What kind of genre monster did I start???

cynicalpirate · Nov 10, 2010

So I've been working on a short and sweet novel series in my spare time, and after finishing one manuscript and looking at it for a while I realized...I have no clue what to categorize it as...

On the one hand it's sort of contemperary in that it's not straight forward paragraphs upon paragraphs. Each page is a conversation with the time, place and date being the only clues to what's happening besides the conversations.

But on the other hand it's murder/thrillerish because the storyline centers around the murder of a young girl in a small town and the fight to figure out which of the citizens killed the child.

So my question is: Should I just mash the two together and call it a contemperary murder story, should I chose to find a publisher for it, or should I place it in one or the other?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Aphotic Ink · Nov 11, 2010

cynicalpirate said:
On the one hand it's sort of contemperary in that it's not straight forward paragraphs upon paragraphs. Each page is a conversation with the time, place and date being the only clues to what's happening besides the conversations.

But on the other hand it's murder/thrillerish because the storyline centers around the murder of a young girl in a small town and the fight to figure out which of the citizens killed the child.

So my question is: Should I just mash the two together and call it a contemperary murder story, should I chose to find a publisher for it, or should I place it in one or the other?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

My first impulse would be to classify it as a murder story; from your description, the way the story's relayed doesn't seem to much affect that. (Is it pure dialogue? Are the speakers identified? I am curious, now.)

I'm not suggesting you disregard the writing style when looking for a market (would not recommend submitting it to a pulp renaissance publisher, f'r ex), but I'd say the story carries the genre weight.

L&c,
F

RachelBrooks · Nov 18, 2010

Have you read any books similar to the book you’re writing? If so, see if they are classified as mysteries, suspense thrillers, etc., so you’ll have a better idea of what genre your book actually falls under.

PortableHal · Nov 20, 2010

Sounds like either a mystery or thriller, depending on how the conversations play out.

I've read a few novels that moved the plot through a series of letters (including one of my favorites, The Man Who Wrote Dirty Books) but they were classified by the overall story that was told, not by the method of the telling.

What kind of genre monster did I start???

cynicalpirate

Aphotic Ink

RachelBrooks

Pecking away at the keyboard...

PortableHal

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