In the same "spirit" as what the heck is my book....

Starlightmntn · Aug 10, 2005

I am also struggling to categorize my novel. Here is the query letter blurb:

Locals call the area the Hickory Barrens.

There, among the forests and abandoned farmland, three lonely houses stand. When Jason Evans moves with his parents into the Masterson House, his nightmares of being buried and his visions of ghostly apparitions hint at a history of murder and tragedy. Jason meets Cynthia Grey, the great granddaughter of the original Masterson family, and a presence in the house takes notice. When the secrets of the three houses and the generations who lived there are revealed, Jason must face his own role in the cloud of mystery overhanging the Hickory Barrens.

I am currently calling it (yeah, I flip-flopped a few times) a "modern interpretation of the Gothic novel." Essentially, it is a ghost story with some horror elements and strong romance elements. The ending is HEA in a way; however, I'm getting the sense that it doesn't quite fit within paranormal romance. For one thing, the protagonist is male.

Help! I understand that the "horror" genre is on the skids, although lots of books are being published that are truly horror, but being called something different. Is there any life to gothic fiction today?

scfirenice · Aug 10, 2005

Check out agentquery.com, they break down each genre well so you can see where you's best fits. It sounds interesting though. It won't hurt you to label your book however you think, Paranormal thriller, romance, etc. As long as you are not way off, if your query is good, the agent and publisher can decide for themselves how to market the book. It sounds to me like it would fall under horror. The label itself won't sink you.

preyer · Aug 11, 2005

somewhere in that there's a good line for a mad scientist: 'is there any life in creating zombies anymore, or is that whole fad just dead?'

i'm not sure i'd even want to call it gothic unless it truly is. my opinion of 'gothic' as a lable just means 'niche,' which is another way of saying 'low sales,' lol. i've never really thought 'elements of...' made it a new classification. to me, star wars is sci-fi and *not* fantasy, although it does have some fantasy *elements* to it. so, just my uneducated opinion, i'd opt for the label with the broadest appeal, that being just 'horror.' i agree, the publisher will classify it the best way it feels will sell the most books, so i wouldn't even worry about it, to be honest.

as an aside, this vaguely reminds me of a local ghost story. one version of has there's a murderous family of albinos living at the end of a gravel road leading into the woods off one of the main roads here. i think what reminded of it was that when i was a kid, i'd take the back trails through the woods to the place, where there was just the frame of an old house, an abandoned house teens partied in, and the house residents still occupied (the 'albinos'), making it three. somewhere in there was what my older friend claimed was a gallows where they hung cows. now, how silly is that? well, like i said, i *was* a kid.

Starlightmntn · Aug 11, 2005

Thanks for the responses! Scifirenice: I have been using agentquery.com. That's a great site! Unbelievably helpful. My concern that both of you raise is that "horror" doesn't seem that hip among agents. There are a total of 4 pages of agents listing horror, while there are more than twenty pages for thriller and suspense.

Preyer: If "Gothic" is slashing down the market even more than "horror," then using that term is absolutely a mistake. Just as you point out, however, many people have a certain nostalgia concerning local ghost stories. The Hickory Barrens IS that kind of story. If there is gamesmanship today in categorizing novels away from the horror genre, then I want to make sure than I'm in on it also.

MacAllister · Aug 16, 2005

Dark Fantasy is where horror novels are hiding out these days, I think...

Starlightmntn · Aug 19, 2005

McAllister, yes, after looking around, it does seem that "dark fantasy" is the new code. Does anyone have a sense of how dark fantasy is doing in the market generally?

By the way, I've started a blog called the Clarity of Night. It has a Gothic/dark fantasy slant. I think I might drop in some passages from THE HICKORY BARRENS too. Check it out if you're bored.

preyer · Aug 19, 2005

as an aside, you could trim a few words out of your synopsis. such as the very first word, 'there', and either 'ghostly' or 'apparition', which is rather redundant. just a thought. i find it incredibly difficult to condense an entire novel into a paragraph and convey any sense of what it's really about. for me, the best way to imagine the paragraph is to envision some deep-voiced narrator reading it like in a commercial. true, it's another voice in my head, but at least it's pleasant to listen to.

In the same "spirit" as what the heck is my book....

Starlightmntn

scfirenice

professional multitasker

preyer

excessively spartan

Starlightmntn

MacAllister

'Twas but a dream of thee

Starlightmntn

preyer

excessively spartan