Genres, Subgenres

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Southern Girl

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Hi everyone,

I lurk around here fairly often - great stuff on this board!

Unfortunately, I need to bug all of you about this genre topic. Instead of telling my entire book's story, I'll sum it up like this: My novel most closely resembles the story in the movie "Ghost", if I had to find an example. Obviously, it's not exactly like "Ghost" - in fact, I never even considered it until I was done with the book and my husband asked what I ended up with. His response? "Oh, it's like Ghost and the Six Sense, all tied up in one."

Major duh moment for me. I never even thought about it, I just told my story.

I have strong romantic themes between my characters. Very strong. But it's ultimately a ghost story, involving two clairaudient/voyant VIP characters, and there's this love story that has ended on the earthly realm, but continues when my MC is a ghost. He loves his wife actively, and she loves him back though she knows he is dead and they're no longer "together". (A lot like Ghost - she doesn't know he's there, he's always around)

She later finds love with a living man; they have a HEA once the conflicts are resolved. My MC decides his HEA is with his daughter, also deceased, waiting in Heaven, once the conflicts are resolved.

I billed my book as a "paranormal romance" (see below - and I know about the word count; currently addressing it), but another AW member pointed out that HEA doesn't count between a parent and child. I'm fine with that, I just can't decide what genre the book is - how to classify it.

Any ideas? I did read the stickies on genres, but I'm still not seeing my genre clearly.


Thanks in advance,
 

lwalker

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As long as we're asking, I'm in the same boat. Mine has a strong element of a love story WITH a HEA, but from the feedback I've seen I think it might be more mystery than suspense. Is there such a thing as mystery/romance?
 

jodiodi

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Yes, there are romances with mystery and paranormal romances. Sorry, I don't have any links. Good luck.
 

Cathy C

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There's nothing at all wrong with simply billing it as "paranormal fiction." There's plenty of novels in the general fiction section with both a paranormal touch and a romance subplot.

And it's subplots we're really talking about here---for both of you. Does a subplot (whether romance, or suspense or paranormal) create a genre? There's no simple answer to that, but the same theory for determining genre applies:

"If you can remove the plot element and have the story stand, it doesn't create a genre."

For your story, Southern Girl, the answer is no. It's not a romance, but yes, it's paranormal. Let's go through the steps:

1. The characters are clairvoyant. If you remove that, could the story stand? No.

2. There are ghosts involved that define the plot. If you remove the ghosts, could the story stand? No.

3. There is love between two parties involved in the plot. If you remove that could the story stand? You might be surprised, but the answer is Yes. Because while the child's ghost is important, does it matter that it's the character's daughter? Probably not. He could get equally attached to someone else's child owing to the circumstance.

4. Could the husband's ghost be removed and have the story stand? That's more of a maybe, because it sounds like much of the plot revolves around the husband/wife bond. But it's ultimately a subplot because it wouldn't change much of the story to have it be a next door neighbor who secretly loved the woman and it was a one-sided love story (more pathos than romance).

Does that help?

As for your story, lwalker, sure. There are paranormal mysteries with romance subplots. In fact, MANY cozy mysteries have some form of romance involved. Berkely Prime Crime puts out a variety of paranormal mysteries (Yasmine Galenorn's Chinz and China series is one I remember.) So, without an HEA, you might do better to bill it as a paranormal mystery with romantic elements and see what agents say about it. If the agents read the full and tell you there's too much romance for the mystery shelves, then you'll have to make the choice of which you want. Lessen the romance for the mystery shelves, or bump it up for the light paranormal romance shelves. Or, who knows, maybe an editor will fall in love with it enough to make it its own genre. That's happened more than once. ;)

Does that help?
 
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lwalker

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Thanks Cathy! Mine actually isn't a paranormal. I queried the first time as mystery/suspense, and then I thought maybe it would fit as romantic suspense, but the feedback I'm seeing here all suggests that RS readers want a MC in peril pretty early in the story. My MC gets herself into plenty of trouble, but it comes later in the book, after she's figured out enough of the mystery for people to want to shut her up. The summary in my query does touch on the love story, so I guess I'll stick with mystery for the next round and see what I come up with.
 

Cathy C

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Thanks Cathy! Mine actually isn't a paranormal. I queried the first time as mystery/suspense, and then I thought maybe it would fit as romantic suspense, but the feedback I'm seeing here all suggests that RS readers want a MC in peril pretty early in the story. My MC gets herself into plenty of trouble, but it comes later in the book, after she's figured out enough of the mystery for people to want to shut her up. The summary in my query does touch on the love story, so I guess I'll stick with mystery for the next round and see what I come up with.

Sorry, thought yours was paranormal as well. In this case, yes, stick with a mystery label. Even if there's an HEA, if the mystery is the primary plotline, that's the best place for it. :)
 

lwalker

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Sorry, thought yours was paranormal as well. In this case, yes, stick with a mystery label. Even if there's an HEA, if the mystery is the primary plotline, that's the best place for it. :)
Thank you!!!
 
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