Yes, she goes back 'home' at night - no need to travel - her soul automatically goes there.
Urban Fantasy
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Yes, she goes back 'home' at night - no need to travel - her soul automatically goes there.
Sounds more like a cross between contemporary fantasy (her soul leaving her body to travel and have adventures) and science fiction (the other planets).
I think then it is probably best to pitch it as fantasy. The Earth part is quite important in the novel too - it has it's own defined story, she has a lot of trials she has to get through on Earth.
By the way, I read the first chapter of your book that is coming out - and I really loved it
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I was waiting for someone else to reply first since I wasn't sure if that was urban fantasy or not, but it sounds almost Burroughsian, the whole traveling to another planet. They call that sword and planet or possibly, in your case a planetary romance?
Burroughsian - now I'm cringing in fear - I never knew there was such a thing! But yes there is a romance involved. So what would you call it in your query letter?
Leave romance out of the description, unless it follows all the many conventions of the romance genre (and if you set out to write a sci-fi/fantasy sort of a thing, I'm guessing it doesn't). Having a romance in the story is different from it being a romance novel
Leave romance out of the description, unless it follows all the many conventions of the romance genre (and if you set out to write a sci-fi/fantasy sort of a thing, I'm guessing it doesn't). Having a romance in the story is different from it being a romance novel
Yes I definitely would not put it in the romance category, as it certainly wouldn’t be a winner, as it doesn’t follow the romance ‘formula’.
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When I was struggling over what genre to "call" my novel..which, btw, is not even completed yet, so number one, I shouldn't be worried about that BUT...my mentor Diana Rowland (author of Mark of the Demon, go buy it today..hee hee) said to STOP worrying about it!! When the time comes to shop it, you can shop it to different people as different things..if someone buys UF, it's a UF. If someone is looking for Sci Fi, it's a sci fi. Easy, right?! LOL. It made me relax and stop worrying about it at least!!
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elric_of_Melniboné
Probability suggests there's probably a female lead out there that does it well and I just haven't read it.
A few. As a genre, it isn't exactly introspective.
Yeah I think that sounds like a good idea, now I just have to find a list of good agents. Gosh being a first time writer is really nail biting at best!
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Ok ok it's an author - I thought it was another sub-genre of fantasy.
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Try agentquery.com or try and find out who represents your favourite authors. (ie Joshua Bilmes agency represents Charlaine Harris..just sayin, lol)
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For the same reason that after you watch say, Transformers, a minimally introspective film like Fight Club is rather more interesting.
Escapism does not have to mean simplicity.
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And back to Urban Fantasy....
I'm reading Patricia Brigg's Cry Wolf, the first in her Alpha and Omega series. It's been so long since I read her first Mercy book...but there is some overlapping of characters here.. For anyone who's read both series, is the main character of this one, Anna, in the first Mercy Book? (or any of the Mercy books?) Just curious.
I'm reading Patricia Brigg's Cry Wolf, the first in her Alpha and Omega series. It's been so long since I read her first Mercy book...but there is some overlapping of characters here.. For anyone who's read both series, is the main character of this one, Anna, in the first Mercy Book? (or any of the Mercy books?) Just curious.
Anna isn't, she comes from a short story in an anthology called On The Prowl. Charles & his family are the overlapping ones from the Mercy books.
Just wanted to chime in and say I love those characters, especially Charles. I've enjoyed Anna's story more than Mercy's--though, I enjoy both.
I had a friend who had difficulty getting into Cry Wolf, and when I told her she'd missed a novella setting up who Anna is and where she came from, she thought that was probably it. If you can get a copy of On the Prowl, definitely get it and read the novella.
I love the Alpha & Omega series, and I'm sad there won't be a new book in that series next year.
I love the Alpha & Omega series, and I'm sad there won't be a new book in that series next year.
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THANKS you guys! (gals) That does make sense that Charles/Bran etc are overlapping, I just couldn't figure out if Anna was and I'd missed something in the other series.
I'm also liking Anna's story better, I'm not sure why...I'm going to read the second Mercy book after I'm done this one. Maybe I'll have an explanation then.
I will take a look for the short story, I actually REALLY like it when a book totally THROWS you in mid-story, like this book does. You get the feeling like you could've missed the first book (a couple times I went back to inside the cover to see if I had the first book in the series!!) because there is so much hint to background...but that's what I like! A writer who makes their characters so alive that they "existed" before you started reading..and I love it when everything isn't dumped on you at once, when you have to piece the details together yourself. But that's just me!!
I'm also liking Anna's story better, I'm not sure why...I'm going to read the second Mercy book after I'm done this one. Maybe I'll have an explanation then.
I will take a look for the short story, I actually REALLY like it when a book totally THROWS you in mid-story, like this book does. You get the feeling like you could've missed the first book (a couple times I went back to inside the cover to see if I had the first book in the series!!) because there is so much hint to background...but that's what I like! A writer who makes their characters so alive that they "existed" before you started reading..and I love it when everything isn't dumped on you at once, when you have to piece the details together yourself. But that's just me!!
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Just found this through twitter, since we were talking about agents earlier, and I suggested checking out who your favourite authors were with...here's good advice:
Three Ways to Identify The Literary Agent of Any Book
Three Ways to Identify The Literary Agent of Any Book
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Interesting. Earlier in this thread, I believe, we had a discussion how it seems most Urban Fantasy is female MCs and several tried to point out there were male MCs (written by Jim Butcher and Mario Acevedo, for starts). So I was fine that's I'd be three.
Now I read this on an agent's blog: However, it's become increasingly difficult to sell any genre fiction from a male protagonist's perspective, unless he's really hot. But even if he's a really hot teen vampire, it's better to tell the story from a female point of view. If you have a male character, I'd almost suggest that you change the gender of your main character to sell a novel in this climate.
And then I queried her with my male MC.
Now I read this on an agent's blog: However, it's become increasingly difficult to sell any genre fiction from a male protagonist's perspective, unless he's really hot. But even if he's a really hot teen vampire, it's better to tell the story from a female point of view. If you have a male character, I'd almost suggest that you change the gender of your main character to sell a novel in this climate.
And then I queried her with my male MC.
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