What genre?

Just write the story for now.

Worry about the genre later.

You could just label it Historical Fantasy.

Just call it Fantasy.

It sounds like it's a historic era to me, but when all else fails, just go with the lowest common denominator.

Possibly not--didn't realise it was secondary world . Fantasy should cover it, anyway.

Just call it fantasy. You might also be able to call it steampunk. Or gunpowder fantasy.


But that's a marketing issue. You can worry about that when your agent starts sending it out or when you self-publish, whichever.

Just call it fantasy. Your query will make it clear what kind of book it is.

I think people get entirely too focused on sub-genres. If it doesn't clearly fit in a sub-genre, don't worry about it. Let your publisher figure that out. Now, if you're self-publishing, then you might have to determine the sub-genre yourself.

I've heard the term gunpowder fantasy used for settings that are roughly 18th and 19th century when firearms figure prominently and they don't have that steampunk vibe.

I've heard gaslight fantasy used for quasi-Victorian settings that also don't feel like steampunk.

"gunpowder fantasy" - I like that term. Thanks for that.

I've said words to this effect previously on the AW forum, but I'll happily repeat them here:
I love discussing SFF subgenres, but that is something that should be reserved for finished works. The SFF subgenres are consumer information, not writing templates.

Unless you want to write the definitive work in [insert subgenre] you don't really need to worry about that at all before you reach the query stage. My personal tip is: Write the story, then do the research to find out what subgenre it is most likely to be put into (most SFF subgenres have fluid borders, and some overlap extensively), and find an agent that represents that. And bear in mind that many agents will not have a list of SFF subgenres they do represent, just what they don't, for example "no Paranormal Romance", or "no Alternate History".

Also; Good luck.

Threak 17 said:

"gunpowder fantasy" - I like that term. Thanks for that.

Click to expand...

All the cool kids are writing flintlock fantasy atm (Wexler, McClellan). Take a look see if you think it might fit. Though yours sounds somewhat more mordern. Hmmm.

If so, I'd stick with fantasy and show the rest in the body of the query