The English Language - Creative writing - defining genre

In writing creatively we invariably cross over many genres, each genre is different.  Below I will try to define some of the different genres:

Action/Adventure : A story where the main character finds him or herself in tricky situations, has a mission and faces obstacles to reach his or her destination.

Comedy : A story written to make the audience laugh.

Crime Novel : A story about a crime that is being committed or was committed. It can also be an account of a criminal's life. It often falls into the Action or Adventure genres. Court room drama’s/legal thrillers, murder mystery, detective stories, gangsters, normally come under this genre.

Documentary : a story that tells the truth about events.

Fiction : a made up story, with made up characters and places; some fictional stories are based on fact therefore some of the characters maybe based on real people and real places.

Faction : is a fictional story based on real historical figures, actual events and allegations.

Fantasy : A story about magic and supernatural forces.

Historical : A story based on past events and people.

Horror : A story that is told to deliberately scare or frighten the audience, through suspense, violence or shock. Genres within this genre include ghost stories, stories about monsters, the occult, vampires, etc.

Mystery : this is usually associated with crime and supernatural fiction; solving a problem or strange occurrence. Enid Blyton's secret seven and famous fives children's novels fall into the mystery style of novels. Myths and legends in history can also fall into this genre. In fact many genres can crossover the mystery genre.

Paranoid fiction : is a story about how the forces in power affect the subjective nature of reality.

Philosophical fiction : a normal story to explain difficult and/or dark parts of human life.

Political fiction : is often used to criticize an existing, alternative society, sometimes fantastic, reality.

Romance : (chick lit)stories set in present day and aimed at female readers where the characters fall in and out of love and eventually have a happy ending.

Saga(s) : prose, stanzas or whole poems that use alliteration to tell stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, Viking voyages, Icelandic migration and family feuds. A family saga is a story that tells about the lives of a particular family often used to explain particular events.

Satire : uses wit, irony and sarcasm to attack something that the author disapproves of and is meant to be funny.

Science Fiction / Fantasy : stories set in outer space or the future featuring aliens, time travel, or fantasy stories featuring wizards, fairies, mythological beasts and magic.

Slice of Life : a day in the life of ……

Speculative fiction : overlaps with science fiction, fantasy fiction, horror fiction, supernatural fiction, superhero fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, and alternate history.

Spy / Espionage : Classic spy genre deals with the Cold War usually MI5 / MI6 and the CIA against the KGB

Thriller : A story that is filled with suspense and action, adventure, mystery or horror depending on the level of terror. Usually dark or serious drama and includes disaster; psychological; crime and techno.

Urban fiction (street lit) : stories based in the city, defined by race and culture usually dark material covering violence, sex, drugs, etc.

War : Adventure fiction based on usually set around real battles.

Hope this helps with your writing.

Please let me know if I have missed a genre.

copyright © leni sands 2010

All comments appreciated.