I have a question. I'm writing a novel. It's a thriller. My MC gets dropped into a big pile of doo-doo and spends the rest of the book trying to climb out. We know who the bad guys are. We see them closing the net. It's definitely a Thriller. It's set in the Victorian era. Which makes it a Victorian Thriller. It also has fantasy elements. Psychic stuff. The plot hangs on it. So it's a Victorian Fantasy Thriller. Or does that sound lame? Maybe you'd prefer Paranormal Victorian Thriller? Or maybe some other word to describe the fantasy element. Why do I care? Imagine you're an agent. You deal with speculative fiction. A submission lands on your desk. Victorian Fantasy Thriller or Paranormal Victorian Thriller or something else. What's going to grab your attention more?
Paranormal over Fantasy, for sure - I read "fantasy", I think elves and whatnot. Victorian? Yeah, okay, probably. The other option would be Historical, since Victorian is maybe too specific, but... no, I think the specificity is good in this context. I'd go with Paranormal Victorian Thriller.
Hi BayView, thanks for the reply. I've steered away from historical and gone for Victorian because the historical aspect is largely setting. I'm not dealing directly with historical figures or events except for a single battle of the Crimean War, which features in the book's finale, and all the speaking characters are fictitious (bar a brief appearance from a real field marshal, who delivers two lines of fictitious dialogue). Anyone else like to chip in? I'd hugely appreciate your opinions. My OP question may be trivial, but it's driving me mad! (Oh! Have I just fallen foul of forum rules and bumped this thread? If so, then sorry, sorry, sorry!)
This is not a bump, I promise! It's a thread closure. After a bit of poking around (research), I've settled on Victorian supernatural thriller. It seems to fit an existing genre, with the addition of the historical label. There. I'm done.