Inventing a sub-genre

I know I'll probably get a lot of laughs out of this, but I'm going to try it anyway... takes deeeeep breath....

As most of you know by now, my current WIP is a period SF piece set in the 1950s. At a recent meeting I had with a few local future writers, one fellow told me that historical sci-fi (aside from Steam Punk) is an oxymoron. SF, he said, by its very nature is forward-looking. Therefore, past-oriented SF is senseless.

Rejection letters never anger me. I get dozens of them. Harsh critiques of my writing only make me determined to do better, as they should. I welcome them. But dismissing an entire concept as patently ridiculous and unworthy of critique... that I have a problem with.

Therefore, I've decided to break away from any currently existing sub-genres and coin one of my own. Yeah, I know... crazy.

In my last round of queries, I cited this goal. I'm citing it here publically.

I call the new sub-genre Malt Shop. Malt Shop will include any SF, fantasy [Urban, YA, MG, or otherwise], paranormal (romance) etc. that is set in the 1950s, or in an alternate reality that exists always in the post WW II years (1947-1963). In alternate reality situations, modern technology is acceptable (geared to match the look of the times) and modern social norms can also occur. Sort of like Steam Punk with a bobby-soxer twist.

While I'm sure such stories already exist, the sub-genre, as far as I know, does not. Stuff set in the 50s/60s is simply classified as historical. When I see the word historical, I picture horses & buggies, not poodle-skirts, greasers, and hot-rods. So I forsake the historical moniker!

Forgive me a little Elmer Gantry rant: Join me, brother and sister writers! Let us give birth to this new sub-genre! Whilst I alone may fail, together we shall succeed!

Okay... I'm normal again. Sort of. You can let me have it, now.

suki said:

Um...maybe I'm missing something, but why isn't this just alternative history? Or alternative history with ___________ elements?

I would not, no matter what else you do, create a new genre of your own description in query letters. It smacks of the insane at a time when you are trying to look professional.

~suki

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Thanks for the comments, Suki. I don't necessarilly envision Malt Shop as entirely alternative history. AH certainly would play a role in some writer's take on it, but it can also include material set in the time that does not deviate from the technology/social norms of the period. It's retro. It can be AH, or it can be historical just as long as the period is clear. AH crosses all sorts of eras, Malt shop focuses exclusively on the early Cold War years, at least in terms of fashion, look of the tech, etc.

As to your second concern... too late.

Thanks for the support, Kitty. The fellow who made that comment identified himself as a literary writer who hates all genre fiction. So, I took it for what it was.

Stunted said:

I mean, I'm going to be real. The reason this genre doesn't exist is that the 50s aren't that interesting, especially if...



The social norms back then are interesting and worth exploration, but if you cut that out, then what is there? The only things I can think of are visual and musical, and if it's a book...

I'm not saying that it couldn't be done. I'm just saying that I think there
may be a reason the genre isn't that popular.

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I cant agree that the 50s are uninteresting, Stunted. The early post-war period was tumultuous. To say nothing of colorful. A lot of serious work has been written about it, not just light-weight fantasy stuff. Grease wasn't the 50s. I certainly think the early post-war years are every bit as interesting, culturally speaking, as the Victorian Age.

Yes, if you cut out the social stuff, it would thin it out a lot. Individual authors would have to make up their own minds on how to best handle that aspect of the material. I was merely postulating an alternate reality scenerio where the author didn't want to be pinned-in by the social structure.

I was sure, Eyeblink, that similar material already existed. The term "period," however is very broad ranging... as is historical. Steampunk might have Victorian psuedo-gadgetry as a mainstay, but I doubt anyone would classify it under the umbrella title of historical. I suppose the purpose of sub-genre is to narrow down the focus a bit.

eyeblink said:

I was told that "period" took place in the author's and/or presumed reader's lifetime, and "historical" before that. But given that authors and readers are of different ages, I was also told that publishers tended to regard anything pre-World War II was "historical" now - and I'm well aware that there are quite a few elderly people around who were alive in the 1930s. There are even people alive as I write this who were born before 1900, but with respect to them, and to the three men known to be still alive who served in World War I, any story set then would be "historical".

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True, without doubt. I suppose, for clarification, we should note that stories frequently occupy several categories at once. The tale of a wandering WW I vet in post-war Europe could be literary and historical. While if that same vet discovers a colony of Martian vampires living in the ruins of a French town, it could be called historical/horror/SF.

A Malt Shop story, by the same token, could be viewed as a period piece in an umbrella sense, but as Malt Shop in the more specific sense. The same could be said for Steampunk, AH, or just about any other category one cares to name.

Thanks for commenting, Mori. Yes, in my last round of queries I did mention that as a goal. It's too early for responses to be coming back yet. If it doesn't fly, I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

My particular WIP isn't AH. I merely laid out that the new sub-genre could contain AH, as defined by the parameters of the category. Others who chose to write MS might choose not to be constrained to the boundries of the period in one respect or another (i.e. they might want their bobby-soxer MC to be a laser-toting Ninja who hunts invading mummies). That's where the AH fits in. MS can be straight period SF, as well.

Thanks for your comments too, Shaldna. Sure, I could call it historical SF. I just like to shake up the peanut bag once in a while. I'm not entirely sane, as Suki has pointed out.

Thank you, Rhoda. I didn't do this based wholly on that one fellow's comments. I don't think, from his remarks, that he meant historical SF wasn't done, merely that it was silly to do so. I ignored him, anyway.

I should probably state that SF isn't my first choice when it comes to reading material. Movies, sure. But most of the (more recent) books I've read in that genre just haven't worked for me. I suppose I'm too simple-minded.

Rhoda Nightingale said:

@vwyler: Good for you. I feel compelled to ask though, since you say you're not typically a fan of written sci-fi: How would you classify Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy? It's usually described as middle-grade fantasy, but I personally think of it as sci-fi because it's set in an alternate reality, and based on some solid scientific theory about dark matter and subatomic particles. Obviously your "Malt Shop" idea would be a very different setting, but the point I'm trying to make is just how far you stretch the genres and still claim them.

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Thanks, Rhoda. I'm not sure how to classify Pullman's work. I've only read the first book and that was years ago. AH/SF/Fantasy, possibly. He's basically inverting Milton's Paradise Lost, so religious allegory might even fit. Pullman's way out of my league to be categorizing.

I hope I'm not coming off as a category nut, here. It seems that a lot of stuff written these days is cross-genre anyway.

As for my own WIP, Mori... it has a bizarre genesis. It started out as a comic book (cartooning is my hobby). I had a few copies printed on a whim and gave them to friends. It was meant to pay homage to the cheesy SF movies of the 50s. I never took it too seriously.

One friend suggested I tell the whole story as a written novel instead of going the comic route and try having it published. I resisted the idea for a long time, but eventually gave in and wrote it. I even planned a series around the characters and wrote the first sequel.

I have two other WIPs in the works, as well. But, I wanted to give this one a fair shot at the brass ring, first. I never intended to be a professional writer. If I get published, fine, if I don't, it won't kill me. This doesn't mean I intend to slack. I'm a research nut. I read agent blogs almost daily and belong to four seperate writer's forums as well as a few SF boards.

In case your curious, my avatar is the monster from the comic.