The Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Colorado Gold contest requires entrants to select from a list of five possible genres. The options are Romance, Speculative Fiction, Mystery, Mainstream and Action/Thriller.
The contest also requires identification of a subgenre. If I go with Romance as my broad genre, I can choose between paranormal, time travel or fantasy as the sub-genre. On the other hand, if I choose Speculative, I can pick either fantasy or supernatural.
Let's look at sub-genre first. Two of the major characters in my book are a witch and a sorcerer. Neither has what I would consider a super power. For the most part, they're skilled illusionists and hypnotists. Selection of paranormal or supernatural will pit my book against novels whose characters have far more interesting powers. I'm not sure that's the best fit.
Time travel is a major element of my story. However, the majority of the book takes place in the modern era. I suspect most time travel stories take place either in the past or the future for the most part. Therefore, I'm not comfortable selecting this sub-genre, either.
Finally, we have fantasy. My book introduces a vast hallucinatory universe. This is the element that makes my novel unique.
I'm going with fantasy as my sub-genre.
Now, I have to choose between Romance and Speculative. I've entered about eight Romance Writers of America contests and done well in them. I want to see how my book measures up in a different environment, so I'll be entering the book as speculative fiction and hoping for the best.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Agent pitch post mortem
Around the end of April, I began rewriting and praciticing my agent pitch endlessly. I got it down to a couple hundred words and recited it so many times, it will be stuck in my head forever. However, I never used a word of it.
When my timeslot came up, I sat down with the agent and told him I had completed The Vagrant, a 90,000 word paranormal romance. He then asked about my paranormal element. I told him the story involves time travel and dreams. That made him slump in his chair! For a few very good reasons, time travel and dreams aren't popular themes among agents. However, when I got into the particulars of my vision, he shot back up. My idea is unique, and that's the key, particularly for time travel. He asked for a partial before I told him anything about the story.
I really like this agent and hoped I'd perk his interest. I also heard later that he didn't request many partials that day. So, YAY!
When my timeslot came up, I sat down with the agent and told him I had completed The Vagrant, a 90,000 word paranormal romance. He then asked about my paranormal element. I told him the story involves time travel and dreams. That made him slump in his chair! For a few very good reasons, time travel and dreams aren't popular themes among agents. However, when I got into the particulars of my vision, he shot back up. My idea is unique, and that's the key, particularly for time travel. He asked for a partial before I told him anything about the story.
I really like this agent and hoped I'd perk his interest. I also heard later that he didn't request many partials that day. So, YAY!
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