of fantasy etc seem to understand though!

[Talysia]

In terms of trying to describe what I write, I would say fantasy, although not the "high fantasy" style. There's not much in the way of magic or fantasy creatures in this one (although there are in another story I'm working on.) To be honest, I think trying to define the genre is over-complicated sometimes. In a shop, it would probably be put on the same shelf as other fantasy works - although it's not likely that I'll get published!

[Peter Graham]

Hello all,

I'm new here, so apologies if I am riding roughshod over any accepted boundaries of behaviour by jumping straight in with my ill-thought out opinions!

This appears to be a real problem for anyone who is not writing straight genre fiction. I don't know if anyone else would agree, but it seems to me that it is actually quite hard to convince potential agents etc to look much beyond the genre in situations when some plart of the plot or story has clear links to a genre. The following conversation is, alas, not one that appears to be commonplace:-

"We don't do horror".

"Well, it's not really horror. It's got supernatural stuff in it, but really it's about the interplay between the characters. It's quite a human read. With occasional monsters."

"Really? OK then! Send it over and stand by for instant global recognition......"

Would it be better just to refer to a manuscript as "literary" or "populist" (or whatever), or would this give rise to a whole different set of problems?

(Strokes beard in reflective manner).

Regards,

Peter

[Warboys]

I tend to think that the whole thing about 'genre' for fantasy is often quite dismissive, and being geared for convienient marketing, sidesteps the fact that a good, well told story will carry any element, be it fantasy or not.

I myself write what would be categorised as fantasy, but i'm a bit irked that i have to call it that, since even though i know better, i can't help but associate the term with tired, cloned old worlds full of elves and orcs and magic dragons derived from Tolkien, spread thin like butter on too much bread.

I think there's more of an emphasis on genre nowadays because readers & audiences are lazier, and want to know before they've experienced for themselves. I tend to consider it a failing to have written anything that DOES fit a genre label convieniently.

...best stop there...

[jackokent]

Originally Posted by Peter Graham

Hello all,

I'm new here, so apologies if I am riding roughshod over any accepted boundaries of behaviour by jumping straight in with my ill-thought out opinions!

This appears to be a real problem for anyone who is not writing straight genre fiction. I don't know if anyone else would agree, but it seems to me that it is actually quite hard to convince potential agents etc to look much beyond the genre in situations when some plart of the plot or story has clear links to a genre. The following conversation is, alas, not one that appears to be commonplace:-

"We don't do horror".

"Well, it's not really horror. It's got supernatural stuff in it, but really it's about the interplay between the characters. It's quite a human read. With occasional monsters."

"Really? OK then! Send it over and stand by for instant global recognition......"

Would it be better just to refer to a manuscript as "literary" or "populist" (or whatever), or would this give rise to a whole different set of problems?

(Strokes beard in reflective manner).

Regards,

Peter

Hi Peter and welcome to Chronicles

Jumping straight in is expected and no one's opinions are shunned here... well except a few

I think readers are lazy and do definately want to know genre's. For instance do you read romance, or westerns. I am not saying you do or don't but many people on this site definately avoid the former. They have to put it into a genre to avoid it. Otherwise they are going to get a few pages in a think "damn I've gone a bought a romance!" And in the bookshop, should we hide the fantisy amongst the other stuff. That would anoy me no end. I personally don't want to leaf through thousands of romances and chickflicks to find a good new fantasy / sifi author.

The only other way of finding them is to stick to the authors you know. But then what about the new ones.

I think we are far less open to our own favourite types of books being put into a genre than we are the types we don't like.

I find genres useful as long as they don't rule my life or make me so blinkered I'd never try crossing a boundary.

[jackokent]

Originally Posted by Warboys

I tend to think that the whole thing about 'genre' for fantasy is often quite dismissive, and being geared for convienient marketing, sidesteps the fact that a good, well told story will carry any element, be it fantasy or not.

I myself write what would be categorised as fantasy, but i'm a bit irked that i have to call it that, since even though i know better, i can't help but associate the term with tired, cloned old worlds full of elves and orcs and magic dragons derived from Tolkien, spread thin like butter on too much bread.

I think there's more of an emphasis on genre nowadays because readers & audiences are lazier, and want to know before they've experienced for themselves. I tend to consider it a failing to have written anything that DOES fit a genre label convieniently.

...best stop there...

Hi Warboys

I think I probably put in my earlier post a lot of what I wanted to respond to this post.

As a writer I think it would be a shame if you felt constrained to a genre but as a reader, I can't think of many other ways of choosing the type of book you might want to read.

[SpaceShip]

I'd say mine was fantasy but if I wasn't sure perhaps "Well, mate, buy the book, read it and let me know!"

Might get a few more sales in that way eh!

[Leaf Face]

I have been writing for a while and looking at agents' blogs and other resources. I think the genre can be what you want it to be in a query, and if the writing is good, you will find a home. I am unpublished, so maybe I'm just babbling, but I think if you give a general direction in your query, and pages suplied are good writing, then you won't have a problem. Keep at it!

[Peter Graham]

Originally Posted by jackokent

Hi Peter and welcome to Chronicles

Jumping straight in is expected and no one's opinions are shunned here... well except a few

Phew!

I think we are far less open to our own favourite types of books being put into a genre than we are the types we don't like.

I find genres useful as long as they don't rule my life or make me so blinkered I'd never try crossing a boundary.

A very fair point, but I think there is an over-reliance on genre. Perhaps it is one thing to use genre as a convenient "tag" for deciding in which part of the bookshop to place a certain tome, but it all goes a bit far if people (and I'm really referring to the professionals here) take against a well written book just because it has goblins or whatever in it.

I would see myself as the sort of person that doesn't read romance, but at the same time I'd include both "Far from the Madding Crowd" and "Wuthering Heights" amongst my favourite books. Admittedly, they'd both end up in the "classics" section of the bookshops, but a modern day equivalent would probably be in there with the Mills & Boon and I wouldn't look twice!

Best regards,

Peter

[Teresa Edgerton]

There is a difference between "taking against" a book and simply declining to publish it or represent it because it's outside their field of expertise or it doesn't fit in with their line of books. Publishers (or imprints within a publishing house) and agents often specialize. They focus their energies on one or several particular area(s) in order to become better at what they do. They are business people, after all, while we, the writers are the artists. And if we give our work into their hands, don't we want them to be good at what they are doing? Don't we want to be represented by an agent who knows the houses and editors who are most likely to be interested? And if an editor buys our book, wouldn't we rather that editor be someone who knows the genre we are writing in and the best ways to reach readers in that genre? Or would we rather (for instance) have someone whose real area of expertise is the romance novel telling us how to revise our hard SF novels, and choosing the cover art?

[Sapheron]

A modern traditional high fantasy here. At least that's the one I've been working on for the last few days...

[The Ace]

" I tend to do Science fiction, with the occasional foray into fantasy. The dubious quality of my writing means I have equal facility for both.

[Fahim]

I know exactly what my genre is but I get told over and over that my genre is hard to sell and that there is no market for it Oh yeah, I write humorous science fiction and apparently, it's tough to sell either one by itself but it's tougher still when put together ...

[Teresa Edgerton]

Originally Posted by Fahim

I know exactly what my genre is but I get told over and over that my genre is hard to sell and that there is no market for it Oh yeah, I write humorous science fiction and apparently, it's tough to sell either one by itself but it's tougher still when put together ...

There used to be a market for it, but I suppose with the SF market getting smaller in general readers who would have been reading Keith Laumer, for instance, thirty years ago are reading Terry Pratchett now.