What is "Non-Genre"?

Does all fiction have a genre? Nope, it does not have to have a genre to be a fiction story. Here are my views on the matter.

Many publications say they only accept "Non-Genre Fiction". A common question writers ask is: What is Non-Genre Fiction? Doesn't all fiction have a genre?

I had just read this post and noticed a debate over what is the meaning of Genre Fiction VS Non-Genre Fiction had begun on its comments.

Being an editor, I think I can be of help here. So, here is my answer to that question. I hope that some of you find it helpful when submitting your future stories to publishers.When a publication says, they're non-genre focused, they mean that they only want literary fiction and will automatically refuse all stories that a genre driven. A genre driven story is one that falls under the following:

Romance

Fantasy

Sci-fi

Horror

(and the many other such genres out there)

Genre driven stories are focused largely on promotion of their genre and the story focuses totally on that genre. I.e., a romance focuses on a girl's romantic infatuation; a fantasy will focus on the life of elves wizards and he-men type characters fighting evil in a epic quest; sci-fi focuses on alien life forms traveling from one planet to the next and other such sci-fi type things; horror focuses on scaring the pants off the reader.

When a publisher say they are non-genre focused, they want to see a slice-of-life story about the day (or week or year) in the life of so-and-so. This is what is known as non-genre or literary fiction.

The story focuses on real-life type characters in real life type situations; stories that real like they could be the life of the guy next door or the girl down the road. Non-genre stories tell a story that is not dependent on a fantasy quest or the eloquent narration describing the alien landscape or the steamy sex-scenes. They simply tell a story about life and thus have no genre.

Well, that's what I see it to mean. Feel free to comment on your own views as to the meaning of non-genre.

~~EK

This article originally published in April 2007, under the title What Is "Non-Genre"?is copyright to Wendy C. Allen and The Twighlight Manor Press, and is reprinted here with permission.