So, my tentative idea for NaNo this year is actually a warm-up story that I was working on for NaNo '08. The main character dies within the first page, and the entire story is about his exploits in the great beyond. Now granted, it's not the usual heaven and hell, reincarnation and nirvana, purgatory and redemption sort of afterlife; it's sort of like what the afterlife would look like if it was run on capitalism, with how "good" you are as currency . . . vague as that might be. On the flipside, you really don't want to know what happens when your "bad" far outweighs your "good" quota . . . let's just say that filing for bankruptcy is not an option.
The real question is, where the hell does this story fit? I'm quite sure it's a Supernatural type of thing (with plenty of horrifying moments to add some spice), but couldn't it also fit in the Spiritual genre, even if it's not about a particular religion?
What my novel is not:
- A soapbox for my own views of morality and the afterlife--I don't like to make assumptions about something I'm sure I cannot fully understand.
- An insult to any religions out there--I just thought it would be a fun setting to play with.
What it is:
- A story about a complete nobody that can change the world, with deceit, betrayal, love, life, death, and everything that makes a human being human. Also comes with unthinkable demonic horrors and spiritual enlightenment.
- . . . because happens to be set in the hereafter.
For now I'm going to keep sitting in the Supernatural section because I'm pretty sure it's the right one, but it did get me thinking . . . with a setting like this, where do you draw the line between genres?
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130,528 / 50,000
Oct 6, 2009 - 13 06
To classify as horror, you have to be scaring the daylights out of your readers in terrifyingly horrific ways. Frankly, I just don't see that in your synopsis.
Supernatural, implies vampires, faeries, are other supernatural beings that do not exist in the real world. They can exist in any and all genres. When in Horror, supernatural beings tend to be evil, blood thirsty and violent - vampires, werewolves, zombies, and poltergeist style ghosts, whose purpose in being in the story is the scare your reader into hiding under the covers and sleeping with every light in the house on. Ghosts, demons, and angels (such as your story) are supernatural beings that could be considered horror if they terrify the readers, but they could also be considered spiritual if they tell a moral tale (not necessarily religious).
From reading your synopsis here, I don't see your novel as falling into the Spiritual genre either though.
Your story seems more to be one of fantastic proportions. A story telling of another place (a sort of heaven/hell place), in another time (a future afterlife). If I was an editor (which, btw, I am) and was going to publish your novel, I would place it under Fantasy instead, possibly Dark Fantasy.
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50,003 / 50,000
Oct 6, 2009 - 17 40
I must respectfully disagree, Eelkat. Granted the synopsis above doesn't really have anything truly "frightening" in it, which is my fault entirely, but that doesn't mean it's not horror. Most of the horrifying elements weren't included in my post above because they're also spoilerific (and also because I tend to forget very important things at the worst times).
okay, so I don't have a serial killer or a vampire (which, in my opinion, really aren't scary anymore and belong more in fantasy because of how much they're romanticized, but I digress) but that's because I don't find gore or hideous monsters scary. For me, it's psychology that gets me, so most horror I write is about 80% psychological (and 20% hideous monster, because I like monsters.) Again, not mentioned above, and my fault for forgetting. Still though, as if finding out the afterlife was more of the same, except for the rest of eternity, wasn't scary enough... ;)
As an example (and a quick synopsis of the entire main plot twist), the MC discovers a massive conspiracy at the heart of the social system that causes his mental downward spiral through the second half or so of the book that culminates with him essentially becoming a Satan figure to try to "fix" things.
Just because there is no heaven or hell does not exclude demons from the picture either--in fact the ones I have are (to me, anyway) scarier than your typical soul-stealing clovenhoofed satyr rip-off. They're human souls that...well, didn't work in the current system of government, so they were punished for not fitting in. They lose every aspect of who they are to become an unwilling scapegoat so that the rest of society will keep in line. Again, it's mostly psychological. If you aren't afraid of, say, having schizophrenia and/or Alzheimer's, it probably won't scare as much.
And like I said, demons.
If it still sounds like Dark Fantasy, well...I like it in here better, so I think I'll keep lurking anyway.
I don't think I could take another NaNo where every other topic was about elves.
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Oct 6, 2009 - 18 18
This is horror and supernatural...which includes ghosts. I think it sounds like a very interesting take on the Shadowlands...
----------"Even the greatest mind in the world rusts when it has nothing to do." - Sherlock Holmes