The Importance of Genre

I have been considering my genre,

which is important to agents and publishers so they know how to position and target the book.

When I wrote the book I didn’t think much about the genre I was writing in. I simply wrote. But now that I am looking at my publishing options, it is important.

I recently had a conversation with an agent about the books I am writing, and she thought I wrote magical realism. I have been claiming to write women’s fiction or literary fiction.

Women’s fiction are books that are geared towards women. They have female protagonists and deal with women stories that show growth and change. They typically end with a message of hope. Lonely Dove is certainly in this category.

Literary fiction is considered more serious fiction, and it blankets many types of books. My book could be considered as such.

Magical realism is a genre in which the world is depicted realistically but there are elements of the supernatural. Goodreads defines the genre as one “in which magical elements blend to create a realistic atmosphere that accesses a deeper understanding of reality. The story explains these magical elements as normal occurrences, presented in a straightforward manner that places the ‘real’ and the ‘fantastic’ in the same stream of thought.”

I definitely do that in my writing. My setting are realistic, but I incorporate spiritual and mystic aspects such as signs and symbols, tarot cards, palmistry, and people with intuitive and psychic abilities.

I grew up reading some of the authors who popularized magical realism. Gabriel García Marquez, Laura Esquivel, Isabel Allende, Haruki Murakami, and Salman Rushdie. Their books have been an inspiration to me. They are the writers I aspire to be. But, it is a tall measure to look at myself against some of literary greats. Also, these books were published several decades ago.

I looked at contemporary writers in magical realism. A perfunctory search on the top sellers in Amazon yielded a couple of books by Silvia Moreno-García. Gods of Jade and Shadow and Mexican Gothic. Both books fit under multiple genres, including mythology, historical fiction, women’s literature, horror, and magical realism, of course.

Gods of Jade and Shadow follows the journey of Casiopea Tun, who uncovers the bones of the dethroned God of Xibalba, Hun-Kamé. Casiopea and Hun-Kamé journey through Mexico in the 1920s, collecting lost parts of Hun-Kamé so that he can regain his throne. I enjoyed it because the book is really about Casiopea’s journey to reclaim herself.

Mexican Gothic takes place in the 1950s Mexico. Noemí, the protagonist, visits her cousin Catalina, in a remote house owned by an English family. Noemí gets sucked sucked into the family affairs and house. It is the perfect blend of The Haunting at Hill House and Mexican folklore. It is also a story about how women regain value in a society in which they are so limited.

I can see that many books fall under multiple genres. My writing has female and male protagonist. I write in contemporary time, although I am also working on a book of historical fiction. Can I aspire then to blend into different genre’s? For now, I will say I can. And do.