Mythic Fantasy--Gods only?

[Chessie]

Mythic fantasy is a fast growing sub-genre of fantasy. It's what I write and mostly the type of fantasy I read (the Mythic Delirium anthology is one I get regularly, for example). So in attempting to study the genre more for business purposes, I've noticed that the big thing is that it mostly focuses on mythical gods. That's all fine and dandy, but somehow that specific element is what now seems to define this already tiny sub-genre.

My stories have a strong mythological aspect--Slavic mythology to be exact, and there's a whole lot of fairies, witches, spritely sort of business going on in them. I have a string of short fiction that I want to self-publish under this genre but it doesn't seem to match very well, although there is one wicked goddess that's the source of trouble across the world/stories. I'm just wondering if there's another sub-genre this sort of fiction would fall under, because it certainly isn't epic, historical, or necessarily sword and sorcery. Thoughts anyone? Does this sub-genre specifically have to be about gods?

 

[MineOwnKing]

Myths and Legends, is one of the choices under Fantasy on Amazon.

For queries: Myth Drama can be used, or Creation Myth Drama.

Does not need to be only about Gods.

It is also important to understand the difference between Literary Fantasy vs. Genre when querying.

 

[Chessie]

It is also important to understand the difference between Literary Fantasy vs. Genre when querying.

I'm not querying.

 

[Incanus]

Sounds cool. Makes me think of Lord Dunsany, a Brittish writer from around a century ago. He created an original pantheon of gods and wrote some short books with little chapters usually just a page or two long. These works had a significant influence on Tolkien, Lovecraft, and many others. I've only read about 3 of these so far, but they were extremely excellent, in my view. This guy had an absolutely wild imagination.

I didn't think anyone was doing this kind of thing anymore, mainly because the style and viewpoint is very 'telly', as opposed to 'showy'. I don't know how you (or other modern writers) have been handling it, but the Dunsany stuff is very omniscient and remote.

I'm going to have to look into this a bit more. Is there anyone actually selling this kind of stuff these days? I, for one, certainly hope so.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

I hadn't heard of the genre mythic fantasy. My thought would be that this would all fall under the umbrella of urban fantasy. Certainly when I pubbed pawn that was the category on Amazon I used.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Chessie]

Urban? But the setting isn't modern. Still allowed?

 

[Incanus]

Urban? But the setting isn't modern. Still allowed?

Good question. From what it sounds like, this isn't anything like "American Gods", or whatnot.

 

[Incanus]

I did a quick bit of investigation on this. It sounds like Mythic Fantasy is closer to Urban Fantasy as it generally employs real world mythologies and moves them to a more contemporary setting.

What you seem to be describing is Mythopoeia, which is an invented, artificial mythology--like the creations of the authors I mentioned above. The latter of the two is way more my kind of thing.

 

[Ireth]

I don't see why all Mythic Fantasy has to be contemporary. I'm writing a short story based in the Norse myths, about a valkyrie, who never interacts with humans -- just other valkyries, gods and occasionally giants. It's not contemporary at all. That sounds more like Mythic Fantasy to me than anything else.

 

[Incanus]

I don't see why all Mythic Fantasy has to be contemporary.

I'm still trying to figure out the distinctions myself. I guess it's Mythic Fantasy if it is based on a real world mythology, no matter the setting, and it's Mythopoeia if it is an original creation. Not sure.

Hmmmm. Mabye, just write the stuff and let others place it in a catagory.

 

[skip.knox]

Here are some links that include some names of writers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythic_fiction
Mythic Fantasy | Best Fantasy Books
https://landsquidattack.wordpress.com/2011/12/16/subgenre-study-mythic-fantasy/
What is Mythic Fiction? | T. S. Bazelli | Ink Stained

But the Google search turned up many more. Note the date in the url -- the genre has been around for at least a few years.

 

[Mythopoet]

I remember when I first read the name of this sub-genre and I thought, "Awesome! This has to be the right name for what I write. It's ALL about the mythology." But whenever I find a definition for "Mythic Fantasy" it seems to assume that it's using a real world setting and just referencing myth or utilizing some mythic elements. American Gods by Neil Gaiman is often cited as the quintessential example. As the wikipedia page states, Mythic Fantasy is in contrast to mythopoeia, which is when the author creates their own world and their own mythology.

So Mythic Fantasy is definitely not what I do, despite the fact that I use all kinds of stuff from real world mythology in my imaginary world. Mythopoeia is definitely what I do, but that term is not one that is recognized by most readers. Out of all of the subgenre names I've read about, there doesn't seem to be anything closer to what I write than "Epic Fantasy" even though I think what I write is very different from most epic fantasy out there and I wish I could set it apart more. Sigh.

 

[Incanus]

I got sort of excited for a moment there too, not because I write it, but because I thought there might be a few modern day Dunsany's out there somewhere. No such luck, though. Not likely to find anything that awesome again. Heavy sigh.

 

[Chessie]

@Skip: sweet links! Thank you so very much! I checked out the Ink Stained and it looks great!

So Mythic Fantasy is definitely not what I do, despite the fact that I use all kinds of stuff from real world mythology in my imaginary world. Mythopoeia is definitely what I do, but that term is not one that is recognized by most readers. Out of all of the subgenre names I've read about, there doesn't seem to be anything closer to what I write than "Epic Fantasy" even though I think what I write is very different from most epic fantasy out there and I wish I could set it apart more. Sigh.

What I highlighted in Mythopoet's response is exactly my problem too. With Gaiman's book as a prime example, the rest of the books in that genre are about gods (thus the title of my thread). When they say "give readers what they want"...how the heck am I supposed to do that if none of my stories fit into a particular category? Maybe it's fairytale fantasy, I thought for a moment. But the thing is I don't rewrite fairytales.

My stories are like what Mytho described: I take elements from Slavic mythology and use them in my stories. For example, Baba Yaga is a classic Slavic witch. She's essential in my stories (appears in several of them) and she has a strong resemblance to what's seen irl mythology but with my own twist. How do I categorize something like that, is my question. The reason I used Mythic Delirium as a reference is because it's the closest to what I write that I have found, and it's categorized under fairytales/mythic fantasy anthologies on Amazon, but I'm not doing an anthology. *cries*

 

[skip.knox]

Readers want good stories. Your challenge is to *market* in a way readers quickly understand. The good news is, you don't need to pick only a genre. You want keywords, even key phrases. Ignore for a moment the existing ones, just develop your own list. Maybe 25 entries.

Then go to Amazon, B&N, and so on, and look at their existing categories, genres, whatever, and compare your words and phrases were theirs, looking for points of intersection. That gives you points of marketing, but you may have some words and phrases not covered that you dear to you. Work those into your story summaries. Once you're famous, you will have invented a new sub-genre!

I confess the foregoing is my own advice to myself, but maybe you will find something useful.

 

[Aly]

I've had all sort of issues trying to categorize my current series. It's got magic. It's got swords. It's set in modern day Europe. That sounds like Urban Fantasy but then...my character has flash backs and dream sequences that take her more into the Mythic Fantasy area.

I am going to agree with Incanus - 'Just write the stuff and let others place it in a category.'

 

[mt_jupiter]

Could the author define what the used genre means to him/her in the blurb area amazon allows to tell a little bit about the story?

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

 

[Mythopoet]

I am going to agree with Incanus - 'Just write the stuff and let others place it in a category.'

That's not an option when you're self publishing. You have to choose the category and the keywords. Though you can use keywords to get your book in more categories.

How to Get Your Book into More Categories on Amazon with Keywords | Lindsay Buroker

 

[mt_jupiter]

That's not an option when you're self publishing. You have to choose the category and the keywords. Though you can use keywords to get your book in more categories.

How to Get Your Book into More Categories on Amazon with Keywords | Lindsay Buroker

Thanks for the link [emoji3]

 

[Mythopoet]

Thanks for the link [emoji3]

Here's another link of an official list of keyword that link to very specific SFF categories. Very useful.

https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A2G3ZMYDPB9VRM