Don't know how I should classify it

[Lea Zalas]

I am putting the final polish on my MS. But the biggest problem I have in writing my query, is what genre to classify it. It's cross-genre, starting out as women's fiction for the first half, then the second half morphs into heavy romantica with some action thrown in here and there.

I don't want to classify it just as one or the other, because that would be very misleading. Somehow I need to catch an agent's eye, someone who would like both in a novel.

How should I classify it in a query without putting off an agent?

[Cat]

How about pitching the story without mentioning a genre?

[Lea Zalas]

Does that happen very often? Are agents okay with doing that?

If I don't mention a genre in my query, would I better off pitching it to an agent who specializes in women's fiction or erotic romance? I think I'm going to look for someone who's open to both genres, because agents who specifically represent erotica and romantica tend to want the MS to start out with the good stuff showing up within a couple of pages, and you have to get through half of my MS before that happens.

[Cat]

Maybe ask this in the agents' forum, but a query letter and synopsis should tell the agent what he wants to know without naming a genre, especially when classification might be problematic, is my guess.

[Smiling Curmudgeon]

Lea,

I don't know a thing about your tale. If you don't know what shelf it goes on, sit back with a gallon. After a while, it'll come to you.

I think this, though. If your seafaring husband (fictionalized, of course) ain't in the first few pages, yer pushin' a rope. I'm serious. Your short posts about your hub, and how you yearn for him, few though they've been, are indelible.

Is a single word of this post useful. Prolly not. Thazz my specialty.

Cur

[Frank Baron]

I don't know how important it is to have to label your opus in a query. I suppose there's differing opinions. I'd send it to agents interested in repping women's fiction and/or romantica. (Aside: Is romantica different from romance?) My thinking is, if your hook is appealing and your ms follows suit, it won't matter what you call it. Let the publisher figure it out which shelf it belongs on. That's why they make the big bucks.

[Lea Zalas]

Cur, one of the main characters is loosely based on my seafaring hubby (very loosely). Changed his pedigree from 2nd generation American-Czech to Greek. Still dark and handsome!

Frank, I probably should focus on agents who rep womens fiction, since that's probably the bulk of the whole novel. Ha - I'm figuring it out already! Romantica is erotic romance. There's a lot of hot and heavy sex (those of us who are without - write about it!), but the relationship has to be monogomous, with no actual cheating - similar to romance novels, but a heck of a lot hotter. I never knew there were guidelines about romantic and erotic relationships until I began researching agents who represented these genres, and found them in the submission guidelines.

[Jena Grace]

"There's a lot of hot and heavy sex (those of us who are without - write about it!), but the relationship has to be monogomous, with no actual cheating - similar to romance novels..."

Similar to marriage! Or what it's supposed to be, anyway.

[good morning]

So if romantica is erotic romance, what's erotica? Genres r confusing. People just lump them sci-fi/fantasy, mystery/thriller, call me ignorant but isn't chick-lit very close to romance, I mean we're girls, we're only interested in gossip worthy material which usually has us pairing one person to another (gender used to matter but not in the present age) regardless of whether our gossip targets/victims want to be together.

That aside, I'm sure your story is very mature and sophisticated and contains none of the above mentioned girly gossipness that us girls r such big fans of (& so famous for).

[Bina Bear]

Haha Lea, I think you need to send me that manuscript to read it before you send it off anywhere else.