My WP started out like some sort of romantic drama comedy. Then became some sort of science fiction story. Even though the setting is quite contemporary and there's no science or magic in it. The imaginary world of the MC's can be described as science-fictiony, which is where about half of the story is set. My goal with the book is to shift the readers perception in novel ways (what book isn't?) but I'm trying to think way out of the box. It's on the fringes of meta-physics. The setting is the most generic middle-class life imaginable. I mean that quite literally. This is an important feature of the story and I've gone to great lengths to check the statistics.
I haven't really had a genre in mind. When I started, I just had this whacky idea, wrote a first chapter, and then my proofreaders applauded and started salivating for more.... so I just kept going.... and going...and going. It swelled into, now 120 000 words. I'm reaching the end. But I have no idea what my genre is. So far I haven't really cared. I've gone for whatever works, works and then just done it.
Here's my question.
Is this approach stupid? Should I have had a genre in mind all along? When I try to find a publisher for this, what do I tell them? Should I try to make it fit into a genre? And I'm trying to make money from this. I'm not trying to win prizes for the cleverest unknown novel of the year. I'm quite comfortable with measuring success in money and/or sales.
I haven't really had a genre in mind. When I started, I just had this whacky idea, wrote a first chapter, and then my proofreaders applauded and started salivating for more.... so I just kept going.... and going...and going. It swelled into, now 120 000 words. I'm reaching the end. But I have no idea what my genre is. So far I haven't really cared. I've gone for whatever works, works and then just done it.
Here's my question.
Is this approach stupid? Should I have had a genre in mind all along? When I try to find a publisher for this, what do I tell them? Should I try to make it fit into a genre? And I'm trying to make money from this. I'm not trying to win prizes for the cleverest unknown novel of the year. I'm quite comfortable with measuring success in money and/or sales.