Fictional Genres

Common fiction genres:
Action Fantasy Horror Realistic Fiction Satire
Biography Historical Fiction Mystery Remake Science Fiction (Sci Fi)
Comedy     Romance Thriller/Suspense

 

Realistic fiction – A made-up story that could actually happen in real life, set in a modern context, with characters that are regular, normal people dealing with regular, normal issues; when someone reads it, they believe it was (or could be) real.  Can use real-world settings, or settings might be fictional but extremely similar to a real-world location.  Tends to focus on small, everyday sorts of problems and issues.  Usually deals with one major event, or several events over the course of a short period of time.

 

Thriller – A story with lots of suspense; when someone reads it, they are on the edge of their seat in anticipation of what will happen next; often involves a countdown or timer, OR difficult psychological choices that the character second-guesses.  Sometimes involves lots of action, but doesn't have to.  Spy novels are often thrillers, involving lots of tense moments of near-discovery along with lots of action scenes dealing with chases.  Many scary stories are also thrillers or are suspenseful - the reader is on the edge of the seat wondering if the main characters will survive.  This type of scary story has little or no gore, setting up situations that can't end well for a character and relying on the reader's imagination to fill in the gross details.  A classic suspenseful moment is when two foes face each other in a mental battle of some sort (such as the "poisoned wine" scenario).

 

Action - A story that deals extensively with physical conflicts.  Often includes long descriptions of amazing events.  Most action stories are not very well-written because they often focus on the plot, and rarely develop the characters.  However, there is usually a lot of descriptive detail about key elements of the action; an event that might only take a second to happen might be described with a paragraph or two.

 

Science Fiction (Sci-Fi) – A made-up story that focuses on science; often involves ideas that are not yet possible, but could some day be true. The stories follow the rules of logic, and cause-and-effect. Often deals with topics such as the future, technology, aliens, time-travel ("A Sound of Thunder"), virtual reality, genetic mutation or manipulation, and/or other science-based ideas.  Generally, sci-fi stories deal with situations that COULD be real, if one accepts the main idea (which is based upon some scientific fact).  In fact, the main ideas of some science fiction stories later became science fact - see Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon, many of Isaac Asimov's robot ideas, and some of Robert Heinlein's "fictional" inventions, like the water bed. 

 

Mystery – A made up story that focuses on a mysterious situation that usually occurs at the beginning of the story or before the actual start of the story. It focuses on trying to solve the mystery and involves clues, characters who try to find solutions to the mystery, and often involves detectives; might involve lots of foreshadowing.  Generally, the most enjoyable mystery stories provide enough clues for the reader to guess the ending, but not much before the end of the book.  Often, false clues ("red herrings") are given, leading the reader to think that person A committed the crime, when actually person B is the culprit.  Mystery stories should be logical (so the reader has a shot of figuring out the mystery), and are frequently realistic fiction.  Sometimes called a "Whodunnit" story.  Three very common tropes of mystery are: the locked room mystery; "The butler did it!"; The main character gathering the suspects at the end and explaining how she/he figured out who the real bad guy is.

 

Romance – A made-up narrative that focuses on a love story - all about emotions and relationships.  Usually involves a couple who want to be together but, for some reason, cannot.  Often involves arranged marriage, love at first sight. Frequently includes large amounts of imagery & descriptive details that allow readers to picture scenes extremely clearly in their minds.  Often there is kissing.  Two main styles: 1) A and B love each other, but for some reason can't be together.  2)The “Love Triangle” – A loves B, but B loves C, and C isn't in love with anyone, or A and B love C, but C loves someone else, or can’t decide.  By the end of the romance story, the characters are usually able to overcome their obstacles and be together. 

 

 

Historical Fiction – a made-up story that is based on an actual historical event/situation/character.  Usually is based on well-known history.  Often imagines “What if…?” events turned out differently than they did in reality.  Generally, plots are extremely realistic and follow a logical progression.  The point is to make the reader realize how easily our reality could have turned out differently.

 

Comedy – A story whose purpose is to make the audience laugh.  Comedy often overlaps with realistic fiction, but can be done in any genre.  Comedy can be created when the characters react the opposite of the way the audience would expect.  Sometimes the humor of a comedy comes from the creation of unusual situations, or from unusual characters in ordinary situations.  Other times, the humor comes from taking something well-known to the audience and changing it around to make it seem ridiculous or humorous (this could be a lampoon or a parody).  Comedy may or may not be logical; if it is "silly" and illogical, it might be called "slap-stick". 

 

Fantasy – A made-up story focused on magical or “fantastical” ideas that cannot be real - fantasy stories are completely made up.  Fantasy does not have to follow rules of logic or cause-and-effect.  Often involves “sword-and-sorcerer” type stories.  The main characters in such stories tend to fall into a few categories; they may be humans, elves, fairies, ogres, or some other mythical race; they may be warriors, wizards, rangers, thieves, or some other profession; and they may deal with creatures such as unicorns, dragons, rocs, ents, or other monstrous or mythical beasts.  There is often some kind of magic and/or treasure involved in fantasy stories.  Frequently, the main character is on a quest. Fantasy stories can also be about non-magical, but still completely made-up, ideas, such as Revenge of the Fluffy Bunnies, by Craig Shaw Gardner, in which the characters of a children's movie come off the screen, grab some machine guns, and start getting back at some of the characters from an action movie.

 

Biography – A story that tells about the life of a character, or focuses on major events in a character's life.  May be fiction or non-fiction.  If you write the story of your own life, it is called an autobiography.  Fictional biographies tend to be realistic, following the main events of a person's life as told in a narrative way. 

 

*The main difference between a piece of realistic fiction and a fictional biography is that realistic fiction tends to focus on one specific event or a very short period of time and the effects on a small group of characters, while a biography covers multiple events over years of a character's life, and focuses on the character rather than the events.

 

Horror – A made-up story that focuses mostly on frightening the audience.  Often involves killing and gore, but doesn't have to; the scariness of the story could all be psychological.  Might involve monsters, ghosts, serial killers, insane people.  Tries to frighten the audience – this may involve suspense, like a thriller.  May involve a mystery (who is doing the killing?).  Often involves the supernatural (ghosts, monsters, unkillable or undead killers).  Modern horror stories often involve a "red herring" (a misleading clue to make the audience think the bad guy is X, but really, it's Y).

 

Remake – Taking an existing story and re-writing it so that it is updated or has a new twist. Uses the same basic story, but has changes to some element of the setting, or uses some updated plot devices, or presents a different take on the characters' development.  This keeps the basic idea of the story, but changes it

 

Satire - A story built on well-known concepts that uses those well-known parts to create humor; the purpose is to make the audience see something ridiculous in the original. A key element is to exaggerate one of the defining elements of the original in order to make it seem ridiculous (kind of like a charicature does in art).  Different than a remake in that it is not meant to be serious in any way; instead, it is making fun of the original work, or making fun of a particular idea by carrying it to an absurd extreme, such as Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal, which was subtitled, "For Preventing The Children of Poor People in Ireland From Being Aburden to Their Parents or Country, and For Making Them Beneficial to The Public", which was a satirical suggestion for solving the problems of poverty and hunger during the Great Famine in Ireland by having poor families eat their children.