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What is Visionary fiction?
Nadine May
Posted: Tuesday, February 12, 2013 7:58 AM
Joined: 2/12/2013
Posts: 2


I have found no correct genre on this site for my books, so I better explain my topic.
Visionary Fiction embraces spiritual and esoteric wisdom, often from ancient sources, and makes it relevant for our modern life. These gems of wisdom are brought forth in story form and in a way that readers can experience the wisdom from within themselves. It emphasizes the future and envisions humanity’s transition into evolved consciousness. While there is a strong theme, it in no way proselytizes or preaches.

Visionary is a tone as well as a genre. The ‘visionary’ element can technically be present in any genre and set in any time.

Characteristic Features of  Visionary Fiction:

  • Growth of consciousness is the central theme of the story and drives the protagonist, and/or other important characters.
  • Oftentimes uses reincarnation, dreams, visions, paranormal,  psychic abilities, and other metaphysical plot devices.
  • Is universal in its worldview and scope

So in short, the emphasis is on our limitless human potential, where transformation and evolution are entirely possible.

“Visionary Fiction speaks the language of the soul. It offers a vision of humanity as we dream it could be.


Nevena Georgieva
Posted: Tuesday, February 12, 2013 5:32 PM
Joined: 2/9/2012
Posts: 427


Hi Nadine, welcome to the site!
Our genre map currently focuses on fiction categories; however, you might find a more comfortable home for your writing here in the summer when we expand the genre map to incorporate more categories, including certain types of nonfiction. 

What are you currently working on?

Cheers, 
Nevena from Book Countru
Kathy Gottberg
Posted: Wednesday, February 13, 2013 7:42 PM
Joined: 2/13/2013
Posts: 3


Hi Nadine...thanks for your comment about Visionary Fiction...I guess Nevena didn't understand that Visionary Fiction is FICTION!   I too just joined and realized that the categories they list as fiction are fairly narrow.  Hopefully that will be corrected in the near future.  I too consider my novel to be Visionary Fiction although it is a more down-to-earth version than many of those that explore fantasy and the paranormal.  To me, Visionary Fiction has always been about the growth of consciousness, as you say, but most especially about transformation.  I'm looking forward to connecting with other readers AND writers here on Bookcountry and perhaps helping spread the word about our niche.
Timothy Maguire
Posted: Wednesday, February 13, 2013 8:27 PM
Joined: 8/13/2011
Posts: 272


I think you might be best served by taking a second look at the genre options. BC's genre options are best described as a 'setting' set rather than a 'theme' set. They generally highlight what the setting of the book is (urban fantasy, high fantasy, space opera, Military SF) rather than the theme of the novel (ie Visionary Fiction). If you want to highlight your books as this, I'd take a look at the optional tags you can give your book. As a final note, you can always change what genre your book 'is' later on, so if you upload now, you can change it to VF later on, assuming that it becomes one of the new genres. Might I suggest Soft SF for now?
Nadine May
Posted: Friday, February 15, 2013 7:16 AM
Joined: 2/12/2013
Posts: 2


Thanks for all the response. My problem for the moment is that there are no titles that come up for me that I'm drawn to read or and review with the genre settings I explored. Even Soft SF. And I tried several options!

Colleen Lindsay
Posted: Friday, February 15, 2013 1:37 PM
Joined: 2/27/2011
Posts: 353


Hi Nadine -

My name is Colleen Lindsay, and I'm the community manager for the site.

I think some of your confusion may be coming from the fact that currently Book Country's workshop is open only to genre fiction, which includes sub-genres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance and Thriller. In June, we'll be opening it up to most categories of fiction, and several categories of narrative non-fiction, but until then, a member's book must fit on the Genre Map to be included in the workshopping part of the community.

Additionally, part of our mission is  to help educate writers about the realities of the business of publishing. This includes letting writers know what is and what is not a recognized category in bookstores or online retailers. As such, we limit our categories and genres to those that are recognized by acquiring editors and chain bookstore buyers.

While you may write Visionary Fiction, it is not currently a recognized genre by most publishers or retailers, in much the same way that Transgressive Fiction is not yet recognized as a separate genre.

If you would like to place your book on our genre map, and you think it fits there, you can tag it as Visionary Fiction. We have created a Visionary Fiction tag for you under "Themes".

I hope this helps!

All the best,

Colleen


Brandi Larsen
Posted: Friday, February 15, 2013 5:45 PM
Joined: 6/18/2012
Posts: 228


I find it helpful to read widely, as there's always something I can learn from someone else's work.

Connecting with other writers and supporting each other's work is essential to success. The reason I was attracted to this community is because I believe the level of support for each other is unmatched.

 

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