Yes, I know it’s not my usual day for posting. But I have a busy week ahead, and a poor track record for posting in the midst of competing demands.
Did I really miss posting last week? Yes. But I plead guilty by reason of vacation.
I’m a firm believer in not announcing vacations in advance to the social media world. There are, unfortunately, too many not-so-nice people out there who would gladly take advantage of knowing a home is vacant. It’s not that I have a lot of valuables. I just don’t like anyone messing with my stuff. So I didn’t let cyberspace know I’d be away, and now I’m back. Take that, you would-be burglars!
But now it is a new week. I’ve collected two additional rejections and one comment that my book is not the genre I’ve said it is.
So here’s my question of the week. If you read the following description of a novel, to what genre would you assign it: romance, general fiction, commercial fiction, women’s fiction, literary, or YA?
Here’s an excerpt from my basic query:
“In Gram & Me, an 89,000-word (Type of Fiction), precocious eight-year-old Sarah overhears her beloved Gram and Gramps describing their idyllic retirement plans, filled with travel and devoid of all responsibilities. So when she is the sole survivor in a car crash that kills her parents and baby brother, her determination to heal is exceeded only by her obsession with making sure her grandparents’ plans aren’t shattered by being stuck with her.
Gram & Me unfolds through the points of view of both Sarah and Gram (aka Marian).
Although very bright, Sarah’s actions suffer from the limitations of her immaturity, sometimes endangering her, always confounding the grandparents who love her. Meanwhile, Marian struggles to balance her resentments of aging and foiled plans with her genuine love for her only grandchild. As an admirer of novels by Catherine Ryan Hyde, Anne Tyler, and Nicholas Sparks, I aspire to emulate their skill with having flawed characters tell their complicated and deeply emotional stories.”
I’m looking forward to your assessments!
I find genres tough too! Sounds like a lovely and interesting premise for this, personally I’d go with general fiction based on the excerpt.
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Thank you, Claire. Too bad I can’t pull back all the mislabeled queries! It will be interesting to see how many more folks agree with you.
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This is a very good query. I too would think this is general fiction with perhaps a coming of age twist?
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Thank you for your comment. I hadn’t considered the “coming of age” possibility, as I usually think of that as teens…yet in this case, the grandmother is grappling with growing older at the same time as she has to tune into the realities of 21st century children. Very astute observation!
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