genre pickle

[Rhush]

Hi everyone. This may seem to be a stupid question, but it has perplexed me for quite a while now. Ive written a novel about Amazons. It seems to me to be more of a historical adventure than a fantasy, but Im not certain. There is no "an elf, a dragon, and a wizard walks into a bar" theme, if you know what I mean, but it does have certain elements of magic as far as a dark oracle and a child oracle. Other than that its pretty much just Amazons in an ancient time period. Can anyone help me out here?8o

[ElizabethJames]

Can't help, but we're having the same problem. The 'please be our agent' person we're courting said our manuscript straddles genres. 'A literary work with commercial potential.'

We understand such straddling to be undesirable.

[Rhush]

Thanks for your help! Oh geez, undesirable...thats not good. :rolleyes Hmmmm. Anyone else have a clue?

[ElizabethJames]

deleted

[James D Macdonald]

You don't need an elf, dragon, or wizard for a work to be fantasy.

You don't even need magic for a work to be fantasy (see, for example, Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner).

Nor is there any problem with straddling genres. (The words "commercial potential" are music and the sound of silver bells.)



Write the best book you can. Then let the publisher's marketing department figure out what category to put it in. (If you don't write the best book you can, what label you put in the cover letter won't matter.)

[Writing Again]

You don't need an elf, dragon, or wizard for a work to be fantasy.

I swear you guys are tempting me to write a satire -- I swore I would not write satire any more..

[katdad]

I'd tend to call this a fantasy or maybe historic fantasy.

But don't worry too much. Your logline will explain it and that will be sufficient.

[HConn]

Rhush, it's fantasy.

[veingloree]

It seems to me that amazons were fantasy in Greek myth and fantasy now?