So what’s the book about, and what’s its genre?

Ugh! That question always shuddered through my body no matter how prepared I was. I’d often stand there stuttering like an idiot. I knew what my book was about, but how to articulate it was the problem.

We all deal with labels. They’re shorthand for us, and when people asked about Crown of Fire, they were asking for a label. Something they could assign it and create a narrative we could build an understanding around. Many courses advise authors to force their ideas into a category; to chop and change to fit them into a specific genre, paying particular attention to its conventions and not straying from them. But I found it hard to find a place for Crown of Fire, without hacking the elements of the story to bits. A true square peg/round hole analogy.

When the time came to choose a BISAC category for Crown of Fire, I chose fantasy simply because someone told me that’s what it was. The story takes place in an imagined world, but that’s where the fantasy element disappears.
What I’ve since discovered is that describing the book as a fantasy conjures up magicians and elves and dragons in reader’s minds. “Oh, I’d never read that. I don’t like fantasy.”
Perhaps it lends itself to the paranormal, the spiritual, “Don’t give me that woo-woo crap.”
Is it a study into a tiny sliver of the insidiousness of CPTSD?
A political analogy sprinkled with a little Greek mythology?

Categories help readers find a book they’d enjoy, and they also help retailers and librarians know where to shelve and how to market a book. Without a clear category, a book will ‘miss its mark’ and not reach readers. Not happy with the general ‘fantasy’ category, I went searching and found this definition of ‘visionary’ fiction.

“Visionary fiction embraces spiritual and esoteric wisdom, often from ancient sources, and makes it relevant for our modern life. These gems of wisdom are brought forth in story form and in a way that readers can experience the wisdom from within themselves.”

I think I’m onto something here. Throw in the psychological elements of trauma recovery and we might be closer to categorizing Crown of Fire for modern search engines. Fantasy as a genre was too broad. When people now ask, I think I’ll describe it as visionary fiction with trauma recovery principles—and be prepared to explain 🙂
It’s much more satisfying to have a reader say, “No, I’m not really into that.” than simply, “I don’t read fantasy.”

Why fit in when you’re born to stand out? – Dr. Suess

I’ve also decided to let go of my resistance and angst about Crown of Fire and the rest of The Awenmell Series not fitting neatly into a category and accept it for what it is.
A lesson in trust if ever I’ve learnt one !