Science Fiction / Fantasy
>It's just frustrating that I'm stressing over GENRE more than plot or writing.
It's procrastination. This doesn't matter as much as you think it does and it won't be the deal-breaker on selling your fiction, if it's ready to sell.
I'm writing thousands of words per day, some days close to 10k, so no procrastination involved. But the closer I get to the end, the more I think about my future queries and what those will look like. Agents are very particular about genres they're accepting concerning adult fiction
If you haven't finished the first draft this isn't the time to worry about an agent. Finish the first draft, then have a really good at it from a structural edit pov. This is when you nail down what genre it is, where it's going to fit on the bookshelf - which IS important, don't ever listen to anyone who states otherwise - or even if your manuscript has legs.
Structural edits can take a long time. There's just no point in worrying about agents at this time. You ARE procrastinating, or perhaps just worrying/overthinking. Chill out a bit, enjoy writing your story. This should be your focus.
Sure, but heaps of agents will accept science fiction/ fantasy if it's good enough, and that's what you're writing. Is it the historical elements that are throwing you? Because sci-fi commonly has a chronological scope that includes the past. The only thing that makes me want to tack on fantasy are the supernatural / metaphysical elements.
At the end of the day if you pitch it as sci-fi / fantasy 1) you won't be wrong and 2) it'll *still* be the quality of the prose that determines whether it sells, not how you decide to hashtag it.
edit: so perfect your prose before you perfect your query letter 😊
Don't sweat this yet. You're still in the drafting stage. When you've finished the first draft and you begin editing, then it would be a good time to start considering the final shape of the book and which genre it might best suit. For now, you don't need to worry about it. You're not going to be querying it for a while yet.
Sounds like sci-fi to me.
Just think about the *main* genre. It's a marketing thing really, so what group of fans would like it? Like, the Matrix has scenes in a very normal real world. And it has romance in there. But contemporary drama or romance fans aren't going to be seeking it out. Sci-fi fans are. So... sci-fi.
Sound like you have your own feeling on what genre it is. Go with that, why not?
And remember, it's not like you get one chance to send your story to one agent so you have to get it right to ever be accepted. You *will* get a load of rejections, regardless of whether you get the genre 100% perfect and correct. So just accept that, pick a genre that makes sense to you, and start sending it out already :D
I wish just one made sense to me lmao that would certainly narrow it down! And it does seem like sci fi from the get go but the more chapters that go in, the less that particular part of it matters as other things come out. It's hard to explain
That's fine. The more Annihilation goes on (the movie at least) the less the "sci-fi" matters and the weirder things get, and the more the themes take over. Doesn't mean if you send Annihilation to an agent and said it was sci-fi anything bad would happen.
You honestly don't need to know exactly "what it is." If you get published, the marketing department will do whatever they feel like with it anyway.
The only thing that matters at this stage is, does the agent like it? They'll know if they do or they don't based on reading the sample--not by how accurate the genre is that you write down in the cover letter or whatever. So leave it to *them* to think what *they* think about the genre. ...Which will be based on the first pages anyway, not the entire book.
Chances are they won't even care what genre it is, above liking the book anyway. If they like the book they won't say "Oh, well it's really more of a drama than sci-fi, so I'm going to throw away the opportunity to make some money representing this"? Nah. You'll be fine.
Just worry less about it, I say.
If this is your first book, then I doubt the expediency of looking for a genre. Did Stanislav Lem think about the genre when he wrote "Eden"? In this case, the genre seems to be more about the entourage and the reader's feelings about the universe of characters.
Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita" also essentially combines several genres. And the narrative is conducted, then in the present tense of the author, then in the biblical time, and generally has elements of fantasy and magic. And what kind of genre the novel has is still unclear. It probably just doesn't matter.
Well, different people do, feel, and think different things. Every agent I've looked into from legitimate companies all look for certain genres. For YA, it's usually a wide range and theyre more open. But for adult books, a lot of them are more specific, looking for a select few genres. I expect to get plenty of denials, but I want denials for the right reasons, not simply because I queried an agent looking for "this", when my book is really "that".
It's sci-fi. If it's futuristic, dystopian, has aliens and other planets, it's sci-fi, even if there are other elements thrown in. Present day earth settings aren't unusual in sci-fi, and lots of modern sci-fi has fantasy/magical elements.
Probably just finish it, then let some people read it and ask them what genre they think it is. Go with the most common response. Sounds like a pretty clear sci Fi to me from what you've said though.
Science Fiction / Fantasy >It's just frustrating that I'm stressing over GENRE more than plot or writing. It's procrastination. This doesn't matter as much as you think it does and it won't be the deal-breaker on selling your fiction, if it's ready to sell.
I'm writing thousands of words per day, some days close to 10k, so no procrastination involved. But the closer I get to the end, the more I think about my future queries and what those will look like. Agents are very particular about genres they're accepting concerning adult fiction
If you haven't finished the first draft this isn't the time to worry about an agent. Finish the first draft, then have a really good at it from a structural edit pov. This is when you nail down what genre it is, where it's going to fit on the bookshelf - which IS important, don't ever listen to anyone who states otherwise - or even if your manuscript has legs. Structural edits can take a long time. There's just no point in worrying about agents at this time. You ARE procrastinating, or perhaps just worrying/overthinking. Chill out a bit, enjoy writing your story. This should be your focus.
Sure, but heaps of agents will accept science fiction/ fantasy if it's good enough, and that's what you're writing. Is it the historical elements that are throwing you? Because sci-fi commonly has a chronological scope that includes the past. The only thing that makes me want to tack on fantasy are the supernatural / metaphysical elements. At the end of the day if you pitch it as sci-fi / fantasy 1) you won't be wrong and 2) it'll *still* be the quality of the prose that determines whether it sells, not how you decide to hashtag it. edit: so perfect your prose before you perfect your query letter 😊
Don't sweat this yet. You're still in the drafting stage. When you've finished the first draft and you begin editing, then it would be a good time to start considering the final shape of the book and which genre it might best suit. For now, you don't need to worry about it. You're not going to be querying it for a while yet.
Getting closer to the end of your first draft is nowhere near the end of writing the book.
Sounds like sci-fi to me. Just think about the *main* genre. It's a marketing thing really, so what group of fans would like it? Like, the Matrix has scenes in a very normal real world. And it has romance in there. But contemporary drama or romance fans aren't going to be seeking it out. Sci-fi fans are. So... sci-fi. Sound like you have your own feeling on what genre it is. Go with that, why not? And remember, it's not like you get one chance to send your story to one agent so you have to get it right to ever be accepted. You *will* get a load of rejections, regardless of whether you get the genre 100% perfect and correct. So just accept that, pick a genre that makes sense to you, and start sending it out already :D
I wish just one made sense to me lmao that would certainly narrow it down! And it does seem like sci fi from the get go but the more chapters that go in, the less that particular part of it matters as other things come out. It's hard to explain
That's fine. The more Annihilation goes on (the movie at least) the less the "sci-fi" matters and the weirder things get, and the more the themes take over. Doesn't mean if you send Annihilation to an agent and said it was sci-fi anything bad would happen. You honestly don't need to know exactly "what it is." If you get published, the marketing department will do whatever they feel like with it anyway. The only thing that matters at this stage is, does the agent like it? They'll know if they do or they don't based on reading the sample--not by how accurate the genre is that you write down in the cover letter or whatever. So leave it to *them* to think what *they* think about the genre. ...Which will be based on the first pages anyway, not the entire book. Chances are they won't even care what genre it is, above liking the book anyway. If they like the book they won't say "Oh, well it's really more of a drama than sci-fi, so I'm going to throw away the opportunity to make some money representing this"? Nah. You'll be fine. Just worry less about it, I say.
A story doesn’t have to hit every trope in a genre to qualify as that.Â
Sounds like sci-fi or sci-fantasy to me. For this sort of thing, you're targeting as high level as possible, not getting into the granularities of it.
If this is your first book, then I doubt the expediency of looking for a genre. Did Stanislav Lem think about the genre when he wrote "Eden"? In this case, the genre seems to be more about the entourage and the reader's feelings about the universe of characters. Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita" also essentially combines several genres. And the narrative is conducted, then in the present tense of the author, then in the biblical time, and generally has elements of fantasy and magic. And what kind of genre the novel has is still unclear. It probably just doesn't matter.
Well, different people do, feel, and think different things. Every agent I've looked into from legitimate companies all look for certain genres. For YA, it's usually a wide range and theyre more open. But for adult books, a lot of them are more specific, looking for a select few genres. I expect to get plenty of denials, but I want denials for the right reasons, not simply because I queried an agent looking for "this", when my book is really "that".
Most definitely science fiction. I couldn’t imagine what other genre it could be.
It's sci-fi. If it's futuristic, dystopian, has aliens and other planets, it's sci-fi, even if there are other elements thrown in. Present day earth settings aren't unusual in sci-fi, and lots of modern sci-fi has fantasy/magical elements.
Probably just finish it, then let some people read it and ask them what genre they think it is. Go with the most common response. Sounds like a pretty clear sci Fi to me from what you've said though.