(mods, please feel free to move this thread if it doesn't belong here. Wasn't sure where to put it, really.)
So, I'm currently trying to market my "first" novel--meaning the first one I've completed that I think might make it commercially. My problem: I'm not sure what genre it falls in.
Some background: a few years ago I got cozy fever. I spent months reading every cozy in the library. I thought, "hey, I could write one of these."
So I started out. Then, not too far into it, I thought (being essentially a fantasy writer), "Wouldn't it be cool if the gimmick in this cozy were magic?" I made the protagonist a witch.
Now I have the book and I don't know what it is. My husband thinks it's still a cozy, but I'm not sure. It's somewhat too long for a classic cozy (116,000 words or so). There is a mystery, but it's not the "bodies dropping all over the place" type. It's magical, but not quite in a fantasy way. It has elements of urban fantasy, but it takes place in a small town. There's a ghost and a demon involved, but I'm not sure it's really paranormal, either.
Here's the brief blurb from my query (which I may post in its entirety elsewhere for feedback):
Life in small-town Colorado is anything but simple for reluctant witch Caitlin Ross. Her bandmates in Irish Folk group Red Branch have ambitions far beyond their talents. She’s just discovered a ghost in the corner bar. The charismatic bar owner, Sean Casey, is practicing Black Magic, his daughter, feisty Breda Ni Fhearraigh, has misplaced her fiancé and the gods are pressuring Caitlin to get involved.
As Caitlin investigates, aided by her husband, Timber MacDuff, she comes to believe that the ghost, Casey’s doings and the fiancé’s disappearance are all connected by a hundred-year-old secret that threatens the entire town. When Casey also vanishes, only the ghost holds the key to the puzzle. Now Caitlin must fully embrace her powers, contact the ghost and finish what he started as a living man before someone less scrupulous beats her to it. In the end, she will learn that facing her deepest fears is nothing to facing what lies hidden in The Unquiet Grave.
Any suggestions as to what I can do with this? Can I call it a "Supernatural Mystery?" because that's essentially what it is. Am I trying to create a new genre here?
Thoughts appreciated! Thanks.
WW
So, I'm currently trying to market my "first" novel--meaning the first one I've completed that I think might make it commercially. My problem: I'm not sure what genre it falls in.
Some background: a few years ago I got cozy fever. I spent months reading every cozy in the library. I thought, "hey, I could write one of these."
So I started out. Then, not too far into it, I thought (being essentially a fantasy writer), "Wouldn't it be cool if the gimmick in this cozy were magic?" I made the protagonist a witch.
Now I have the book and I don't know what it is. My husband thinks it's still a cozy, but I'm not sure. It's somewhat too long for a classic cozy (116,000 words or so). There is a mystery, but it's not the "bodies dropping all over the place" type. It's magical, but not quite in a fantasy way. It has elements of urban fantasy, but it takes place in a small town. There's a ghost and a demon involved, but I'm not sure it's really paranormal, either.
Here's the brief blurb from my query (which I may post in its entirety elsewhere for feedback):
Life in small-town Colorado is anything but simple for reluctant witch Caitlin Ross. Her bandmates in Irish Folk group Red Branch have ambitions far beyond their talents. She’s just discovered a ghost in the corner bar. The charismatic bar owner, Sean Casey, is practicing Black Magic, his daughter, feisty Breda Ni Fhearraigh, has misplaced her fiancé and the gods are pressuring Caitlin to get involved.
As Caitlin investigates, aided by her husband, Timber MacDuff, she comes to believe that the ghost, Casey’s doings and the fiancé’s disappearance are all connected by a hundred-year-old secret that threatens the entire town. When Casey also vanishes, only the ghost holds the key to the puzzle. Now Caitlin must fully embrace her powers, contact the ghost and finish what he started as a living man before someone less scrupulous beats her to it. In the end, she will learn that facing her deepest fears is nothing to facing what lies hidden in The Unquiet Grave.
Any suggestions as to what I can do with this? Can I call it a "Supernatural Mystery?" because that's essentially what it is. Am I trying to create a new genre here?
Thoughts appreciated! Thanks.
WW
