Genre Q&A!

[extrafic_mods]

Genre Q&A

This is the post where we answer all your questions regarding the genres being explored in this competition - Sci-fi, Dystopia, Supernatural and Fantasy.

This post is specifically put up to help you in choosing your team and creating a great submission. Feel free to ask questions in the comments below, and we'll try our best to answer as soon as possible.
.

Comments

[bluedreaming]

For fantasy are we allowed to use our own urban fantasy au? It's not quite clear on the post - for instance - if I want to write a story in this world but with magical realism added but not use a pre-existing au - I'm assuming that would be fantasy and not supernatural? But if I want to use mythical creatures I have to join supernatural? Like perhaps I have a story about a boy and a phoenix in a like the real world and the phoenix is a shapeshifter and lives forever - would that be fantasy? Or supernatural? Sorry to be so confused.

[extrafic_mods]

Yes, for fantasy you're allowed to use your own universe. The examples given are only there to clarify what we consider fantasy, not to restrict you. Magical realism would be under fantasy.

Regarding the specific example you've given, it would be categorized under supernatural, because the focus is on the interactions with mythical creatures (in this case, interactions with the shape-shifter). In general, the focus of the story is the deciding factor in categorizing.

Do ask questions and don't be sorry, the Q&A post is here for you to clarify the details :)

[bluedreaming]

I'm sorry to bother you again but I read the extended explanation you added to the sign up post and now I'm confused again >< so I'll be specific: if I want to write a regular real world au with regular people who are human but there's an element of magic to this, like a person might be a Phoenix or a person might be able to manipulate the wind, however it's Earth not a high fantasy setting, and there are no vampires werewolves etc. is this supernatural or fantasy? Because you now stated that humans can't be the dominant population in fantasy and yet you have Harry Potter etc. in the setting - I'm sorry I'm kind of really confused again

[extrafic_mods]

I'm sorry if we're confusing you. A point we want to raise is that please DON'T OVERTHINK when it comes to the genre. If you're at a point where you can't distinguish how you want to identify your stories, chances are it's acceptable in either genres.

With that said, I'll try to clarify your examples:

Similar to the previous example, the example you've given is 'supernatural'. Because the element of 'magic' is confined to a few species and you have a large human population.

Though the world of Harry Potter, in theory, have a human population, their focus is on 'the Wizarding World' a.k.a a world populated by witches, magical creatures such as Veela, Giants, Centaurs, Werewolves. It's heavily relied on magic. It's mainly separated from the human world and human is reduced to another species - 'Muggles'. Our clarification has this placed firmly in 'fantasy'.

Hope this helped.

[bluedreaming]

Thanks - I think I understand mostly then. As a last lingering question - you mention magical realism in fantasy. Therefore, a book like "like water for chocolate" or "one hundred years of solitude" would therefore fall under the fantasy heading, correct? (Even though all the characters are human)

[extrafic_mods]

Yes, they are both under 'fantasy'. We're glad to have someone interested in the competition enough to ask questions, and we hope you sign up!

[bluedreaming]

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer ^^

[babygunsho]

Hello, mods ^^ If I want to write about mythical creatures only without human population, will it be categorize as Supernatural or Fantasy?

[extrafic_mods]

This would be 'fantasy'!

[babygunsho]

oh, okay. Thank you for replying! Will change my sign-up then ^^