One of the issues facing those who would wish to be published is to classify the genre in which they write.

This is a problem, not when we are certain what genre we write in, but when the work seems to cross over several genres.

Agents and Publishers love to categorise, don't they? And it can be particularly annoying if an agent puts something into the wrong category, and then does not consider the work giving that as their reason.

So how do we make sure we label it correctly?

For instance does everyone know the difference between a 'Romantic Thriller' and a 'Mystery Romance?' Any thoughts?


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and for example does a 'Mystery' always denote a crime? I would say not, but would others?

To kick this off I will start with one definition of a 'Thriller' I have copied off a website...(I hope they don't mind)

If we can agree the basics first, we can then develop the mixed genre definitions

Thriller
'A story that starts with a serious problem, a protagonist (our hero/heroine) who tries to solve the problem only to find that it gets worse and worse and worse. The plot rises to a dramatic confrontation with the antagonist (bad guy), usually on the bad guy’s territory, and ends with a short denouement (wrapup).'

Andrew, I’ll have to think about this and get back to you tomorrow. Paying For The Gallery could easily fall into this definition of a thriller, despite the fact that it’s a romance. On first thoughts, this definition could apply to all sorts of genres… so what defines them?

More later – I hope!

Dee.

Thanks Dee - I was interested because one agent/publisher decided to define the Icera Stone as a 'Fantasy' and then said they don't do Fantasy. (The market was flooded following Harry Potter and Pullman etc.)

If the reader knows what they are reading it does help, because they won't be expecting people to be walking through walls if they know it isn't a Fantasy.

If it is a Romance then one can guarantee the readership will be female and one loses male readers, so I am steering clear of calling it Romance.

Thriller - I hope it is thrilling but I won't call it that. Because there are no dead bodies littering the pages.

Agents and publishers please note - The Icera Stone is a Modern Day Pagan Mystery

This is like trying to pick up mercury, Andrew. I’ve been trawling through some of my reference books and found very little consistency on what defines a genre.

I did, however, read in one of them (The Writer’s Digest Handbook of Novel Writing) that Stephen King, Dean Koontz and Stephen Donaldson – among others - began their careers writing what is known in America (it’s an American book) as drugstore fiction but have transcended the genre so their work is now called simply fiction. They have, it says, played with the mix and stretched the boundaries.

So where does that leave us? We’re all, I think, trying to stretch the boundaries so are we wrong to try to slot our work into a genre? Does classifying your work in any genre immediately define it as ‘down-market fiction’?

But… if we defy genre, we’re still at square one. How do we describe it to an agent? Your definition of The Icera Stone sounds fine to me but would an agent automatically be able to recognise that as a genre they handle?

I think I need more coffee!

Dee

My initial thought is that it is not classification of genre that is required, but instead, further clarity from publishers and agents as to the type of work they are looking for.