It's time to play: Sort! That! Genre!

[Project nachonaco]

My WIP is about...

*deep breath*

It's about a secret program organized by a government scientist for the purpose of child fighting. These children have been given superpowers by the scientist, Dr. Katherine Collins.

We, as the readers, are given insight into the lives of Steve Sandber, his wife Jessie, and their nieces Syd and Des Lipsky, who live with them. Steve, as punishment for his wife having a miscarriage, murders his brother-in-law and his wife. He also ends up separating Syd and Des, who are one-year-old at the time, selling Des to a drug dealer.

Jessie, sixteen years after Des' 'death' (as she has been told by Steve), leaves the man, going to a domestic violence shelter with her son and the remaining niece, Syd. They are, shortly after their arrival, betrayed by the shelter's overseer.

Eventually, the twins (who have, thanks to experimentation, no idea that they are related) are reunited in Dr. Collins' program, The Hai-Zi Project. Jessie is also part of the program as an instructor due to her military experience. Dr. Collins plans to murder her, as she is the last surviving relative of the twins.

The novel goes from the twins' home life to their capture and draft into the program to their liberation and flight to the United Kingdom. It is currently in its' last draft.

eeek, sorry for the font change. i was copying it off a site i had it posted on.

[nevada]

Sounds like a thriller to me. Patterson wrote a book about children with supernatural powers, Maximum Force, and it was filed in general fiction.

I have questions. If they are twins, wouldnt they look alike? So wouldnt they recognize themselves? Why does steve murder his brother-in-law and brother's wife for punishment for his own wife having a miscarriage? That doesnt make any sense to me at all. Why does the shelter manager betray Jessie and the children? Shelter workers and volunteers are incredibly protective of the victims staying there.

Why does a drug dealer buy a one year old? What's he gonna do with a baby?

These are some questions that your blurb raised. These are some questions that an agent might have reading your query letter, so remember to answer them in that letter. Good luck with your last draft. It's exciting to be that close to finishing.

[Project nachonaco]

They are taught, once they enter the program, that the only time they are allowed to talk to others is when they're fighting.

Not sure how to explain that in the query though.

[johnnysannie]

[QUOTE=nevada If they are twins, wouldnt they look alike? So wouldnt they QUOTE]

As a parent of twins, no, not necessarily. Some twins are identical (i.e. they seperated from one egg in utero) and identical twins do look very alike although parents and those close to identical twins can normally distingiush between them. There are also fraternal twins (two eggs, two babies) that are born at the same time but are not identical and often look no more alike than any other siblings, sometimes even less. I've seen fraternals with different hair colors - one blonde, one dark for example - who look quite different.

[Project nachonaco]

They're identical, but they don't really know that they're twins due to the brainwashing.

[Cathy C]

Your options, and the reasons why:

Mainstream thriller (secret government plot that overcomes the paranormal aspect)

Science Fiction (if this is set in some future time, or if SCIENCE is what resolves the plotline)

Fantasy (if the superpowers have rules--i.e., worldbuilding--that pull it out of our existing reality)

You can probably sell to any of these. I'd suggest trying to fit it into mainstream. There's a larger overall audience. SF and Fantasy genres just flat don't get as many readers.

Hope that helps! :)

[Project nachonaco]

It's set exactly 32 years from now, does that count as 'sci-fi future'? ;)

[Cathy C]

Technically, it would be "futuristic", but again--it could fall in a number of categories. My best advice would be to query agents in all THREE genres and see which one latches on. They know their markets and what will fit. But because this is a cross-genre sort of thing, you're no worse off using a shotgun, rather than a single bullet.

[AprilBoo]

I'll throw in my vote for mainstream thriller. Maybe it is just the way I'm reading your post, but I'm not getting a really strong sci-fi feel from this, just from the brainwashing/training aspect of it, especially since it involves the military.