Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

What constitutes historical fantasy?

+1
−0

I'm writing a trilogy set 80% in Italy and 20% in other European countries. Each novel incorporates real historical characters and fantasy elements (a magical object, real/imagined symbols, clairsentience/audience, etc.). Each novel takes place a few decades apart from the previous one.

Does anyone have a definition for historical fantasy? Or examples of novels or trilogies that would defined as historical fantasy? I'm particularly interested in any examples that DO NOT include romance.

Interestingly enough, a number of agents/editors have asked me why I don't want to include romance because it would have a better chance of being sold, but romance doesn't appeal to me, either writing about or reading it so it doesn't make sense to make it part of the story.

Have others experienced this?

Lastly, one editor asked me to defined how much of my novel is historical and how much is fantasy. I pitched him at a conference because he favored historical novels, but I didn't think the fantasy part would be such a big deal.

Has anyone else been asked this question?

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/7381. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

2 answers

+1
−0

There is no standard definition. And not just for historical fantasy. Give me a definition, and I will show you a best selling book that doesn't follow it.

If your book has both historical and fantasy elements, you can market it as historical fantasy. If you think this will hurt your chances, feel free to emphasise either the historical part or the fantasy part, when talking to editors who are interested in one, but not the other.

Have you read any blog by DWSmith, or his wife Kris Rusch? When editors or agents want to reject books for business or other reasons, they will often try to "help" the author by giving them suggestions, of the type you got. ("Add romance to your book, and it may sell"). So never pay much attention to rejection reasons, as they might not be the truth at all.

Editors may want you to change your work a little, to make the story tighter, to remove unnecessary sub-plots etc. But in your case, it seems they want to change your book completely, to what suits them at this time(at least that is what it looks to me. I maybe wrong). My advice is, continue shopping your manuscript, you may find an editor who loves your book as it is, without adding the latest fad( vampire-zombie-romance) to it.

And if you can't sell it after a year or two, seriously consider self publishing.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/7390. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

+0
−0

I would say Mercedes Lackey's Shadow of the Lion and Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell would both qualify as "historical fantasy." The latter has relationships, but I wouldn't call them "romance."

Actually, Lackey's entire Elemental Masters series could be historical fantasy. Again, there are pairings, but whether you'd call them "romances" is up to the marketing department. I wouldn't.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »