How do you tell if your Serial Killer Novel is More of a Mystery or a Horror Novel?

[WhateverTheTurtle]

I'm having a hard time figuring out if my story should be under horror or mystery genre.

Here is my novels description:

A Murderer's Last Masterpiece:
https://tapas.io/series/A-Murderers-Last-Masterpiece

A well known serial killer, Mr. Doug, has a total of 29 people in his artistic collection. He is an artist who is starting to lose his inspiration, and the only way for him to get it back is to create his masterpiece. But he runs into one major problem, someone else has the same idea.

There is something much more to a murderer's last masterpiece than meets the eye, but will they ever figure out what it truly is?

My novel is creepy, but not on the edge of your seat suspense. The story's main character is a murderer who is causing the crime rather than solving it. But the whole point of the book is for the murderer to figure out what a murderer's last masterpiece really is? But there are planned murders taking place within the novel which can get give you chills.

I wrote a horror novel before, but this time I'm really unsure if it would be more of a horror or a mystery novel. I originally was planning for this to be a thriller, but there is no thriller genre.

What do you think?

[Lirina]

I guess it depends on which aspect you want to focus on more, it could be either based on the description. Do you mainly aim to shock people or do you want to get them intrigued in finding our more about that masterpiece?

Horror seems to be more popular on Tapas (based on number of likes) so could go with that now and then see what happens as you progress?

[IndigoShirtProd]

Sounds more like a mystery, at least to me, with some horror elements. Guess it depends on what is a larger focus in the narrative: figuring out the final master piece or the extent of the murders.

I'm actually having a similar issue with the novella I'm writing right now. There's technically a murder mystery, but with the small cast of characters, I don't know if it qualifies. And on top of that, the focus of the story isn't really focused on solving the murder. There are some horror elements I guess, and I originally qualified it as a drama...

Honestly, i don't know.

[SleepingPoppy]

I have a handy chart for this!! =D

[WhateverTheTurtle]

This is the most beautiful chart I have ever seen!
Thanks!

[WhateverTheTurtle]

Thanks! Its nice to know I'm not alone with not knowing what genre I'm writing lol.

[WhateverTheTurtle]

Thanks! I was trying to figure out what genre is more popular! And yeah I think I'll keep it horror for now and change it later if the story goes more that way. Thanks for the advice!