Okay, this is killing me. I'm trying to write a query letter for my first novel, and I don't what genre it is. It defies no rules of real-life phyiscs or biology (everyone's human, there is no magic), but I made up the country in which it takes place because I wanted to invent some historical events. It's sort of a pre-industrial version of Europe, kind of. Does this count as fantasy? Or not? The writing would qualify as literary fiction, I think. How would I frame this in a query? Help!
What genre am I?
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Just call it lit fic. Having made up a country and a few historical facts doesn't change the fact that you consider it literary fiction. Go with that and get on down the road. 
The lines are a little blurred lately. In The Puttermesser Papers, Cynthia Ozick has a magical golem and it is still considered literary fiction. Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian was a western, but was classified as lit-fic, and his latest The Road is really sci-fi but classified as lit-fic. If the writing is elaborate and the story leans towards being character driven you could still call it lit-fic. It's not so cut and dry anymore
(I think The Historian was also classified as literary fiction (?))
(I think The Historian was also classified as literary fiction (?))
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genre
Alternate history / Fantasy.
...but this is really one of those “it depends” situations. Of course you can always send it to the publisher you know is most likely to buy it, then let him decide what to call it.
Alternate history / Fantasy.
...but this is really one of those “it depends” situations. Of course you can always send it to the publisher you know is most likely to buy it, then let him decide what to call it.
I thought alternate history fell under speculative fiction. I just finished Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (considered speculative fiction) and it was set in the future, but used California as the setting. She used a lot of aspects of our current history but it's not sci-fi enough to be considered science fiction, and there wasn't any magic or stuff happening on some planet in an alternate universe so it doesn't fit in the fantasy category either.
Gosh dern it, I hate it when things fail to fit in a cute little box!
Gosh dern it, I hate it when things fail to fit in a cute little box!
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Sounds like the same genre as Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner, which seems to count as fantasy from a publishing point of view. Maybe the reason is that your readers will need the same outlook they need for fantasy, since they'll be assembling their knowledge of an imaginary country as they read. Or it could just be that her other books are fantasy.
Anyway, for a query letter all you have to do is call it alternate history and let the agent/publisher decide how to market it.
Anyway, for a query letter all you have to do is call it alternate history and let the agent/publisher decide how to market it.
Literary fiction. I know how you feel. My stuff doesn't really fall into an easy to find category either. But literary fiction sounds like it fits you best. And in the end, your query need only say "my novel".
Okay. Thanks. This helps. I'm trying to think of other books that it's like, and I'm sure that there are plenty, but none are coming to mind; it's not a kind of literature that I usually read, oddly enough. I'm leaning towards literary fiction, though, based on the comments--it's pretty character-driven (although there's a strong plot line), and I feel that my writing style suits that genre best. Moreover, it'll be obvious from the plot summary that it's set in a fictional world. I just wasn't sure whether it would look weird to *not* call it fantasy, if that makes sense.
Thanks again, everyone!
Thanks again, everyone!
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