What's in a Genre - The Treason of Memory
Today my friend Nyki Blatchely is guest blogging with us. He's the author of, among many things, the novella "The Treason of Memory," published by Musa. He has a blog where he frequently posts in depth pieces about writing in general and secondary world fantasies in particular.
What's
in a Genre? The Treason of Memory
Nyki
Blatchley
There
are certain very predictable questions writers get asked about their
stories. The top one has to be "What's it about?" and I
sometimes succumb to the temptation to give that one to the
traditional answer — "It's about three hundred pages."
Another common question, though, especially from fellow-writers, is
"What genre is it?"
Genres
are both useless and essential. Ideally, every story that makes any
attempt to be original (whatever precisely that means) should be its
own unique genre, a blend of concepts and techniques that no-one's
ever achieved before in the history of fiction. It should climb out
of the well-worn rut and strike off down the road less travelled by.
It should be the story by which later, lesser stories define
themselves.
Even
if this is actually possible, though, a story like that could have
difficulty getting published. While editors and agents, not to
mention readers, don't normally want clichéd fiction, it's better if
they can define what a story is. Even if it's not simple, they want
to be able to say, "This is a blend of sword & sorcery and
urban fantasy, with a touch of steampunk in the middle. Ah, yes, I
have just the place for that."
This
means that, in practice, an author needs to put thought into what it
is they're writing — or, preferably, what it is they've just
written. I had this issue with The
Treason of Memory,
published last December by Musa Publishing. I didn't have any
preconception, when I started writing, "what kind of story"
it would be. This was partly because it started as a one-hour
writing exercise, so I was just writing what came into my head as
quickly as I could. In fact, the scene I wrote in that hour ended up
"on the cutting-room floor", though it's referenced in
conversation, but it set the tone and plot for the whole long piece I
eventually wrote.
It
wasn't till I'd finished that I started trying to define it. One way
of describing a story is to compare it to something else — most
fantasy novels used to be "in the tradition of Lord of the
Rings", although publishers have found other models to play with
now. Consequently, I came up with the description that The
Treason of Memory is a
cross between Conan, The
Three Musketeers and The
Bourne Identity.
But
what exactly does that mean in terms of genre? It has a hero
fighting against ancient evil, as in sword & sorcery. It has
intrigue, rapiers and flintlocks, like a historical swashbuckler
(though have you noticed how rarely the Musketeers actually fire
muskets?). And it has the twists and turns, the paranoia and the
low-life of a modern spy thriller whose hero doesn't drink martinis
shaken, not stirred.
It's
broadly part of a genre usually called flintlock fantasy, but this
tends to refer particularly to a more epic style of fantasy, with
seventeenth century technology being used for quests and major wars.
Not to a more intimate, single-adventure approach, nor to a dark,
urban feel. So what would be a more precise genre for this?
My
first thought was flintlockpunk. The story certainly has a lot of
the "punk" aspects (the paranoia, and the blend of high
politics and low-life) but it lacks the retro-futuristic aspect. The
pistols are just pistols, not some super-developed form of flintlock
weapon, and the society isn't a historical one anyway, but an
other-world culture that shares many features with late-seventeenth
or early-eighteenth century Europe.
I
abandoned that label, although it did more recently inspire me to
write a "flintpunk" story, perhaps best described as a
dystopian equivalent of the Flintstones. I thought I might actually
have invented a genre there, but a bit of research showed that
there's a similar, though rare, genre called stonepunk.
What
I've settled on for The
Treason of Memory is
flintlock and sorcery. While this doesn't quite cover the gritty,
urban aspect of the story, it does suggest that the story is
essentially a traditional piece of adventure fantasy, but in a
setting and a stage of civilisation not usually associated with that
kind of fiction.
That's
an approach I'm increasingly coming to enjoy, by the way, applying
traditional fantasy styles to a less explored period of my fantasy
world's development, although I still enjoy writing in my "comfort
zone" (roughly resembling a cross between Classical Greece and
Renaissance Europe). Besides the flintlock period, I've covered a
Victorian-style era, an early twentieth century equivalent, and even
"contemporary" other-world fantasy, complete with computers
and mobile phones. Maybe someday I'll take my fantasy world into
space.
So
what does this genre-defining actually achieve, besides giving me one
difficult question I'm able to answer about The
Treason of Memory? Most
importantly, I suppose, it helps me to define what I was trying to do
with this story, and to measure to what extent I've succeeded.
It
could also help me if I try this particular approach again — which
I might. Although The
Treason of Memory ends
conclusively enough, it's set up so that a sequel (or even a series)
isn't entirely out of the question. I may not ever write them, but
if I do, at least I'll know what I'm supposed to be writing.
Flintlock and sorcery.
Comments
A term I've heard a couple of times is Fantasy Noir. It's not quite dark fantasy, which conjures up images of vampires and demons and post-apocalyptic horrors, but it's not your traditional high fantasy either where no one gets **** all over 'em (sorry, couldn't resist the Python reference). And it seems like it could draw elements from other fantasy "periods."
I don't know. I'm hopeless at genres. I just know what I enjoy.