TFTSP: Get To Know Your Genres

If your story features a magical forest and talking animals, congratulations! That’s a Fantasy! It is not, however, Contemporary, which implies real world situations (aka: no magical creatures, sadly). If the whole point of your book is two people falling in love and getting together, then that is a Romance (even if they are magic animals). If romance is your goal, Romance is your genre.

Yes, you can combine these but don’t try to shove five different genres all up in your query letter. Those mashups rarely a cohesive story make. For the love, people. I don’t know what to do with your Steampunk world of magical creatures on spaceships trying to solve a murder as the detective falls in love with the deceased.