My current agent querying manuscript is written for the adult market in the upmarket, magic realism genre
* The Adult Market
I don’t think I’ll ever write for the young adult (YA) or middle grade (MG) market, although some elements of magic realism may be appealing to the YA age group. Since I don’t usually have excessive swearing, explicit sex, or gratuitous violence, YA readers could approach my writing without too much trouble. The voice I write in and the themes I address are adult age-group oriented however. That I don’t think I could ever change, and the reason I don’t think YA and MG are appropriate age groups for me to write for.
* The Magic Realism Genre
I think I’ll always write magic realism and NOT write outside of a Korean or Asian context. I find the cultural background, the religious roots, the folklore too interesting and engrossing to leave all that behind for something else or to leave it behind for a general approach. Much of the Korean cultural context is very surprisingly magic realism, I feel. Korea, as I’ve experienced it, is one of the few advanced countries that also has a very strong supernatural connection for its general public. That’s so unusual in this day and age and so very interesting to me. For example, almost any back alley of any major city in Korea, and especially Seoul, has a shaman practitioner, many people but especially the women talk about supernatural or shamanistic elements in plain conversation as if it were the most natural consideration and not at all unusual to mention, and many non-believers of shamanism or Korean Christians and Catholics grudgingly accept or at the very least are familiar with this reality if anyone they encounter mentions such things in their presence.
* The Upmarket Category
The upmarket part though is more fluid. I would like to think I write commercial fiction, since I want to be the most accessible in my approach to writing. I would like to explore both commercial and literary fiction themes in my writing and not be overtly one side or the other. If anything, I don’t want to invite only the hardcore literary fiction readership to my writing, but I do admit that my themes or plot lines could be best described as literary fiction: not clearly concluded with easily recognized outcomes, having expansive themes, somewhat intellectually heavy ideas, and not clear rising-climax-declination plot line. My writing, as I’ve always envisioned and desired to pursue, I’ve always wanted to make fluid to oral tradition and easily read without hindrances or obstacles to understanding. I wanted someone to read my writing like one would read Walt Whitman, or at least how Whitman envisioned his readers to approach his poetry: writing for the “roughs,” the ordinary fellow with a copy of Leaves stuffed into the back pocket of denim jeans. My latest ideas for my next work-in-progress (WIP) is more commercial fiction, more urban fantasy, for example. However, that’s the plan, and not necessarily what will come about. Who knows what it will become? lol
* What other possible genres?
I’ve thought I’d like to dive into the research for historical fiction, with magic realism elements. My recent visit to Seoul for two weeks (and the reason I’ve not written into this blog during that time) allowed me to see the historical aspects of this ancient city with new eyes. Our staying in the downtown area, rather than where we lived before in Gangnam which was only until in recent history just farmland, further drew me to this direction. I’m also fascinated by the YouTube channels that show pictures and short clips of Korea from years and ages past. Some colorized, some in their original black and white depicting life and the places of a Korea of an age and era past. I love too Mr. Sunshine and probably saw that entire series at least three times from beginning to end. The acting excellent, the costumes sublime, the location shots mesmerizing!
However, I’ve also thought of ideas that are more urban fantasy with a Korean context, and of course written in English. That would certainly be more commercial. The only reason I’ve found the historical fiction less approachable is that I write as a “pantser,” a term for writers who write with no real outline and write “from the seat of their pants.” The research needed for historical fiction would require some outlining, so that the research could be guided and concluded as much as possible before much of the bulk of the writing is engaged. For example, I wouldn’t want the research to force an extended pause in the drafting, since that’d be very bad and invites one to “hang up” the writing indefinitely.
Urban fantasy however would not have such hindrances to writing via pantsing. This direction I see as much more possible long term for me and much more natural to me with more fertile ground for ideas I see and feel everyday. Urban fantasy very accurately describes the context and interests I would write about most. I see magic realism in the life I see all around me, an urban setting, but I don’t know if I’d go as far as fantasy in my writing. I could though. I see that as a possibility, and urban fantasy would be much more commercial, would be much more approachable, which I like. So, some cross of magic realism and urban fantasy. And, just as their terms incline to: literary fiction and commercial fiction, respectively.