Is a sub-genre needed?

[risu]

I've only ever thought of my story as fantasy. It contains humans and non-humans, but not traditional elves, goblins, or other common races; "magic" though not called magic; and the majority of it takes place on a different world (but a couple chapters take place in this world). The other world makes me want to claim high fantasy, but my characters don't fit the mold according to Wikipedia and I don't know if the couple chapters would disqualify the other-worldly criteria. But it isn't really contemporary either. So is a sub-genre needed or can a work simply classify as fantasy?

And should there be an age range attached to the story? I've never considered fantasy getting broken down into age groups, since many fantasy lovers start young, long before the qualifications such as MG or YA or NA come into play when I'm talking to people about my story. But it feels weird to call my story Adult because what I consider "adult" tends to lean toward stuff younger people shouldn't read, such as erotica, but that's not my story.

 

[Addison]

I've read book descriptions with more than one sub-genre. High-fantasy and urban-fantasy, dark-fantasy and epic-fantasy. Age ranges are usually made clear by what department of the book store the book is shelved.

 

[Chilari]

If it's clearly fantasy, which it sounds like it is, I wouldn't worry too much about subgenres unless you're about to publish now, and in that case just go for what's closest. Genres are, after all, only categories which are useful for readers to find fiction similar to what they have enjoyed before. They don't define your book and they aren't written in stone; they're a means of communicating information about your book concisely to the reader.

 

[Sean Cunningham]

Portal fantasy, perhaps? That's what Narnia-style go through the wardrobe to another world fantasy is sometimes called.

 

[risu]

Maybe. If that portal is the power of a person casting a spell, that would probably qualify.

 

[Devora]

Portal fantasy, perhaps? That's what Narnia-style go through the wardrobe to another world fantasy is sometimes called.

Nothing says fantasy like going on an Epic quest to defeat GlaDOS.

 

[risu]

The cake is a lie.

 

[SeverinR]

The cake is a lie.

Next you'll be telling me "You can't have any pudding, if I don't eat your meat!"

Fantasy is broad spectrum, if its got magic it would probably fit. It might fit other categories too. Occult/horror sometimes has magic too.

Risu's sig:
Everyone watch out, Risu's a ninja squirrel, thats scary to those of us who are nuts.

 

[Darkblade]

No absolutely not. It can quite often be helpful in defining the story but you don't really need it until you are ready to start shopping for markets to sell it in, even then you don't need to worry about getting too specific.