Fiction is NOT a Genre…

Recently, I was skimming through a fellow editor's website (who shall remain nameless) and encountered a page where people were listing the titles of their manuscripts and their respective genres. OMG, the number of people that listed their genre as FICTION...

People, FICTION is NOT a genre. It tells us nothing about your story, except for the fact that it's made up. And it's not good enough to tell us the you write Young Adult or Middle-Grade either. All this tells us is who your target audience is.  Let's face it, a science fiction story is very different to a western. (However, you could have a Western SciFi — Firefly is the perfect example of this subgenre.) A Young Adult SciFi and a Middle-Grade SciFi, on the other hand, will contain similar elements, all related to the SciFi genre.

In my post Young Adult: A Category or a Genre?, I discussed the differences between Middle-Grade, Young Adult, New Adult and Adult, pointing out how these terms relate only to your target audience age bracket. However, it has become obvious to me that there seems to be even more confusion about this beast known as Genre.

According to Merriam-Webster, a genre is a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content. I suppose one can successfully argue that fiction is a genre, because the content is made up, but it still tells me nothing about your story — it gives me no clue as to whether I might actually be interested in reading it. It gives no indication of what section in the bookstore that it will likely be shelved.

The main genres of fictional literature are as follows:

• Romance
• Fantasy
• Science Fiction
• Comedy
• Mystery/Crime
• Horror
• Suspense/Thriller
• Historical (i.e. Western, Edwardian, Medieval, etc.)

Each of these genres has a list of subgenres and cross-overs that can seriously do the head in just thinking about it. Below is just a few of the subgenres.

Romance

The main plot of a romance novel focuses on the romantic relationship between two main characters, which we will call the hero and the heroine (though a romance can be male/male, female/female, male/female, or whatever pairing you want). The story must finish in a positive and optimistic way with the hero and the heroine together in a "happily ever after" or a "happy for now". This is the defining characteristic. Any other ending means that your story can't be classified a romance. (Romantic stories with a tragic ending are classified Woman's Fiction.) There are so many subgenres of romance that I've lost count, but here are just a few.

• Contemporary romance involves any romance that takes place after World War II. However, contemporary settings are more commonly of the modern technological era.
• Historical romance is a broad category as the historical period can be in any era, ranging from ancient societies through to the 19th century.
• Romantic suspense is a romantic story that contains elements of mystery. Typically, the heroine is the victim of a crime, and works with the hero to solve the case and bring the real villain to justice.
• Paranormal romance is a blend of fantasy and romance. Typically elements such as vampires, werewolves or the like are woven into the story.

Fantasy

Fantasy uses magical or other supernatural elements as a main plot element within the story. Many fantasy stories are set in imaginary worlds, but they don't always have witches, elves, or magical rings. Again, there are many different flavors of fantasy that one can easily get confused.

• Urban fantasy stories are traditionally set in a contemporary setting, most commonly within a city, but involve elements such as witches, vampires or werewolves. Any supernatural creature in your modern-day story, and you're looking at this subgenre. Contemporary fantasy includes stories that are outside of the city.
• High fantasy (sometimes called epic fantasy) is where the stories are set in a "secondary" world, that may have elements that resemble our own, but for the most part is very different. High fantasy stories commonly involve elves, goblins, dwarfs, demons and other such like creatures.
• Mystical realism will be a story set in the "real" world, however a small element will contain some magical quality. The magical element within this subgenre will be subtle.
• Fairytale retellings are just that. They draw on fairytale elements, twisting them to suit the story.

Science Fiction

As the name suggests, science fiction will contain scientific elements within its main plot. One can be talking about space travel, or virtual reality, or even just internet monsters who goggle up all the data on your computer. There is no need for science fiction to be filled with massive equations or big terms that no one understands, but the science background must be evident.

• Dystopian is traditionally a post-apocalypse setting, where the characters are trying to build the world again. The science may be soft or hard, and in some dystopian stories, magic will play a role, bringing in the fantasy elements.
• Steampunk examines worlds where the machines, architecture and clothing designs are based off of the 19-century industrial revolution.
• Space opera outlines the epic dramatic space stories, often involving many fire fights between ships. (Star Trek and Star Wars are classic space operas.)
• Time travel novels typically span across multiple time periods, where the main character is travelling through time, just as the name suggests.
• Near-future science fiction will be all of the stories that talk about internet crimes, virtual reality, hover cars and the like. It will be based on all the technologies that are just around the corner.

Trying to keep track of all the subgenres I think would give anyone a headache. The trick is to know which of the main genre categories your writing belongs to, and then get your head around the subgenres of just that category.

Mystery/Crime

In a mystery novel, there needs to be a mysterious puzzle that needs to be solved. The readers are trying to solve the puzzle at the same time that the main characters are. But that puzzle doesn't necessarily need to be a crime. It could be something as simple as "Who ate the last cookie?" (Though in some households, eating the last cookie could be classified as crime, so...)

In a crime novel, there needs to actually be a crime. But the reader might know who committed the crime from the onset, shifting the story from a WhoDunIt to a HowDunIt, i.e. shifting the puzzle from the who to the how.

Then we have the various subgenre flavors.

• Police procedurals, where the main character is in law enforcement and is following standard investigation practices to solve a crime.
• Private detective, where the main character is a private detective (often former military or law enforcement). They try to follow standard investigation practices, but more often than not, they'll skirt the law on something.
• Legal courtroom dramas take the crime into the courtroom, following standard courtroom procedures... mostly. Legally Blonde was a courtroom comedy, and while they stuck to legal procedures, we can't say that they stuck to standard procedures.
• Cozy mysteries is where the main investigator is NOT law enforcement, but rather some random person that just has a knack for putting their nose in where it doesn't belong. They decide to solve the mystery themselves, and often break standard procedures (sometimes knowingly). But the other big defining characteristic of a cozy mystery is that the setting is often a small town where law enforcement is overworked (often a local sheriff and their deputy).

Thriller and Comedy

I've put thriller and comedy together in this post, because all three of them are more like tone genres. If it's a comedy, then the tone will be filled with hilarity. If it's a drama, then the tone will be more serious. If it's a thriller, the story will be tension filled, often including high-stakes action.

These tone genres are often paired up with some other wording that will define the story more accurately, e.g. romantic comedy, crime thriller, political thriller, sci-fi thriller.

Know Your Genre and Subgenre

Each genre and subgenre come with element expectations. If you fail to include those elements in your story, then readers will know you've misclassified your story, and it will come back to bite you in the ass. So, it's important that you understand exactly what it is that you're writing.

If you're still a little confused about what it is you're writing (and maybe need some guidance), reach out to me and let's have a chat.