SF subgenre

P.K. Torrens · Dec 3, 2017

Hi team,

I've got a wee question I'm hoping someone can answer.

I've noticed that SF is now broadly divided into very few subgenres.
For example, the subgenre categories for this December's #SFFPit are:
#AF – apocalypse fiction
#LSF – literary science fiction
#ML – military science fiction
#PA – post-apocalyptic SF
#SFR – sci-fi romance
#SFT – sci-fi thriller
#SH – superhero / superhuman (is this even SF?)
#SO – space opera
#DS – dystopian
#SP – steampunk
#TT – time travel
#WW – weird west (is this even SF?)

Where would a good ol' SF mystery or adventure fit in?
e.g. Emma Newman's Planetfall (essentially a SF mystery story)
or Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time (essentially a first contact adventure story)

Do you just lump them under thriller even though they aren't technically a thriller?

Thank you for your time :e2beat:

lizmonster · Dec 4, 2017

I'd argue there's a missing category: plain old SF. But if this is what you have to go with, I'd suggest space opera or SF thriller.

(I'd also argue that SFR is a subgenre of romance, not SF, but it's not my hash tag.

)

P.K. Torrens · Dec 4, 2017

lizmonster said:
I'd argue there's a missing category: plain old SF. But if this is what you have to go with, I'd suggest space opera or SF thriller.

(I'd also argue that SFR is a subgenre of romance, not SF, but it's not my hash tag. )

Thanks Liz. Do you think SF mystery/adventure novels should be named SF with no subgenre?

lizmonster · Dec 4, 2017

P.K. Torrens said:
Thanks Liz. Do you think SF mystery/adventure noves are really just plain SF?

I suppose that's what I'd call them (although I haven't read either of your examples). Space opera suggests something large and sweeping to me (like Leviathan Wakes and its sequels), but marketing can be really fuzzy for all of these subcategories.

shortstorymachinist · Dec 4, 2017

As far as I can tell, the only benefit of breaking your story down into smaller sub-genres is to help agents and editors understand what to expect from your manuscript. With that in mind, if your story doesn't fit into any established sub-genres, it might be detrimental to force it into one. I'd just call it SF and leave it at that. If an agent wants to label it something more specific, they can.

ETA: Obviously, once you've sold, there are also advantages to being squarely in whatever sub-genre is currently hot. But that's putting the cart before the horse.

Also, I thought Children of Time was closer to space opera than thriller or adventure, with shades of literary SF. I mean, the scope of the story is huuuuge, and weird, and there was a lot of talk about what it meant to be human, or a person. I loved that book.

lizmonster · Dec 4, 2017

shortstorymachinist said:
With that in mind, if your story doesn't fit into any established sub-genres, it might be detrimental to force it into one.

Very true. Although I'd argue that it's absolutely critical to nail your subgenre before you publish, maybe even before you query. If you're not sure what it is, read a lot and find your comps. (Was Planetfall marketed as space opera? I'm guessing if they tagged it with a subgenre, it might have been literary.)

amergina · Dec 4, 2017

shortstorymachinist said:
As far as I can tell, the only benefit of breaking your story down into smaller sub-genres is to help agents and editors understand what to expect from your manuscript. With that in mind, if your story doesn't fit into any established sub-genres, it might be detrimental to force it into one. I'd just call it SF and leave it at that. If an agent wants to label it something more specific, they can.

This, basically. The subgenres for something like a twitter pitch contest are really there as a shorthand for agents, since there's not a lot you can cram into (now) 240 characters. For something like a query letter, I'd label it as widely as possible and let the query tell the subgenre.

indianroads · Dec 4, 2017

lizmonster said:
I'd argue there's a missing category: plain old SF. But if this is what you have to go with, I'd suggest space opera or SF thriller.

(I'd also argue that SFR is a subgenre of romance, not SF, but it's not my hash tag. )

SciFi seems to be all over the place - maybe these genres were added to work with search engines? I noticed that "Hard SciFi" is a thing on Amazon now...

zanzjan · Dec 4, 2017

shortstorymachinist said:
As far as I can tell, the only benefit of breaking your story down into smaller sub-genres is to help agents and editors understand what to expect from your manuscript. With that in mind, if your story doesn't fit into any established sub-genres, it might be detrimental to force it into one. I'd just call it SF and leave it at that. If an agent wants to label it something more specific, they can.

amergina said:
This, basically. The subgenres for something like a twitter pitch contest are really there as a shorthand for agents, since there's not a lot you can cram into (now) 240 characters. For something like a query letter, I'd label it as widely as possible and let the query tell the subgenre.

I heartily agree with both of these statements.

shortstorymachinist said:
ETA: Obviously, once you've sold, there are also advantages to being squarely in whatever sub-genre is currently hot. But that's putting the cart before the horse.

Worse, it's putting the cart where you're hoping the horse will be maybe two, three years down the line.

lizmonster · Dec 4, 2017

indianroads said:
SciFi seems to be all over the place - maybe these genres were added to work with search engines? I noticed that "Hard SciFi" is a thing on Amazon now...

Subgeneres in SF have always provoked...lively...conversation.

Hard SF isn't a new subgenre, but you still get people arguing over what it means. (Spouse insists I don't write hard SF purely because I have FTL travel, which - based on current knowledge - is impossible.)

I do think Amazon has exacerbated the problem. If you've written an SF steampunk medieval thriller with dinosaurs, you may end up the #1 seller in the Science Fiction->Steampunk->Medieval->Paleontology category, and then you can legit tell people you've got an Amazon bestseller. There does come a point where it becomes too many notes.

SF subgenre

P.K. Torrens

Saving up for a typewriter

lizmonster

Possibly A Mermaid Queen

P.K. Torrens

Saving up for a typewriter

lizmonster

Possibly A Mermaid Queen

shortstorymachinist

The score is still Q to 12!

lizmonster

Possibly A Mermaid Queen

amergina

Pittsburgh Strong

indianroads

Wherever I go, there I am.

zanzjan

killin' all teh werds

lizmonster

Possibly A Mermaid Queen