PriyankaB
01-13-2011, 11:16 AM
Hey everyone! I'm currently working on a YA novel that I've named Hiding Bianca (my first ever, yay!), but I'm not quite sure what genre it fits into. Although it's an original story, my main sources of inspiration are Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale and A Midsummer Night's Dream as well as the ballet Giselle- I'm very into the idea of the pastoral, forest setting as the center of chaos and the city/village as the center of order and reason, as well as the idea of peasants and noblemen coming together.
The story takes place in a feudal medieval/early Renaissance style kingdom, but is not on Earth. One of the characters believes in magic and fairies, but there is no real magic in the story- just a bunch of misunderstandings- fairies are not real in this universe.
The story revolves around a girl named Tanya who decides to join the quest to find the princess of her kingdom, who has gone missing, so she can receive the massive reward and send her chronically ill mother to a hospital in the city. Unfortunately, Tanya's plans get derailed when she finds Princess Bianca hiding in the woods right outside her village and discovers that she has no intention of returning home. Things get even more complicated when her best friend Seth and a nobleman named Ari, who is engaged to Bianca, also get involved.
I'm still working on it, but Act II involves the four of them traveling together (once they've convinced Bianca to leave the woods) and hiding from the king's soldiers so Bianca isn't discovered by them- hence my title Hiding Bianca).
I'm enjoying the writing process and I think it should be a fun story once it's done, but...what genre is it? It's not historical, as it doesn't take place on Earth itself. It's obviously not contemporary. It's not paranormal, as there aren't any supernatural creatures. Does it count as fantasy? I mean, there is an element of worldbuilding involved in my story, as the kingdom is composed of a hybrid of medieval and Renaissance elements- the feudal system and knights are very important, but Bianca's twin brother is becoming known as a great explorer and the arts and music are highly valued in the King's Court. But doesn't fantasy have to have magic involved?
Basically, I'm stumped as to where this story fits in. Got any suggestions? :)
The story takes place in a feudal medieval/early Renaissance style kingdom, but is not on Earth. One of the characters believes in magic and fairies, but there is no real magic in the story- just a bunch of misunderstandings- fairies are not real in this universe.
The story revolves around a girl named Tanya who decides to join the quest to find the princess of her kingdom, who has gone missing, so she can receive the massive reward and send her chronically ill mother to a hospital in the city. Unfortunately, Tanya's plans get derailed when she finds Princess Bianca hiding in the woods right outside her village and discovers that she has no intention of returning home. Things get even more complicated when her best friend Seth and a nobleman named Ari, who is engaged to Bianca, also get involved.
I'm still working on it, but Act II involves the four of them traveling together (once they've convinced Bianca to leave the woods) and hiding from the king's soldiers so Bianca isn't discovered by them- hence my title Hiding Bianca).
I'm enjoying the writing process and I think it should be a fun story once it's done, but...what genre is it? It's not historical, as it doesn't take place on Earth itself. It's obviously not contemporary. It's not paranormal, as there aren't any supernatural creatures. Does it count as fantasy? I mean, there is an element of worldbuilding involved in my story, as the kingdom is composed of a hybrid of medieval and Renaissance elements- the feudal system and knights are very important, but Bianca's twin brother is becoming known as a great explorer and the arts and music are highly valued in the King's Court. But doesn't fantasy have to have magic involved?
Basically, I'm stumped as to where this story fits in. Got any suggestions? :)