Defining my book as YA or other genre

JDM1950 · Jan 11, 2012

Hi.
I have completed a novel manuscript (my first!) and am not sure if it qualifies as YA or not.
The protagonist is twenty years old and his ambition is to rise to a prestigious position/rank in his country's navy (in a fictional world I created.)
He finds romance, and there are one or two scenes with sexual connotations, but nothing graphic ("He picked her up in his arms and took her to the bed." -- end of scene), with a little bit of nudity, again not too graphic ("Her robe slipped to the floor. She wore nothing underneath.")
There is a lot of action, wars, battles, (Ancient Roman-type technologies --swords, catapults, etc.) with the hero winning the day and fulfilling his ambition.
So, does this qualify for YA or should I query it as "adventure/fantasy?"
I'd appreciate any feedback!

alleycat · Jan 11, 2012

I would lean towards action/adventure/fantasy, not because of the sexual scenes but because I don't see the storyline as being solidly in the YA category (you just happen to have a protagonist who is fairly young). Just an opinion.

Cyia · Jan 11, 2012

YA is not a genre; it's a marketing category.

Either way, no, your book is not YA. The MC is too old with none of the problems/restrictions that a teenager would face due to his/her age.

Cathy C · Jan 11, 2012

Yes, and no. Our books are on the adult SF/F shelf, but they seem to be a YA hit & it's foreign CHILDREN publishers that are picking it up for translation.

Our heroine is in her mid-20s, so I think it's a flexible definition.

missesdash · Jan 11, 2012

No. Not YA.

kecargiulo · Jan 13, 2012

Heres the thing, I think that character is young enough, because 20 is that inbetween stage where you aren't exactly an adult yet even though the threshold has been crossed, however your storyline isn't very "YA."

Taytortots · Jan 14, 2012

20 is sort of a between stage. You should market it as an adventure/fantasy, but it may also be a good thing to mention that it could be good for a wide variety of people, both adults and young adults.

JDM1950 · Mar 14, 2012

Problems with multi-genre

I'm looking for some advice.

I have completed a manuscript and have started querying agents. My story is an action/adventure, involving two warring nations set in a fictional world of my creation, with a little bit of romance involved.
I have sought out agencies that puportedly accept queries in Adventure/action, fantasy, romance, and military genres. In my queries I describe my work as "a fantasy adventure epic of war, friendship and romance."
So far, I have received only polite rejections of the "not the genre we are looking for" type.
My worry is that because my story covers several genres, none of the agents are sure into which category it fits and therefore just turn it down.

Any comments?

Filigree · Mar 14, 2012

Is this a straight-up thriller, or does it have stronger elements of science fiction or fantasy? You might want to stick to one genre in your query.

n3onkn1ght · Mar 14, 2012

I had the same problem. I kept hearing agents asking for YA Dystopia, YA fantasy, or YA steampunk, but when I queried my YA steampunk dystopian fantasy, they all said they weren't the right agent for the work. Of course, that the manuscript was 103,000 words and the query wasn't as well-written as it could be (I wanted to keep a major plot twist secret) might have contributed to that, but they all said they "weren't right" and I have a habit of taking things at face value.

My advice is to do what I'm doing now: shelve your dream project and work on something more "marketable". Then, if and when you sell that, you can roll out the first one when you're established. I decided to try my hand at Urban Fantasy, and its actually going extraordinarily well. I got about 20,000 words in a week and a half, and its so tightly constructed I can tell I won't need to do much structural editing.

JDM1950 · Mar 14, 2012

If I had to absolutely whittle down to a one word description:
Adventure.
The background of the story is war, and the hero is the central figure whose actions determine the destiny of his ficticious homeland. The second main character is his love interest, also caught up in the war, and a main sub-plot is the development of their romance.

JDM1950 · Mar 14, 2012

BTW, I am working on another manuscript--this time pure fantasy -- sorcerers, magic, a quest, etc.
But I like my first one better...

Mr Flibble · Mar 14, 2012

So the romance is a subplot, not the focus. Drop the romance from the genre then (as a lot of straight fantasy has that subplot)

In fact, if I were you, I'd just call it fantasy (maybe S&S or high/epic depending) and show the rest in the body of the query. Lots of books could, in theory, be classed as several genres. But think about it - who is your audience? If it's fantasy readers, then just call it fantasy. No need to get fancy about it, unless you are sure it fits very neatly into a sub-genre

Morven · Mar 15, 2012

Generally speaking, fantasy or science fiction trumps the other genres. Readers who won't read fantasy or science fiction won't read your book.

Liosse de Velishaf · Mar 15, 2012

Morven said:
Generally speaking, fantasy or science fiction trumps the other genres. Readers who won't read fantasy or science fiction won't read your book.

This. Most stories set in fictional worlds are either SF or Fantasy. The determiner here is probably what level of tech they have.

Little Ming · Mar 15, 2012

JDM1950 said:
I'm looking for some advice.

I have completed a manuscript and have started querying agents. My story is an action/adventure, involving two warring nations set in a fictional world of my creation, with a little bit of romance involved.
I have sought out agencies that puportedly accept queries in Adventure/action, fantasy, romance, and military genres. In my queries I describe my work as "a fantasy adventure epic of war, friendship and romance."
So far, I have received only polite rejections of the "not the genre we are looking for" type.
My worry is that because my story covers several genres, none of the agents are sure into which category it fits and therefore just turn it down.

Any comments?

I'll echo everyone who has said to simplify this down into one genre, maybe a sub-genre. When you throw in everything and the kitchen sink it screams amateur who doesn't know what he is doing.

If you have other questions, check out QLH to see how others are doing their queries.

Dreity · Mar 15, 2012

What they said. I struggled to classify my WIP, and in the end I decided to just keep it simple and call it "fantasy". The agent that accepts you will know what it should be marketed as, so let them sweat about it.

Polenth · Mar 15, 2012

It's not just about resisting the urge to give your book six different genres in the query. When you pick your query genre, it should be the strongest marketing category for your book. Romantic elements and adventure are not defining features of a particular genre... that describes books all over the bookshop. You ideally want a category that regularly has it's own shelf in the bookshop, or is a defined sub-genre of that bookshelf.

So if you have an adventure with romance set on another world with magic, you have a fantasy book. You may have an epic fantasy or some other sub-genre. But you don't have an adventure book or a romantic elements book. Fantasy is the strongest marketing category.

Choosing a weak or unsuitable category makes it sound like you don't know what you've written, or who you're writing it for. And that's not the impression you want to give agents and editors.

Anne Lyle · Mar 16, 2012

Morven said:
Generally speaking, fantasy or science fiction trumps the other genres. Readers who won't read fantasy or science fiction won't read your book.

This. If it's not set in the real world, agents who don't rep SFF won't touch it, because it's a whole specialist market they know nothing about.

Put your query through QLH, and focus on SFF agents. Simples!

JDM1950 · Mar 19, 2012

Fuzzy Between-Genres

Hi.
I finished a manuscript a few months ago in what I think is the fantasy/adventure genre, suitable for adults (a couple of not-too-descriptive love scenes.) I am wondering, though, if my genre labelling might not be accurate.
My story if of a completely made-up world of mine, basically two rival nations at war, separated by a sea. There are very few high fantasy elements aside from a mysterious fortune-teller scene. There is no magic, no sorcerers or strange creatures. It is just a story of war, adventure, friendship and romance (man/woman). The focus is on my main character who is trying to fulfill a life-long ambition in the midst of the on-going war. (BTW, the technology is pseudo-Roman--swords, spears, boats propelled by wind or rowing, etc.)
I have been contacting agents who accept queries in adventure and SF/fantasy and so far all rejections, mostly the usual "not the genre we are looking for."
Is there a grey area between genres that I am stuck in that I'm not touting correctly in my queries?
I'd appreciate feedback.

Debbie V · Mar 19, 2012

Fantasy is a ton of things. Try increasing your post count so you can post your query here and let the folks figure it out. Best advice I've got.

Little Ming · Mar 19, 2012

As already mentioned in your other thread, it might be that you are classifying your novel in the wrong genre, using too many genres, or there is something else wrong with your query. But without seeing the actual query we can't say for sure. As suggested, get your post count up and post your query in QLH and let the critters take care of it.

Polenth · Mar 19, 2012

This is the same question as your other thread. Asking for feedback is fine... but you do need to read people's answers.

Old Hack · Mar 20, 2012

JDM1950, you've started three threads on this subject.

I've merged them all into this one thread and am now locking this as I think you've had more than your fair share of attention already.

One thread per subject and no more. I hope that's clear. Please don't start any more threads about this. Thanks.

Defining my book as YA or other genre

Never Forget the First Time

Still around

Rewriting My Destiny

Ooo! Shiny new cover!

You can't sit with us!

Never Forget the First Time

Mildly Disturbing

Never Forget the First Time

Never Forget the First Time

They've been very bad, Mr Flibble

Child of Darkness

Mushroom

Fantastic historian

Never Forget the First Time

Mentoring Myself and Others

Mushroom

Such a nasty woman