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Urban Fantasy Anyone?

May 23, 2008 on 6:28 am | In Writing | No Comments

Maybe it’s just me, but I have a really hard time categorizing my own writing. I’ve been thinking lately about what constitutes the subset of fantasy known loosely as Urban Fantasy. I looked up the term and found a somewhat weak Wiki entry as well as an amusing entry that lays it out like this:

“The Inaccurate yet Simple Definition: A fantasy story set on “modern” Earth.”

I can buy that – to a point. For some reason, I’ve always associated a “dark” feeling with Urban Fantasy as well. I’m not sure if it’s entirely accurate with the way other folks perceive the genre, and I’m not entirely sure if a story has to be dark to qualify as Urban Fantasy, but it’s a feeling I have. Am I far off the mark?

Nevertheless, I’m working on a story that just might qualify as Urban Fantasy. That’s what started this whole analysis. See, in order to pitch a book to an editor or agent, you really have to know how to describe it. I am THE WORST at figuring out what genres/styles my writing fits into because I’m just too close to it to be objective.

So here’s a question – would you consider a story with werecreatures set in the contemporary world to be Urban Fantasy or paranormal, and how in the world does one distinguish the two? I’m really curious to hear other people’s thoughts on this as I try to reason it out myself.