Hello my lovelies! So I decided to make a few changes to my blog this year. You may have already seen the Monster Monday posts. Now on Wednesdays I will try to have posts related to writing.
So I decided to start out with a subject that I’ve been asked about many times. What genre is my Paranormal/Fantasy/Sci-fi book supposed to be in? Where is the list of classifications? Where do we draw the line when it comes to gore, sex, cyber mechanics? Where do I fit?
With the birth of so many different genres and the explosion of self publishing, it can be difficult to find the right shelf to tuck your book onto. Especially when you look at the categories on Smashwords or Amazon or BN and you think, “I could go in ten of those!”
When writing Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Fantasy Romance, Sci-fi and other types of speculative fiction, it is sometimes hard to know where to place the book. When I wrote Dead Awakenings I felt the same way, was it Urban fantasy or was it Paranormal Romance? And as I continued with Reign of the Vampires and then the Fairelle and Otherworlder series I wanted to know where my books fit.
Readers do not always know which genre a book falls in, but there are several telltale signs that help them know whether a book is in a genre that they prefer, or if it isn’t. So for the next several weeks I will be posting the differences between different Paranormal Genres to help writers and readers know what to look for.
So for those of us who wonder where to put our “Biomechanical Princess trying to rule the Elf Kingdom while defeating the Ghost haunting her castle and marrying the Werewolf, all while going to school in downtown NYC”, this is a little bit of information to help you out.
So let me start with the two hardest and closest genres out there: Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy.
Paranormal Romance – Paranormal Romance starts out being defined by the romantic element. To be a PR, you must have a Happily Ever After or Happily For Now. Those are two things that romance requires.
In a PR series, you find that each book is about a different hero and heroine.
Lastly, PR books are books where the romance is the main plot and of focus of the book and other plots are subsequent to it. Ask yourself this question: If I took away the love interest in this book, would it stand on its own? If your answer is “No”, then it’s PR. If it’s “Yes”, then maybe look at a different genre.
Paranormal romance is also usually associated with, Werewolves, Vampires, Shifters, Ghosts, Fae, and other humanoid characters. That isn’t to say that dragon shifters or mages aren’t PR, they can be, if they are set on Earth.
Paranormal Romance’s are usually set in present time, however they can be futuristic or historical. Paranormal Romance can encompass Dystopian elements, like my novel Reign of the Vampires, or can be in ancient times.
The biggest thing to remember when trying to decide if your book is PR is to look at the rules of romance and to make sure those all apply to your book.
Urban Fantasy – Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance are split by some pretty thin hairs. Urban Fantasy is usually in a city, urban setting. Possibly rural, but mainly in an urban area.
It may or may not have romance. If it does have romance, the romance is Not the main focus of the book. That is not to say that an Urban Fantasy cannot have sex, it can. It can even have a lot of sex, but the love story is not the main focus. There is another plot that drives the book.
In an Urban Fantasy series there can be multiple books about the same couple. They don’t have to have an HEA or HFN. There are several Urban Fantasies that even had unhappy endings. So when readers look for an Urban Fantasy they should prepare for that.
Urban Fantasies can have paranormal characters, human characters, wizards, assassins, be dystopian, or the here and now.
So how can a reader tell if they are looking at an Urban Fantasy cover or a Paranormal Romance cover? Easy. What is on the cover? Is it a sexy couple or a strong female? Paranormal Romances tend to have couple in an embrace or together. Urban fantasies can have just the hero or heroine or something completely different.
Here are two of my covers. One is for my Fantasy Romance series and the other is my Urban Fantasy. Can you tell the difference?
Here are links to all five parts of this series:
Part One: Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy : Part Two: High Fantasy versus Epic Fantasy : Part Three: Dark Fantasy versus Sword and Sorcery Part Four: Magical Realism versus Sci-Fi Part Five: Steampunk