Genre Waffles with a side doubt

It's a genre universe in term of what agents to submit to and how a publisher will market your book so all the research says- know your genre! Before submitting to agents

So my worry about Tx3 comes from the fact that it is not a typical fantasy, urban fantasy, or paranormal romance. It is a mosaic novel following a town and therefore while the witches are the main catalysts for everything that happens they have less screen time then the main characters of the typical fantasy/paranormal.

I have been waffling on genre and it's giving me fits because I need to target the right agents! I did find this blog post immensely helpful http://literaticat.blogspot.com/2010/10/big-ol-genre-glossary.html Thank you! I have narrowed my genre down to paranormal or fantasy but I'm really leaning toward paranormal because fantasy implies a secondary world. So I'm 90% sure I'll go with paranormal.


There is appalling LACK of magic in Tx3 which gives me pause as well. I mean I think I've barely squeaked out of the realm of magical realism. The witch's use magic hardly at all! And then it's either off screen or for some very mundane purpose. I have a scene where Brulee- the eternal optimist finally breaks down and cries in the bathroom of the tea shop and she uses a spell to get rid of her puffy red eyes before going out to talk to Anglaise. And that's it! That's about as good as the magic gets...

There is a third (dark horse) genre I could call Tx3 is contemporary fantasy since it takes place in the relatively real world of a made up town in Maine. There are no unicorns prancing about the town square and no other magical beings other than witches. I VOWED early on not to put in anything else, so despite my deep love for vampires this is not their book (I have Ambriel for that). However type contemporary fantasy into the Amazon search and a potpourri of non-fiction, horror, paranormal romance, and Spectrum illustration volumes pop up. So how much of a true genre can it be?

So when it's ready I guess it's off to the fantasy and paranormal agents.

Fingers crossed.