posted
I am writing a story that doesn't fit neatly into the sword and sorcery fantasy genre, nor into the plastic and rivets sci fi one. It is more magic realism/psychosci-fi.
With the object to get published in mind, how sacred are these cows?
posted
Short story? Novella? Novel? What length? I'm guessing that might make a difference. My conjecture is that short stories are more fluid in such matters, while novels may be more stubbornly shelved into the classic genres due to the capital outlay associated with a work of this length.
But there are many, many more experienced persons here that will, I'm sure, weigh in on this topic and correct me if I am wrong.
posted
Are we talking magic in a contemporary setting, or in a future setting? That makes a pretty big difference. If the former, then it would likely work better as magic meets technology. If the latter, then the reverse case is indicated.
But these cows aren't particularly sacred. It's more a matter of ordering the expositive elements and selecting the initial POV.
The story is novel-length and set in the present, it delves into the overlap between perceived realities, 'is it real or is is a delusion'. There is complete, unambiguous resolution but I don't know if I will lose readers in the process of getting to the end and whether this 'riding the ragged edge' approach would prove distateful to a publisher.
The story is salvageable if it is a faulty approach.
posted
Doesn't sound faulty, from what you've said.
It sounds like you've got a contemporary character that gets caught up in "magical" events, and then tries to investigate those experiences, eventually turning to science to either disprove or validate them. Is that about what you're saying? Because that's my first case, contemporary setting--magic meets technology.
Even if I've misinterpreted you, these cows still ain't so sacred. But your dramatic structure also seems valid, the question of whether certain things are real or imaginary should be left up in the air till the end if you've devised the resolution to answer that question.
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