What Genre? - Writers Forum

CroZ · 03-01-2008, 04:09 PM

Tokyo Godfathers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Godfa...

It's an anime movie by Satoshi Kon about 3 homeless people trying to return a baby on Christmas. If this were a book what genre would you put it into, as in if you were submitting it to an agent what would you tell him?

Some people have suggested fantasy, but despite a few events which could be interpreted as divine intervention I don't see how that's possible. Another person suggested 'general fiction', but I'm not sure if you can say that to an agent. The third option seemed to be science fiction but that's worse than fantasy.

So if all books can be fitted into a specific genre then what would this one be?

Mike C · 03-02-2008, 02:29 PM

Sounds like urban fantasy, if you really feel the need to pigeonhole, but it really depends on how the story's handled.

CroZ · 03-04-2008, 02:18 PM

Don't think it could fit urban fantasy, at least judging from the definition:

Quote:

Urban fantasy is a subset of contemporary fantasy, consisting of magical novels and stories set in contemporary, real-world, urban settings--as opposed to 'traditional' fantasy set in wholly imaginary landscapes, even ones containing imaginary cities, or having most of their action take place in them. Urban fantasy may also refer to more modern versions of 'traditional' fantasy worlds. The modern urban fantasy protagonist faces extraordinary circumstances as plots unfold in either open (where magic or paranormal events are commonly accepted to exist) or closed (where magical powers or creatures are concealed) worlds.

There really aren't any magical elements present, only a string of 'coincidences'. After general fiction my second choice would probably be mystery, since they're tracking a person down through clues, but people would probably get the wrong impression.