Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Genres ... oh the misery

Ok, maybe someone here can help me.

I am almost done with my WIP, which is a thriller novel. I consider it mainstream fiction, and it has the literary form of a thriller, one set in the near future (next 50 years).
So my question is this: Is "thriller" its own genre in the genre fiction range, or is it a flavor of mainstream commercial fiction? Also, do you think that its setting being in the future means that it by definition needs to be classified as science fiction?

10 comments:

Bernita said...

The term "speculative fiction" also comes to mind.

writtenwyrdd said...

It might also be called 'slipstream' because it isn't really fantasy/sf but has fantastical elements to it (set in future.)

I am not an expert on defining the categories or sub-categories, but thriller is a category of its own in genre fiction, according to web searching.

"There's no narrow definition. According to International Thriller Writers, a thriller is characterized by "the sudden rush of emotions, the excitement, sense of suspense, apprehension, and exhilaration that drive the narrative, sometimes subtly with peaks and lulls, sometimes at a constant, breakneck pace." In short, a thriller thrills. How? Mostly through skillful plotting."

Nicole Kelly said...

Bernita--

I think you are right; it's the genre I usually write (speculative fiction). I had hoped to hop the fence into mainstream fiction, but I just couldn't resist a futuristic setting. ;-)

Nicole Kelly said...

Written:

I haven't heard of slipstream before, but if it is what I think it is, I'm excited. I like genre bending art.

writtenwyrdd said...

Here's one def I found:
Slipstream (a term coined by author Bruce Sterling) has also been called North American Magical Realistm, Contemporary Fabulist Fiction, Surrealism, Transrealism, or Interstitial Fiction.

It's writing that blends literary tropes with the fantastic and in the porcess, frees fiction from the limitations of realistm.

writtenwyrdd said...

PS detractors of slipstream say it is a means of publishing a work by inserting fantastical elements into it so it will be perceived as spec fic/sf/fantasy and thus be more marketable. But as lots of literary books have that same trend (Hy Brasil, Lovely Bones, etc.) I think that's just being snotty on their part. Or smart on the writer's? Heh.

writtenwyrdd said...

Oh, I found something else you might like. (I'm so annoyingly pushy!)

http://joanconwell.blogspot.com/2007/06/why-read-thriller.html

Nicole Kelly said...

No, Written, not pushy at all. I totally appreciate this!

In note of slipstream, I am listening to Wild Sheep Chase and it definitely has fantastic element, a body invading sheep to be exact. I was wondering as I was listening, why is this mainstream fiction while other titles of similar nature can't escape the "genre" status.

writtenwyrdd said...

I suppose it depends on who agreed to publish it! Seriously, that's what I really think happens. Until recently, I always thought that literary books had to have an element of the fantastic, myself. Which tells you that I've always been attracted to fantasy novels. LOL.

writtenwyrdd said...

http://writtenwyrdd.blogspot.com/2007/02/varieties-of-short-stories.html

I forgot: I'd written a blog on the slipstream story. Gettin' old! Brain cells fading fast!