FITTING INTO THE FICTION GENRES

I have always had difficulty fitting into categories. I like to think of myself as a one-off. However, as a writer, it is necessary to define one’s works in terms of genre in order to sell books. That’s fair enough. People like to read specific types of novel, and that’s what they look for. But what if your novels don’t quite fit in?

Well, you might say I write historical fiction. The Collins Dictionary historical novel definition reads as “a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting located in the past”. Fine. I wrote one of those – it’s called Isobel Brite and set in the world of Victorian Theatre. No problem.

But what about novels set in the present but with historical chapters with multiple timelines? What if you like to write novels where the past and present collide? What if you write in your own separate genre of family history related theme?

Historical multi-timeline? Nope – there is no such genre. Past/present genre? No. Time slip? No, that’s more to do with time travel – and you still won’t find it on Amazon. Historical mystery is a possibility – but will people expect a murder and a detective? They won’t find them in my stories.

It is extremely frustrating trying to fit yourself into a genre that will get to your target audience. It’s like trying on a jacket that’s just a little tight round the shoulders. But, on the other hand, if there are too many sub-genres, it gets mightily confusing. I am suddenly reminded of Polonius’ attempt to define the genres of theatre in Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “the best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral, scene individual, or poem unlimited.” Well, at least it seems the problem is not a modern one.

If Kate Morton and Rachel Hore can do it, so can I!

Yet, I know there are other writers out there who do a similar thing to me – and I know there is an audience for them. If Kate Morton and Rachel Hore can do it, so can I!

In the format of Polonius, then, how would I define my books? Well, let’s say, ‘General-historical-mystery-multi-timeline-metaphysical’. Or, historical multi-timeline novels with a fantasy or metaphysical element. Or quirky women’s fiction with historical bits.

I give up. I can’t see these genres of books working on Amazon.

In theory, there are probably hundreds of different genres of books you could come up with, and it could get so long that it then defies the point of having fiction genres in the first places. I suppose those of us who write beyond the boundaries of genre ‘norms’ have to do what we can, and hope that we get listed in the ‘also read’s.