Help, unsure which genre my "medieval fantasy epic" manga/comic series belong to?

[RogueShaman]

Hi there,

Recently joined this site in the hopes that someone can help answer my question. As I plan to market my work at a future date, I want to be able to develop writer's knowledge of the sub-genre of my project

Some background on myself, my aspirations and my project.

At this present moment in time, my project is in it's early infancy. As the sole creator of my work and having to balance two part time jobs and a social life, I seldom get the opportunity to read traditional fantasy/historical literature and fiction so my knowledge of books with writing and no words is sadly poor. As an illustrator, I read books concerning art topics, books with illustrations for reference purposes (e.g. what castles look like, history, armour etc) and manga/comics/graphic novels which align with my own interests so I may study their techniques and for inspiration (E.g. "Berserk", "Vinland Saga", "Kingdom", "Northlanders" and other "Seinen" works). I honestly wish I had time to read a Sword and Sorcery book but the majority of my time is spent directly working with hands and eyes occupied on my craft (sketching, inking, characters, dialogue etc) so my knowledge is sadly insufficient.

I have no idea where my project belongs in the genre world but hopefully if I describe it than hopefully a knowledgeable person can signpost me in the right direction as I've read conflicting descriptions on the web.

Some characteristics belonging to my comic project:

* The story is set within the backdrop of the middle ages between 500-1500. Although this story will be set somewhere within this time-period - no civilizations, characters or events that existed in the "real historical world" ever happened in this fictional universe. Nevertheless, I intend for this story to be grounded in REALITY - so it's possible that civilizations such as vikings, saxons, celts etc have a fictional equivalent, set in a fictional-bastardised medieval vision of Europe and the world where the geography and culture is slightly different yet with relatable fictional civilizations.

* All characters are mortal and likely flawed. No-one has super-powers and supernatural elements don't exist. Injuries can be fatal. There may be characters who appear larger-than-life and walk among the earth with seemingly "Godlike" abilities but instead of these being supernatural, their strength is grounded in reality. Examples could be characters with excellent weapon proficiencies such as being a very skilled archer, swordsman or even a giant but not a "giant" as conceived in sword & sorcery universes (e.g. by "Giant", i mean it could be someone who posesses extraordinary human strengths but was banished to roam the mountains as they had the grotesque appearance of a satanic-like giant creature, but are essentially an extreme form of human with a medical condition).

*There will be references to mythology and spirituality and fictional religious conflicts vaguely resembling actual historical conflicts such as the crusades, inquisitions etc. As this is set in a fictional universe, it is possible that there are plants which don't exist in actual reality but they do in this world, they may have strong medicinal properties which "pagan"-like characters may use for medicinal/magical/spiritual purposes. However, there is no "spell-casting" personally witness-able nor do supernatural deities and creatures (except inside the character's imagination). Nevertheless, characters in this story are very spiritually/religiously oriented and have rich spiritual beliefs. However, I don't intend for actual "magic" to occur despite the existence of "witches/druid/shaman" like characters; if that makes sense?!?!

*Battles are essentially realistic in nature although as previously mentioned, it is a common technique in the comics/manga world to have some scenes which include hyper-stylised combat amongst general fighting and and a few larger-than-life characters on the battlefield to put the story in perspective. There may also be occasional scenes of a hallucinatory/delirious/dream-like nature. One of the main protagonists suffers brain trauma after being concussed by a cannon ball which threw him off a castle wall... He does survive after laying unconscious and appearing dead but as a consequence of the fall, he occasionally experiences menacing delusions such as dead soldiers rising from the ground and "ghosts" at unexpected moments. He also has a somewhat split personality and despite being a righteous and moral anti-hero - in the heat of battle he can suddenly turn into a blood-thirsty berserker incapable of distinguishing friend from foe and being extremely reckless.

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I have no idea where my story exactly fits in but I want the weapons and armour to be loosely based on real life examples with some stylistic license (e.g. unusual looking armour for major characters but plausibly conceived with given technology). Is it low fantasy, magical realism, historical fiction or something else? Also, if you happen to know what genre this story may belong to, would you happen to know any works which may serve as inspiration so I may learn from them?

Many thanks,
Jeremy

 

[Ivanya]

Before I get started, I much approve of the 'Berserk' reading.

As for your query, the world itself that you have created is a fantasy, even if magic is not involved. I don't think you could call it historical, because readers would expect it to be rooted in this world. You could call it 'Alternate universe'. Ellen Kushner created a historic setting in her novel 'Swordspoint' which, like yours, has no use of magic but is historical, and I believe Amazon still deems it fantasy.

 

[Kissmequick]

Is this for querying purposes?

If so, calling it "fantasy" is fine. If you know a more specific sub genre, fine, but that may well get changed when the agent pitches it/ the publisher markets it (many, many books straddle two or more sub genres)

It doesn't sound very sub genre to me, (I may be wrong) but "fantasy" will do you well -- show the differences in the body of the query

Note: I know bugger all about comic queries. But what you or I say doesn't always mean much. It's what it is taken on as, what it is marketed as

TA though it will be helpful if you can note comparable titles. Things that have the same tone/feel to them

 

[Astner]

It's difficult to discuss the sub-genres of a plot-based narrative without knowing it. But I'd assume that action, adventure, historical, romance, and war would be appropriate sub-genres.

Granted, it's not all that important, and your publishers will do the categorization for you if you manage to find one.

 

[Cosmic Geoff]

In terms of prose fiction, your work would fall in the "fantasy" category. There are many fantasy works with a low supernatural content, the famous "Song of Ice and Fire" (aka "Game of Thrones") being the most obvious example, and some with none at all, e.g. Spedding's "A Walk in the Dark" trilogy. The defining factor is that the setting is imaginary (it's not on our maps).
As a cautionary note, I would point out that your proposed background seems the same as the default one used by a great many fantasy authors, and it might be prudent to think about how yours is going to stand out.

 

[RogueShaman]

Before I get started, I much approve of the 'Berserk' reading.

As for your query, the world itself that you have created is a fantasy, even if magic is not involved. I don't think you could call it historical, because readers would expect it to be rooted in this world. You could call it 'Alternate universe'. Ellen Kushner created a historic setting in her novel 'Swordspoint' which, like yours, has no use of magic but is historical, and I believe Amazon still deems it fantasy.

Berserk is inspirational. In a rare interview Kentaro Miura stated he would spend 16 hours a day working on his manga which really does shows if you look at his artwork. Apparently the cause of his 2013 hiatus was because he was working on a six-chapter series in secret alongside a new chapter of Berserk. Should be interesting! Crunchyroll - "Berserk" Manga Slated To Resume?

Thanks, I will have to look into Swordspoint, it rings a bell but I can't remember where I've seen that name before.

[...]As a cautionary note, I would point out that your proposed background seems the same as the default one used by a great many fantasy authors, and it might be prudent to think about how yours is going to stand out.

Thanks for the advice and it's something I'm already working on. Forgive me for being vague about this comic series in this post. I'm slightly conscience of revealing too much at this stage in time as I want to protect the IP of the characters I have designed and their unique stories. At present, I am working on a word-press blog site which will feature some more information about the series and the characters but as I haven't done any formal digital fingerprinting as of yet (mostly working on the art / story-boarding stage) I am somewhat cautious of revealing too much.