Genre confusions and reader expectations.

[GabeWhite]

I recently finished my first novel, and I am deep in the editing process, staying up late, sleeping very little. I’ve spent a bit of time researching agents and publishers, and I’m starting to worry about marketing.

This is a science fiction novel. Literary soft science fiction. So, naturally, I want to send it out to people who accept science fiction. No problem. There’s a ton of them.

But as I’ve gone back through my novel, fine tuning, I’ve realized that the whole thing plays more like straight up mainstream--with some magic realism--until near the end of the book. I think it works well, but can I still sell it as science fiction? Should I?

Is the regular science fiction reader going to read the first couple pages and give up? How early do you need to announce your intentions? Honestly, the novel is science fiction, in my mind. But who decides these things?

I posted the first scene in the Share Your Work section, if anybody would like to read it.

Thanks,
Gabe
EDIT: Not sure how to link to a thread correctly...

[stace001]

Hi Gabe,

I just took a look at your post in Share Your Work, and as I said there, you need to post a bit more of it so people can get more of an idea on the story. 3 paragraphs just isn't enough. What you've posted is well done, but for someone to comment on the genre, there needs to be more.:)

[Aconite]

I think it works well, but can I still sell it as science fiction? Should I?
I may be misunderstanding you, but I think the real issue here is, is the SF element an integral part of the story, or just tacked on to the end? If the former, it's SF, and would stand a good chance of getting picked up by an SF publisher. If the latter, probably not (see "Abbess Phone Home" entry under Plots in Turkey City Lexicon http://www.sfwa.org/writing/turkeycity.html ).

[Marcusthefish]

Congratulations on finishing your novel. Ultimately, you might not have much choice in whether your book is SF or mainstream--your agent will decide how to pitch it and the publisher will decide how to present it. Since you think of it as SF, I'd call it science fiction and aim for genre publishers when submitting. If you don't intend to continue writing SF, then you might want to consciously aim it at more mainstream publishers. But I imagine that more SF publishers are willing to go literary than mainstream are willing to go SF (unless you're Martin Amis or you can write like Jonathan Lethem).

As far as signalling the reader, I wouldn't worry that much about it. Your publisher will let them know by the way they package the book. Those of us who like that kind of book (I do) know how to find them, and the people who don't will figure it out from the cover design and sales copy.

MTF

PS: Are there really a ton of SF publishers you'd want to publish with? I've got eight on my dream list: Tor, Eos, Warner Aspect, Bantam Spectra, Ace, Baen, Del Rey, and DAW. Am I missing any biggies?

[victoriastrauss]

But as I’ve gone back through my novel, fine tuning, I’ve realized that the whole thing plays more like straight up mainstream--with some magic realism--until near the end of the book. I think it works well, but can I still sell it as science fiction? Should I?Try marketing it as SF first. If this isn't the right approach, the response you get may make this clear.

- Victoria

[Fillanzea]

By the way: the best way I've heard of thinking about genre is that genre IS reader expectation.

[LightShadow]

Mainstream/Contemporary is plot driven and appeals to a wider market of readers. If your book fits that, then maybe that's what it is.

[Aconite]

Mainstream/Contemporary is plot driven and appeals to a wider market of readers.
Plenty of genre is plot driven (Lord of the Rings, James Bond, Grisham's novels), and plenty of mainstream isn't. I wouldn't use that as your deciding factor.

[Kate Nepveu]

Boy, I wouldn't agree at all that Mainstream is plot driven as a definition.

What's more, people expecting Mainstream who find sf elements at the end are likely to be taken aback.

In short: not that simple.

[Roger J Carlson]

Mainstream/Contemporary is plot driven and appeals to a wider market of readers. If your book fits that, then maybe that's what it is.I thought the conventional wisdom was that mainstream fiction is character driven while genre was plot driven. This is probably too general to be useful anyway.

BTW, I've been reading the book: Story, by Robert McKee. McKee maintains that the distinction is artificial. All stories are are plot and character driven. His take is that "character" is defined by the internal motivations that makes a story character what he is. Is he a moral person? Immoral? Loving? Unkind? And so forth. Plot, on the other hand, is the method by which the author reveals a character's "character" to the reader.

The biblical story of the Good Samaritan is an example. A jewish man is beaten and robbed on the road. A priest on the road sees the wounded man. But he is on his way to the temple and has been ritually cleaned. Touching the man will make him unclean, so he passes by. A Levite also sees the man and passes by. But then a despised Samaritan sees the wounded man. He stops and helps the man, binds his wounds, takes him to an inn, and pays for the man's care.

The "character" of each of these characters is revealed through their actions, i.e. the plot. The priest and Levite (although they may have good reasons for passing by) reveal their "character" as uncaring. The Samaritan reveals his "character" as a caring person through his actions of taking care of the man.

[GabeWhite]

Thanks for the replies, everybody.

The science fiction elements are integral to my characters, but only a few things the reader would immediately recognize as "science fiction" happen until the ending--and even then it's not a big twilight zone reveal... "My God, she's been an ALIEN this whole time! It all makes sense now, Billy!"

The story is set in modern times and centered squarely on the characters. There's no aliens or worm holes or robots or cloning. Entire chapters come and go where nothing Fantastical happens at all. Just people living their lives and talking about music, or relationships. Having bad sex. Mowing their lawns. Cleaning their gutters.

I'm just not sure if that's acceptable in science fiction today. But I don't think the Big Ideas--about evolution, religion, the worth of linear time, ancient cabals of warlocks, etc.--would work in mainstream.

-Gabe

[write4details]

You might have a problem. Genre ghetto readers are pretty stiff about what they like and might not want to wade through a mainstream novel.
Why not market it as mainstream? Having fantasy elements at the end doesn't disqualify.

[Aconite]

You might have a problem. Genre ghetto readers are pretty stiff about what they like and might not want to wade through a mainstream novel..
IME, genre readers are more open to mainstream than mainstream readers are to genre elements.

Why not just ask your beta readers what they think? You're spending waaay too much time worrying about this. *g*

[zeprosnepsid]

I think there is a big market for soft sci fi. Just look at television. Shows like Medium and Lost have sci fi/supernatural elements but they're not hard sci fi and they get some of the best ratings on TV.

I think a mainstream audience could be very interested in a novel with genre elements (again, look at TV shows, a lot of the big shows are mainstream with various genre elements).

This may not solve your problem of deciding whether to market to mainstream or sci fi, but I would feel free to use hit TV shows in your query to point out that there is interest in this kind of thing. If your book corresponds to any of these kinds of shows that is.
But people love mainstream TV with sci fi elements (Quantum Leap, ALF, etc...) so why wouldn't they love it in a novel?