Help: Can't Decide on Genre

Status
Not open for further replies.

MelancholyMan

Wear Thick Armor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 23, 2008
Messages
525
Reaction score
89
Location
There's a rumor we're getting close...
Hi all,

I'm just putting the finishing touches (again) on a rewrite and cut of THE SILLA PROJECT. It is a story about a nuclear scientist who gets abducted by North Koreans and is obliged to give them a hand. I have always considered it a thriller but now that I'm getting ready for a major marketing push, I think I might have been wrong.

The story examines the following scenario: Suppose your government takes everything from you, kills your family (in this case, wife), and throws you in prison for something you didn't do - but is made to look as if you did. If you were then busted out of prison by an 'enemy nation' and spirited out of the country, would you feel kidnapped or rescued? Would you help them if they treated you well?

This is a story about a man who loses everything and must then come to terms with who he is, and what is the ultimate nature of truth. The nuclear and military stuff are in fact subplots. The plot is the main character's struggle to reorient himself.

Is that mainstream fiction or thriller? Because it really isn't a thrilling story. It is a deep, often philosophical story that examines cultures and reality and why we do the things we do.

Thanks,
-MM
 

Kalyke

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
1,850
Reaction score
182
Location
New Mexico, USA
I think it could be either. Just because thriller is thriller, doesn't mean it can't be character driven thriller, or well written thriller. I am in a similar situation. I think genre writing should not mean pulp fiction. I see what is being written today and I just gag. I still really don't know the true meaning of "literary" fiction. I always thought "mainstream" was any genre if written as character driven and with a level of excellence that was undeniably better than others. Sometimes it is just less than dependent on a genre. A group of hippies goes to Alaska to start a commune (drop city) type plots. I still think that genre fiction is fiction that follows some publisher tip sheet type thing, like some books on "how to write a mystery" that say "never do this," or "never do that." In literary, I think anything is possible. You can mix all sorts of genres. What makes literature literature might be the style, maybe the voice it is certainly not the plot. I've been studying Norman Mailer since he died (since his books really got me into this writing thing). He sometimes does very obviously CIA/Espionage novels-- like yours-- but his books are about people and relationships. His voice though was the literature-- So now, I am almost sure that it is the specific writer that makes something literary. It is a judgment given by others, not by one's self. Maybe I am wrong.
 

JJ Cooper

.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 28, 2007
Messages
2,511
Reaction score
1,247
Location
On a big Island
If the good guy wins, it sounds like a thriller.

And, Use Her Name:

I see what is being written today and I just gag.

Really? Hopefully you will change your mind before my thriller is released next year. I even managed to write it without any 'how to write' books or publisher tip sheets.

JJ
 

Kalyke

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
1,850
Reaction score
182
Location
New Mexico, USA
If the good guy wins, it sounds like a thriller.

And, Use Her Name:



Really? Hopefully you will change your mind before my thriller is released next year. I even managed to write it without any 'how to write' books or publisher tip sheets.

JJ

I'll make an exception for you. My rule (new rule) is never read anything that has not been selling for at least 2-3 years. The common published book lasts a year to 18 months and then dies an unheralded death. I want to read only books that have some staying power. And-- fads are silly, they come and go. So I'll read your book in 2011 if it is still on the book-stands.
 

Emily Winslow

Do Not Walk on the Grass
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 12, 2007
Messages
634
Reaction score
94
Location
Cambridge, England
Website
www.emilywinslow.com
First of all, gosh your story sounds terrific!

When you say "marketing push," I'm not sure what you mean. Is it about to be published? Isn't your publisher then driving how it will be marketed? Or do you mean you're about to market it to agents, and therefore want to know how to most accurately present it to them?

It sounds to me like you could justify either genre. My advice would be to call it whatever each individual agent likes most.

I queried my novel to different agents as suspense, mystery and literary, depending on the agent.

I'm just putting the finishing touches (again) on a rewrite and cut of THE SILLA PROJECT. It is a story about a nuclear scientist who gets abducted by North Koreans and is obliged to give them a hand. I have always considered it a thriller but now that I'm getting ready for a major marketing push, I think I might have been wrong.

Is that mainstream fiction or thriller? Because it really isn't a thrilling story. It is a deep, often philosophical story that examines cultures and reality and why we do the things we do.
 

dgiharris

Disgruntled Scientist
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 24, 2006
Messages
6,735
Reaction score
1,833
Location
Limbo
UNcle JIm says something to the effect, that your story can be anything it needs to be.
 

libbyjane

Registered
Joined
Jul 27, 2008
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Location
Sydney, Australia
Website
www.themommymafiabook.com
I love the sound of your book! I think it straddles both thriller and contemporary fiction. I'm in similar boat to you that I have a book being published early next year Light Sweet Crude and had years of rejections from big publishers (luckily got a small publisher that loved it) who all said similar thing 'not sure what genre it is' ie couldnt find a box to put it in. some called it crime fiction, others popular fiction so now I just say its satirical fiction that straddles crime...what I'm trying to say is that it is possible to be a bit of both cheers from Libby-Jane
 
Status
Not open for further replies.