Labs/houses

[NickP]

Any chance we can have a space for peer review?

 

[Karen Gray]

@AgentPete is getting the houses sorted out, but he has been so busy since, gosh, November and probably before that. So it's just not quite there yet. Shouldn't be too much longer now though. People have however been posting small things in their own threads for general opinion/critique.All seem happy to help and contribute (at least from where I'm sitting)

 

[Brian Clegg]

The only thing I would point out on posting things here before the houses are set up is that the Litopia forums are currently open - anyone can read them - so be aware that anything you put here is going into the public domain.

 

[AgentPete]

Yes, many apologies and – darn! – is it May already? How tempus does fugit!

Brian is quite right, my advice is not to post you work publicly, for a whole variety of reasons.

As fortune would have it, I was actually doing some work on the Houses over the weekend, and was going to ask (which I’ll do here)...

What are the main categories of genre that we need to see initially? I don’t want to create houses that stand mostly empty. Please cue me in below...

 

[Karen Gray]

Fantasy, YA, Sci/Fi, Romance, Children's and general fiction seem to be the genres everyone is talking about @AgentPete.

EDIT: Non fiction! I forgot non fiction!

 

[Kelly Michelle Baker]

Thanks for working so hard, Pete!

I usually hung out in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy house back in the day, although I can't remember its name!

 

[Emurelda]

Thanks from me too Pete.

I am focused on MG and specifically Children's Sci-fi.

 

[Emurelda]

It's interesting you should mention genre because I came across something that befuddled me.

One agency was helpfully putting all the genres they accept and don't and found myself scratching my head....

- they accept ALL children books.
- they accept NO science fiction books.

Does that mean my Children's sci-fi themed book is a yay to submit or a nay?

If yes then it means that children's genre is so broad and bandied together in one category. This strikes me as odd as surely kids have favourite genre tastes too.

 

[Kelly Michelle Baker]

Emurelda, I see that all of them time, and it's super confusing. When in doubt, though, I usually query anyway (I don't believe you have anything to lose).

 

[Alistair Roberts]

All of the above ;-)

 

[Marc Joan]

In addition to the above, I wonder if it would be possible or useful to have a space where we could discuss commercial matters--contracts, marketing strategy, problems that arise with particular agents or publishers, etc etc? These issues are sometimes better discussed out of the public eye.

I don't know if 'general fiction' encompasses literary fiction, but if not, can we have a space for literary fiction. Perhaps also a 'miscellaneous/unclassifiable' House, for all the weird bits we have hiding in the bottom drawer. OK, maybe that's just me.

 

[Karen Gray]

Oh and surely we should have something specific for slash fiction and Short stories which I totally forgot about!

 

[James Marinero]

I don't do mystery/crime, but is that not a mainline genre? Thrillers? Maybe the world is passing me by, or I stepped into the wrong cafe'.

 

[Island Writer]

Are we going to name the Houses? I realize you may want a complete break from Litopia 1.0 but they were rather fun!

 

[Meerkat]

I usually write literary fiction, though the novel I'm researching now is in the sci-fi genre, so a lit fic house would be great!

 

[Jay Aitch]

Thanks from me too Pete.

I am focused on MG and specifically Children's Sci-fi.

MG, Emurelda?

 

[NickP]

MG is Middle Grade, I think.

http://www.bookcountry.com/ReadAndReview/Books/GenreMap/YoungAdult/MiddleGrade.aspx

 

[Island Writer]

Yes, MG is middle grade ie for kids from 8-12
YA picks up where MG leaves off
There's a new category, New Adult - seems to be 20 something's

 

[Karen Gray]

I think it's all a load of badly catagorised nonsense. For example. My mum works in a library and Game of Thrones, The Hunger Games, Warhammer(HORUS HERESY) and several other quite graphic reads are in the CHILDREN'S section because of being classed as YA and yet, I don't think children should be reading many of these. HORUS HERESY in particular deals with Rape, Murder, Torture and brutally graphic violence.

My P.O.V. characters range from 16 to 40, and secondary characters from 8 to 60. the series runs the risk of being classed YA and it absolutely is not.

Classing something as YA because it has main characters of under 25 (though I have heard some say it's 21) is utterly ridiculous. However it's the current trend. I suppose it's like an actor being type cast, but I think it's ridiculous.

 

[Jennifer Stone]

I think it's all a load of badly catagorised nonsense. For example. My mum works in a library and Game of Thrones, The Hunger Games, Warhammer(HORUS HERESY) and several other quite graphic reads are in the CHILDREN'S section because of being classed as YA and yet, I don't think children should be reading many of these. HORUS HERESY in particular deals with Rape, Murder, Torture and brutally graphic violence.

My P.O.V. characters range from 16 to 40, and secondary characters from 8 to 60. the series runs the risk of being classed YA and it absolutely is not.

Classing something as YA because it has main characters of under 25 (though I have heard some say it's 21) is utterly ridiculous. However it's the current trend. I suppose it's like an actor being type cast, but I think it's ridiculous.

I class my book as New Adult, but state in my cover letter that it's not suitable for readers under 16yrs. The first book has the usual 'end of the world' type eminent threat, second book deals with murder, the third book contains a rape scene, there's dubious language throughout. Definitely not for children!

 

[Karen Gray]

I class my book as New Adult, but state in my cover letter that it's not suitable for readers under 16yrs. The first book has the usual 'end of the world' type eminent threat, second book deals with murder, the third book contains a rape scene, there's dubious language throughout. Definitely not for children!

Yeah I'm in exactly the same boat.

 

[Island Writer]

A House for Women's fiction would be much appreciated

 

[Marc Joan]

Is that fiction written by women? Or for women? If the former, why does it need a separate house? If the latter, what's the difference between women's fiction and fiction written for whoever might like it? Not trying to be difficult, just interested, coz I never really thought about books in a gender-segregated way....

 

[Jennifer Stone]

Is that fiction written by women? Or for women? If the former, why does it need a separate house? If the latter, what's the difference between women's fiction and fiction written for whoever might like it? Not trying to be difficult, just interested, coz I never really thought about books in a gender-segregated way....

I always thought Women's fiction would be like Chick-flick movies, or run along a similar story-line. Boy meets girl, they fall in love, have an argument, break up, try to move on only to discover they can't live without each other.
I'm probably completely wrong though!

 

[Diamond]

Here are my suggestions:

Action/Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror/Paranormal
Literary/Historical Fiction
Medley (Children's, Short Stories, Poetry, Humor and anything that doesn't fit in the other houses. Should blurbs, queries and such go here?)
Middle Grade/YA/New Adult (Does New Adult fit better with Romance?)
Romance/Women's Fiction
Non-Fiction

I liked how the old Litopia designated each house with the name of a famous author. Will you be doing that again, Peter? Using the title of a book or a well-known character would be fun, too.

 

[Diamond]

On the other hand...if we're broken down that way, I know from experience that potential reviewers will hesitate to venture away from their own genres. Those writing in the less popular genres will have a difficult time drumming up critiques. Since our numbers are small right now, maybe we ought to gather into one backyard for a while. Thoughts?

 

[Marc Joan]

I'm not sure about sticking short stories into a medley of unrelated 'things that don't fit'. I'd have thought short stories should be housed by genre.

 

[Brian Clegg]

I have specific opinions on detail - I would just comment that the Non Fiction house in the previous incarnation was hardly used, as us non-fiction types tend to be in the minority in a big way.