Currently I'm at the start of writing a novel and a thought that has popped into my head recently while writing, is where exactly does my novel fit in genre wise? As a brief description: 25 year old Anna, is a mutant hunter in the post nuclear fallout world. She gathers mutants and 'sells' them to Doctors who pay her back in rations and trading materials in order to send the mutants off to scientists who are believed to be trying to find a mutation which could stop the rest of the human population sending itself into destruction. Although she has a total disregard for human life, she encounters a human child whose mutation causes him to be completely innocent, like a baby lamb, he knows no evil or bad in the world. This causes the protagonist to rethink her whole world as she is so used to thinking the world is inherently evil post fallout. Without giving too much away, this will be the beginning of the novel, there will be some romance and there will be some horror as well. I'm just a bit lost about where it would sit on the spectrum. Kind regards, BurningPaws
You don't really have to worry about it at this point, but the protagonist is probably too old for YA. Whether it is SF or Fantasy depends on how rigorous you are about the science.
This definitely sounds like SF to me. From what you've written, it seems to have a very strong social statement centered around mutation and how the world is shaped by it. The horror parts would be secondary, I think. It doesn't sound like you've got the trappings of a fully-fledged horror story (see Blake Snyder's Save the Cat! series, Monster in the House genre).
1/ This sounds like Downs Syndrome. 2/ I'm afraid I can't believe the notion that the MC "catches" innocence from this child.
That was just a brief on the spot description for both of these cases, when described in more depth and with context it comes across a bit differently. Thank you for your advice everyone
Sounds like Science Fiction. I don't think the MC would "catch innocence", but would see that not everyone is dangerous. The MC has been fighting off monsters and self-serving humans for so long that it had eroded her trust and confidence in everything. The one thread of hope the MC had been clinging to is reinforced upon meeting the child. That's my understanding of it.
Correct As said above, it is clearer with context and as the story progresses. Thank you everyone for your input
