Genre confusion. Need help!

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JimHeskett

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I'm quite confused about what genre to label the MS I'm getting ready to query, since it seems to straddle the line between many. Here's a short synopsis:

A man crashes his car and wakes up in detox. He decides he needs to quit drinking. He tries to put his life back together by working the 12 steps and making amends, but everything goes wrong. People start turning their backs on him. He later finds out that one of the people he wronged in his old life is out to ruin him by turning people against him. That situation comes to a head with an eventual showdown.

****

It's a little bit literary since it's character-driven in the sense that it's thematically complex. But I don't know if my prose is quite flashy enough to call it literary.

It's a bit suspense/thriller in that it's multi-POV and the tension builds and builds to a climax. There's fist fights, guns, sex, etc. But the suspense is gradual... it's not continual life or death like most suspense/thrillers.

It's a bit mystery in that the main character has to piece together the events of the night he quit drinking (he blacked out) to make amends to people from his past. But the mystery is secondary to the main story about his growth as a person.

I've been calling it "contemporary fiction", but it doesn't feel right. I've read lots of advice blogs that suggest to be as specific as possible when querying.


Thanks in advance for your help!
 

stephenf

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Hi
Genre is simple from a distance , but becomes more complex , the closer you get to it.
Have a look here
www.cuebon.com/ewriters/definitions.html

You can look at the main categories and there is a drop down thing for sub categories
I would chose the one that sounds right. I go with the idea , the writer chooses the genre, but someone will always disagree with your choice.
 
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AllenC

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I have the same problem. I've read the definition and I am still strugling with it.
 

areteus

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I always say that it is not your problem to decide what genre it is, leave that issue to the editor/publisher. Even a beta reader. Present it to a beta reader or two without any preamble, let them read it and then ask them what they think it is.

Generally, genre is an arbitrary division anyway, and some very good pieces straddle more than one. Care more for the story then where you are going to place it.
 

cruellae

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I've been having the same problem, instead of literary chick lit, mine seems to be something like a literary romance.

And I like what areteus just said. I definitely would prefer to let the industry professionals figure that out. The problem I have is that people have often told me it's very important to say your genre in a query letter. Being new to this, I am of course not sure if that is actually the case, but it is advice I've heard more than once.
 

Chris P

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I agree with areteus. In my querying, the agents seem to have enough wiggle room that if you are within a few standard deviations from what they say they represent you will be fine if the query letter is compelling. Knowing the genre helps you decide where to look (I've heard of people querying erotica to children's publishers) but it's not overly hard and fast.

But all contemporary fiction has some element of mystery, romance, tension, or thrilling action or they would be bland bland bland.
 

cruellae

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Thank you, Chris, that helps me with my agent search. Maybe in my query letter I should just call it a work of contemporary fiction.
 

SentaHolland

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I second the idea of giving it to a few beta readers and asking THEM what genre they would think it is. Best include some people who don't know you extremely well. I would think if it is a genre like mystery/thriller it would be advantageous to say so. contemporary fiction is a bit cover-all. Just my thought.
 

SkyAzurePublishing

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From a publishing perspective, it's always nice to have a genre identified early - having a box to put something in makes it easier to sell, whoever in the chain is being pitched to. That being said, every box was a new box once... part of the fun, for us if nobody else, is figuring out which category or categories to slip a book into so that it has a shelf somewhere to feel at home in. Oh yes, and a nice demographic to aim at... sorry, couldn't help that one.

Sounds a bit of a mix of metaphysical (personal journey after a forced confrontation with own mortality kind of thing), noir (air of "out to get me" with stalking horse nemesis) and general literary thriller to us. It's ok to use more than one box, by the way. Hope this helps.
 
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