So I received some feedback on my genre and I honestly am BEYOND confused. So before we get into it let me introduce myself.
Hi, I am Selene! I like to write stuff. Mostly smutty stuff, but there is always a really badass female MC and a guy who is the stuff of our book boyfriend dreams. I have two works in progress but this post pertains to my serial that I am hoping to start releasing. (Also will be looking for beta readers!) So this serial is going to have a MC who is both Fae and werewolf.
Now for me, this sounds badass and cool. But apparently, I have two conflicting genres. Fae are fantasy and wolves/shifters are paranormal. So this is two separate types of readers. Marketing apparently will not be easy. But I have to say that since I began my writing journey nothing has annoyed me more than trying to understand the conflicting definitions of just about everything.
So I looked up the definition of paranormal.
Designating supposed psychical events and phenomena such as clairvoyance or telekinesis whose operation is outside the scope of the known laws of nature or of normal scientific understanding; of or relating to such phenomena.
Oxford Dictionary
Here is another definition I found.
not scientifically explainable : SUPERNATURAL
Merriam Webster
So the question is…Are Fae fantasy or can they be Paranormal?
I am not going to lie, I do not have a whole lot of knowledge in these things. I honestly couldn’t tell you what genre a book is without looking at the description on the website I bought it from. But as a reader I look for is this going to include creatures that cannot exist in the real world. Yes. Sold.
Is it a book about Vampires in Boston that worship their women like the Goddesses we they are? How quickly can I download this? If you don’t know check it out Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward.
So a writer friend told me that mine is genre-bending. But I also know in True Blood, (sorry I didn’t read the books) there were so many different things how can my serial not be marketable?
So based on my story, she said it sounded like Urban Fantasy. After some looking into it fit. And even more, I did some more Googling and found this:
Subgenres that generally fall into the paranormal fiction category include paranormal romance, urban fantasy, fantasy romance novels, and paranormal fantasy
Masterclass
And when I also asked the Google machine about Fae so many places say that Fae are supernatural creatures.
So I am curious what are your thoughts!? Is a Fairy a fantasy creature or paranormal? To me it is a creature that belongs in any story that involves things that do not exist in this stupid reality we must live in and can’t be explained by science.
Let me know in the comments your thoughts! Maybe it is me…
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