What Genre?

[Ruukah]

I'm having a bit of trouble deciding which genre my story fits into. It's about wild animals in Africa, but it's not a childrens' book. I've been referring to it as "animal fantasy", but there's no real fantasy involved. There's no magic, no mystical creatures, no supernatural occurances...just wild animals in nature. What genre would that be? If my book were published already, what section of the bookstore would I find it in?

[maestrowork]

Fiction? Non-fiction?

If it's fiction, what is it about? Is the story adult in nature (since you said it's not a children's book). Probably mainstream or literary.

[MadScientistMatt]

Is this something like the adventures a real lion might have? Or is it an "Animal Farm" style talking animal fable? I could see a bookstore putting this on the regular Fiction shelf alongside other realistic fiction if that's what it is. Or maybe putting it in the Nature or Animals section.

[Aconite]

Ruukah, how does it compare to books like Black Beauty, Beautiful Joe, Bambi, Animal Farm, Charlotte's Web, The Book of the Dun Cow, or any other books you can find on the same topic? That might give you a clue.

[Marcusthefish]

Ruukah, how does it compare to books like Black Beauty, Beautiful Joe, Bambi, Animal Farm, Charlotte's Web, The Book of the Dun Cow, or any other books you can find on the same topic? That might give you a clue.

A couple of other animal novels: Watership Down (Richard Adams) and Tailchaser's Song (Tad Williams). I think the former was marketed as mainstream; the latter as fantasy.

There's also a series of cat books by Gabriel King that I often see in the SF/F section in B&N, but I haven't read any of them.

MTF