Cross Genre Novels

I started out wanting to write a literary novel, but after over 10,000 words I realized my main character was extremely passive and had no obvious drive.

I decided to pull her out of her comfort zone (a real and actual place in North East, USA) and send her on a journey. However, the place she journeys to will be completely made up, a fantasy land rooted in reality. No space ships or funny looking people. Just a place inhabited by humans living everyday lives according to their customs. The novel would be considered part fantasy, right? Do you think this would be a problem for readers to accept? When Dorothy left Kansas and went to OZ it was only a dream, but this won't be.

I like the freedom of using a setting where the only limit is my imagination and my main character can swell, so to speak, and evolve from being very passive to a larger than life heroine.

Maxinquaye said:

OTOH if you're MC has no drive, you haven't found what she wants, and you haven't introduced someone that actively works to prevent her from getting what she wants.

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Her journey has a clear purpose, but she ends up being thrown off-course and thrown into someone elses world. She becomes entangled because she wants to help, but she also has to keep her original goal in sight.

Interesting what you said about not being concerned with genre. I never even considered that; you tell people you're writing something and the first thing they want to do is fit it into a category in order to understand. So I guess I'll just say, "It's genre-less. Deal with it." My novel will be comparable to people who refuse to label their sexuality for the benefit of others.

Thanks Maxinquaye. I am now offically writing a sexually fluid novel.

Libbie said:

I'd ask you, first, why you can't make your character grow and become larger than life in a realistic setting.

However, fantasy is fun, and if you enjoy writing it, go for it. I'd say your book would be all fantasy, not partly fantasy; possibly urban fantasy.

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Because it's harder to become larger than life in the real world without the use of drugs.

It's not set in a city, which seems to be a requirement for urban fantasy. So we not only have genres, but also a thousand sub-genres to squeeze into? I think I will quite happily leave it up to publishers and agents.