Genre Definitions

It’s been an interesting week, with a few days spent in Louisiana and a few good solid hours of writing ‘Mirror Man’ each day.

I love the drive home fromhere as I avoid I-10 for as long as possible, taking the scenic route along the edge of the lake and then follow the coast road back into Texas.

In the summer, the drive always brings encounters with wildlife; turtles and occasional gators in the road. I stop and pick up the turtles, saving them from certain reptilian pancakedom, but the gators just get a blast on the horn and a few angry revs of the engine. After that, they’re on their own.

The coast road inspires me to pull over and take a small walk on the sand. I miss living right on the ocean and when ever I find myself on a quite shore, I make a promise that one day I’ll move back to a coastal address, preferably a Caribbean one.

Anyway, back on topic…

I’ve struggled with defining the genre of ‘Mirror Man’. The protagonist is the direct descendant of a Norse God, which might place it firmly in the realms of a fantasy novel, although there is little reference or relevance to his godly heritage, beyond immortality.

I’m a huge fan of Neil Gaiman’s works and I would like to think I could occupy the same genre as ‘American Gods’ or ‘Anansi Boys’.

That being said, there are some gruesome scenes in my novel and some elements that I’d like to believe were psychological horror.

In short, I’m not sure how to classify it at the moment so, as a procrastination tool, I thought I’d set out my understanding of the various genre options.

Mystery/Suspense

Works that usually revolve around a mysterious or unexplained event or a crime that is not solved until the story comes full circle, to keep the reader in suspense. A good mystery/Suspense novel, for me, follows the process of solving the mystery, rather than the event or crime itself. It presents puzzles and red herrings for the reader to digest and analyse.

According to my google searches, subgenres include: historical, detective, supernatural, noir, detective fiction, and Miss Marple type whodunits.

Thriller

Danger-filled plots with high stakes, where the protagonists and their loved ones are in serious jeopardy. Although thrillers, like mysteries, often involve solving of a crime, the primary conflict is often imminent threat that the protagonists must overcome at all costs.

Crime Fiction

Obviously, the plot of a crime fiction novel focuses on the actual planning and perpetration of a crime rather than the detection and bringing to justice, the criminals.


Fantasy

Fantasy works often contain elements that are not of this world, such as mystical creatures, giants, faeries, goblins, gnomes, wizards, and witches. Magic, spells, swords and sorcery, supernatural powers, talking animals, and fanciful kingdoms abound in Fantasy works. Plots often centre around a quest, damsels in distress, epic battles of good verses evil.
Subgenres include mythology, dark fantasy, and graphic novels.

(So far, I think I’m still in this genre…)


Science Fiction

These are stories with a basis in the futuristic - a well-crafted blend of scientific fact andfiction. Science, both real and imagined (but with a basis in reality), contributes to the storyline.

It would seem easy to blur the lines between Science Fiction and Fantasy, wouldn’t it?

Historical Fiction

Stories based in a particular era of the past, often using a genuine setting, place or event such as the American Civil War, The French Revolution, the reign of Elizabeth I, etc.

Historical fiction is often quite literary work and the historical period is expressed in the language of the prose. Even in fictional tales, accurate historical facts and details are employed to bolster the story.

Chick Lit

Usually light, life experience based tales aimed at and about women. The protagonist(s) usually experience conflicts of a love/relationship/career nature. Bridget Jones’ Diary comes to mind.

Women’s Fiction

Again can be simply stated as fiction aimed at and about women. However, women’s fiction tends towards a greater depth and literary tone than chick lit.

Commercial Fiction

Based on heavily conceptual hooks and plots, appealing to a wide audience. The plot is the key in commercial fiction, with a strong narrative storyline, rather than literary prose or internal character conflicts.

Horror

The primary intent is to frighten. Horror can be based in extreme gore, graphic violence, or tense psychological suspense. Supernatural folklore, encompassing creatures who prey on humanity often fill the genre. – Vampires, werewolves and so on. The subgenres list seems endless and almost any genre with an element of terror fits here.

I have some elements of horror by way of a few gory scenes and some psychological suspense. Perhaps it’s a dark fantasy?

Literary Fiction

The quality of writing is valued above all else in literary fiction. Plot and commerciality are secondary to the development of story through prose. Descriptive narratives abound as the art of writing is explored.

Nope…nothing here for me.

Romance

Love stories set against dramatic backdrops, passion and mostly a ‘and they lived happily ever after’ resolution.


I think I’ll stick with ‘dark fantasy’ for now but if I need to change focus slightly, to attract the attentions of a specific agent or publisher, I have a few options.

Right, the sun is shining and the road is clear. I’m going to put the roof down and cruise home along my back roads and coastal routes and hope i don't get pulled over by a local cop with only two teeth, who calls me 'boi'.

Monday Morning Miracle

This morning's post leans more toward awesome than the usual irreverant.

I received an email over the weekend and the photographs, together with the captions, lead me to believe I was in for an unpleasant experience. I came close to closing the email without reaching the end. I'm glad my morbid curiosity pushed me on, because I was to be surprised!


The pictures were credited to Norbert Rosing, taken in Hudson Bay.

"The photographer was sure that he was going to see the end of his huskies when the polar bear materialized out of the blue, as it were:"

"The Polar Bear returned every night that week to play with the dogs.."

The untold back-story possibilities around this event seem endless, don't they?

Class

This is my entry for Café Writing.

The instructions were: Take seven minutes (you have to use all seven, you can’t go over), and write about class. Any format (fiction, essay, verse) is acceptable.

Forgive any typos – I took the time limit very seriously!

His fat ass occupied most of the rear seat of his Bentley. The simianesque chauffeur, who clearly doubled as his bodyguard, opened the door and stepped aside, fulfilling the secondary role of blocking the sidewalk to allow his employer unobstructed access to the bar.

Almost everybody watched his approach through the large picture window that looked out onto the street; some with admiration, some in awe. I only glanced with a mingled sense of envy and dislike.

The door opened and he swept in, heading for the bar, a modern day Moses, parting a red sea of party people who craved his acknowledgement, no matter how fleeting.

He owned the bar.
He owned every night club in town worth visiting.

He’d just moved into the penthouse of the most expensive new beachfront development for several miles. I worked on the construction and saw first hand his arrogance and unpleasant nature. An unfortunate worker missed a deadline on the day he took possession of his apartment. The worker was physically ejected from the property by the chauffeur and his tools launched from the balcony to the rising tide, twelve stories below.

He took the empty seat at the bar beside me and surveyed this minor outpost of his kingdom until the inevitable leggy blonde joined him, kissed his blubbery face and asked for a white wine spritzer.

With a click of his stumpy fingers, he made her wish his command. My girlfriend, the bar’s newest employee, dashed to attend to him and I swallowed back my anger as he barked: “White wine spritzer and a double Glenfiddich.”

No 'please', not even eye contact.

She returned in record time and set his drinks down on the bar. “Six seventy five, please Sir,” she said, flashing me a nervous smile. Without looking up he dug a hand into his pocket and extracted a pile of bills and random coins.

Her look begged me not to say anything as she sorted through the cash in his open hand, extracting the correct amount and turned back to enter it into the till.

Finally fatboy disengaged from his companion and looked at me.

“How much did she take? Did she rip me off?”

I stood up, drained my beer and put it down gently on the bar.

“You may be the richest man in this town, maybe even this county, but there’s something money will never get you,” I said.

“Oh really? And what’s that, fuckface?” he sneered.

“Class,” I said and walked away.

Monday Morning Miracle

So, how was your weekend?

I had a very male weekend myself, thanks for asking! I got a new phone on Friday - finally allowing myself back into the world of the PDA. I got in on the scene in the early days and loved them. We fell out of love when work started following me 7 days a week by virtue of the fully functional spreadsheet applications and .doc reading capabilities. I went cold turkey when we moved from Copenhagen to Houston and I have avoided them successfully until now. But in the T-Mobile store this weekend, me and a little 'Dash' locked eyes over the counter and I was smitten again.

Not content with spending most of Friday 'playing', I successfully talked my wife into spending Saturday trst driving potential new cars and then going to the Greek festival to eat my own weight in mystery meat and feta cheese!

Aside from that, couple of emails caught my eye this weekend - an old theme but one that still raises a smile - stupid street signs:

Later this week I hope to start work on the final chapter of 'Mirror Man', so I may not be too prolific in the blogs. Forgive my absence - I just need some time for myself, you know? It's not you, it's me...

Point Of View

What point of view to adopt has always been a significant hurdle for me, when beginning to draft a story. I used to charge full speed ahead, only to grind to a stop and decide that a different Point of View might be better suited.

Now I spend some time considering who is the best person to be telling the story before I get started. Can the story be properly told by the protagonist, or will it require a narrator? Will a third-person limited approach work or is omniscient is the best approach to allow greater latitude and a God-like knowledge of the characters and events?

In “I Hate You”, a very short story about a young boy of four who decides to run away from home, it was important for me that the reader be allowed inside the head of the child. A first person approach provided the intimacy but problems arose when I realized I was ascribing mature words to the thoughts of a kid. Four year olds don’t think “she infuriates me!” so the challenge was to stick with first person but accurately convey the emotions of the mind I was trying to portray.

I could have switched to second person and told the story from the mother’s pov, as if she were retelling the event to a now grown Son, - You glared up at me, defiant for the first time - but I felt that would reduce the impact of the tale and the overwhelming sense of unfairness the boy feels. Besides, it would have given the story a sentimental, nostalgic feel, rather than the immediate, inexpressible anger and frustration of a child that I wanted to convey.

“Birth Marked” my first novel (a work that I will return to at some point and try to polish into a marketable tale), studied the possibilities of murder, untimely death, redemption and reincarnation. The main protagonist, Nelson, is a man faced with the choice of joining his daughter in heaven or seeking out his soul mate through reincarnation. He interacts with two other key figures – the hit and run driver who took his daughter’s life, and a dying man with ‘perfect understanding’ who explains his choices.

Telling this story in first person wouldn’t have allowed me to develop the characters of the hit and run driver or the dying man – both of which are key aspects of the story. How could Nelson narrate the events of two other individuals’ lives? Events that he was not part of and has no way of knowing? First person was therefore rejected.

A third-person limited approach would allow the narration to jump from one character to another – provided that the switch is always made very clear to the reader! In third person limited, narration describes the events impacting the chosen pov character. This allowed me to tell the story from Nelson’s point of view in one chapter and then in a subsequent chapter, jumps across the Atlantic to the hospital bed of the dying man and narrate part of the story from his perspective.

This was a better option than first person, but caused problems when the characters finally interacted with one another. The question arose: which character would be the focus when two or more were together? I could have opted for Nelson in every instance, but I feared it may become complicated, confusing and possibly too limiting, so I opted for third person omniscient. I don’t know if it was the right choice because the story is still rough as a robber’s dog, but when I finally get back to it, I think I’ll try to stick with that approach.

“Mirror Man” on the other hand is third person limited – everything is experienced from Valentine’s perspective and therefore Valentine is present in every scene. No other narrator intrudes into the story or offer opinions – it’s Valentine’s story from start to finish and I found it came very easy. It helps of course that Valentine has the ability to read the minds of others – a mechanism I employ when the limited perspective requires broadening.

I don’t think I have an affinity for any particular POV at the moment, either in writing or reading. The main thing to remember is, what ever point of view is chosen, it’s always critical that the narrator tells the story, not the author.

Monday Morning Miracle

Welcome to October! Where has the year gone?

This oldie landed in my inbox this week and still manages to engage me for the full four and a half minutes. Apologies if you've seen it or didn't find it genius the first time around. For those of you who've never seen it before, enjoy!

It has the added bonus of Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn".

But it was all just a dream...

I'm struggling.

Mirror Man has reached that stage; the final conflict is afoot and the denouement hot on its tail. The problem is, I am struggling with the motive of one of the players, and each time I try to draft the scene, I have recollections of the Pam Ewing 'season long dream'. Back then I didn't know what "Deus ex Machina" meant, but I knew shitty story-telling when I saw it!

My current dilemma involves the motivation of an immortal character, one similar to Valentine, the protagonist of my novel.

Here's a little more blurb:

Valentine is a Child of Loki and one of the original Berserker tribesmen of Norse Folklore.

With unobstructed access to the minds of his chosen victims and the ability to assume their precise physical characteristics, Valentine takes what he wants, when and from where he pleases.

He is the ultimate identity thief, unconstrained by the password-encrypted barriers his human counterparts face. Only a conscience and the inherent loneliness his immortality brings, stand between Valentine and the decadent life of leisure lead by his brothers and sisters.

The plot thread that's causing me concern is this: Valentine's brothers and sisters, lead my his 'mother figure' want him back in the fold, but I can't seem to come up with a plausible reason why a group of immortals, capable of literal identity theft, would so desperatly need one more in their number!

"Love" is not going to save the day - they are an emotionless bunch - and the reason needs to be something far less noble. Everything I've come up with so far has been so cliché, so clearly contrived, that my desk now has a forehead-shaped dent in it!

I think I have a solution, I type away for several hours then read back what I've written and groan. 'World domination? Is that the best you can come up with?'

If any of you out there are the product of a God/Human relationship, have the power to take on the external appearance of any living thing you can touch, and have more money than you can spend - even in your immortality, what drives you? What goals do you have? What dreams do you harbour?

Throw me a fricken' bone, will ya?