Genre-bending, or "Oh- It's A Puggle!"

Ok, just finished reading "Twilight" after overcoming my usual resistance to reading anything too popular. (I know, this has to be some embarrassingly revealing character flaw on my part, but if everyone else on earth loves it, I automatically resist.) Another thing that put me off it initially was that it has vampires in it. They think they're so great. "Ooo-- Look at me with my high cheekbones and cool hair and immortality..."

Anyway, I got over it and picked it up because my novel was having an identity crisis. When you start sending letters around to agents trying to get someone to pick you up, one of the first things they want to know is "what have you got?" They want to know what "genre" the story is-- Where would you find it at Barnes and Noble?

This is more confusing that it sounds. Everyone I talk to really wants to be classified as "literary" (artful writing, multi-layered themes, you know, "good", capital "W" writing), but that can be too broad, and it's kind of bad form to call yourself literary. It's like if you were a painter and when asked what kind of paintings you do you answered, "masterpieces."

Dirt Nap strives to be literary (who doesn't?), but it has funny parts, action, a couple different mysteries to be solved, family conflict, life and death struggles, and ghosts-- oh, and some sex/romance. So, in a perfect world, "You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll get creeped-out, you'll be on the edge of your seat, you'll 'so have been there sister', you'll go 'awe....', and even get a little turned on!"

What the hell is this thing? Who is the audience? (and I did find out you can't say "everyone with any taste at all." That's another of those bad form things.) Well, much to by surprise, people who like "Twilight" (soon to be a movie) would definitely like "Dirt Nap", and YA (young adult) is the hottest genre around right now. So I guess I'm going with "paranormal YA" with maybe a little pug and beagle in there somewhere... or not.