Writing 105: Genre
Salutations and scarification! Well, that kind fits, I guess? Today, Anne and I, your favourite alien Limax Vivian, will discuss genre, which is an important component of writing and story categorisation.
(Anne:) As a brief preview, because this is quite long, and in case you want to skip to a certain portion, we’re going to talk about the following broad genres, and for each, we’ll go into some subgenres: scifi, fantasy, horror/dark, romance, erotica, mystery, punk, literary, and then Target Audience Literature based on audience groups and age groups. We’ll end with some notes on mixing genres.
What is a genre?
(Anne:) A genre is a grouping based on content, style, audience, and more. Most are easily recognized, but it’s worth going into the specifics so you know what you’re writing. A lot of this is based on bookstores and libraries: which section would the book go in? This is a huge part of getting your book published regardless of whether you go traditional or self-publishing. You also need to know which genre(s) you’re writing so that you know what to include.
One thing to note is that genres are not plots. Some genres lend themselves to certain plots, but plots can show up anywhere. For example, you can have a space opera heist novel, an urban fantasy heist novel, a horror heist, a romance heist, and so on. The genres and subgenres below are distinguished by other characteristics, not plots.
(Vivian:) The main thing about a genre is that they make a certain number of promises that the reader can expect from the story, setting, or characters. All genres have these promises, and breaking them is always a bad thing that will sour moods.
(Anne:) One final note: you can blend genres! It’s great! I’ve written science fantasy, and romance frequently blends genres, and horror can overlap with all sorts of things as well. Look at the promises each genre makes, and as long as you fulfil them, you can consider your book to encompass that genre!
Scifi
(Vivian:) Scifi is a really hard genre to nail down as it encompasses so much. It isn’t quite enough to say “futuristic,” or “tech,” or really anything, so what is scifi in its foundation? Novum is the answer. What is novum? It is anything that is strange yet in a believable way plausible in the real world. Vampires, the undead, are not novum because there is nothing in our world that could believably be used to justify their existence. A vampire-like entity that is caused by bacteria, viruses, or parasites? That is novum because those things–bacteria, viruses, or parasites that cause strange states–do exist and we can believe that MAYBE, just maybe, those wretched things could cause a vampire-like state for people in reality.
(Anne:) In my graduate writing classes on the subject, scifi is often defined as a story that involves a technology or science that extrapolates from current technology, which is basically the same thing in different words.
(Vivian:) This definition is incredibly nebulous, and that is kind of the point. If it is believably strange–novum–it can be scifi. We often associate this with technology because that is the thing that has expanded the most for us and allowed what once was pure fantasy dreams to become reality. Which goes into what Anne said. It is not necessarily technology, but that is the most common as that is the easiest for authors to engage in.
Some might say things like FTL (Faster Than Light) is proven impossible by relativity, so it shouldn’t be novum then! …We know relativity is wrong somewhere, we just don’t know where… Well, you humans don’t. So maybe there is a way that FTL can work. This is also why scifi often has psionic stuff. At one point, it was believed it could potentially be so, and thus was novum. These days it is grandfathered in, to my dismay.
So what is the overarching promise of scifi? There will be novum (something strange yet one can believe is plausible in our universe). That is the one thing scifi as a whole promises.
One thing to pay attention to with scifi is the difference between hard scifi and soft scifi. What are those? We have people bitching which is better, and as Anne and I can tell you, neither is. They are different styles. It all really comes down to novum again. Soft vs Hard scifi is a spectrum based on how many novums you have. Hard scifi has one, maybe two, rarely three or beyond, novums within the story. But super soft scifis can throw in countless novums and keep at it. Then you have anything in between depending on your liking. I prefer softer scifi personally.
(Anne:) A different way I’ve heard it defined is that soft scifi focuses on people and relationships while hard scifi focuses on the science itself, but this goes along with the idea that hard scifi only has a limited number of novums explained in detail while soft can have a lot, since they’re more in the background.
(Vivian:) You heard it folks, hard scifi is a technology manual, and thus bad storytelling without people! 😛
Space Opera
(Vivian:) Button up your shirt, put on your boots, sit down in the chair, we are going to space! 🚀 Space operas are about space and flying through it. There is what is called planet hopping; that is, you go from one planet to another. That is where the “opera” part of the name comes from, by having the ability to go between the world, it feels much bigger and grander than regular life. The overall promise this genre makes is a sense of awe inspiring scale through the usage of planet hopping.
Military
(Vivian:) Grab your guns, get into the tanks, it is war time! Hopefully not, but in military scifis, there is always some kind of war. Two (or more) sides duking it out over something through military force, and the protag is usually not one of the foot soldiers who will die. Some military stories start with them climbing the ranks, others have them start up the ranks, yet others start with the protag at the bottom and they stay there. The last example is much rarer, but it is very popular when the point of the story is to show how gruesome and horrible war is. Most military scifis are not meant for this, but some do it.
What is the promise? There will be war, there will be battles…
There will be blood!
Time Travel
(Vivian:) Move forward, go forth, seize the day, for each day is precious and unique! You will never have it again! Time moves only one way, one second per second from the past to the future! …Or does it? Time travel stories are all about what happens when this singular truth is broken. Some authors take a lot into account to make certain it makes sense, others are willy nilly. Does it make sense? Shut up and just read the story! One thing to keep in mind is that, while it’s technically time travel, relativistic time dilation stuff to the future rarely falls into this genre. It falls more into general scifi and other genres that might be applicable. Same goes with suspended animation or the likes.
So what is the promise? Time travel to the past will happen! Beyond that, anything goes.
Fantasy
(Anne:) The defining feature of fantasy is magic. There must be some force in the world impossible in our existing reality to fit under the definition of fantasy. This is different from scifi, where everything has to be plausible in our reality, because magic isn’t. And if it is plausible, you might be in science fantasy territory. In a simplified version, you might think of it this way:
Scifi makes the implausible plausible.
Fantasy makes the impossible possible.
However, even though there’s always magic, this doesn’t mean that the magic has to be the focus! Quite the contrary. A lot of fantasy focuses on things besides magic. However, magic is always present.
One great distinction in fantasy is between soft magic and hard magic. This is all about how prominent you want magic to be, and I discuss this in my post on creating magic systems.
Basically, soft magic has magic in the background, and it either isn’t defined at all, or at the least isn’t described in detail. The Lord of the Rings is a great example of this. There’s magic, certainly, but it’s not the most important thing, and it’s really never defined. Gandalf is a wizard, but his magic never saves the day. His biggest feat of magic–defeating the balrog–occurs offstage. Lord of the Rings is a story about people, not magic.
On the other hand, you have stories with hard magic like Fullmetal Alchemist. In these systems, magic is clearly defined. Why? Because it plays a huge role in the plot and often in character development as well. If you want to be able to solve problems with magic, you’d better define how that magic works, or it feels like a deus ex machina! Vivian knows this show better than me, so I’ll hand it over to zhim for a moment!
(Vivian:) Yeah yeah you anime hater! The show is about the Eldric brothers in another world where alchemy is alive and well. The magical system is built around “equivalent exchange,” where you cannot get more out of a process than you put in. A central concept is the immense value of the human soul. It initially starts with the hijinks of the two brothers but turns into a sinister plot that they find out. There is a manga and two animes. Brotherhood is faithful to the manga, the other deviates at one point.
(Anne:) As you can see, both soft and hard magic are great depending on your purposes. Most people fall in the middle, but for writers, be aware of where you stand so that you know how much you need to define your magic to avoid a deus ex machina!
Overall, the primary promise that fantasy makes is that there will be magic, or some impossible thing made possible. Now that we have that out of the way, it’s time to look at subgenres!
High Fantasy/Tolkienism
(Anne:) When most people think of fantasy, this is what they think of! High stakes. Adventure. Wizards. Orcs. A formidable villain who will eventually be vanquished by one or more heroes who have undergone an arduous journey. Tolkein really locked in a lot of the popular features of the genre with Middle Earth, and it’s easy to fall into those cliches, but it’s also very possible to be completely original.
(Vivian:) Due to too many stories essentially just rebranding this, this is also the least creative in my opinion. If you are gonna do this, do it with a fun and unique spin!
(Anne:) One distinguishing feature of high fantasy is that it’s almost always secondary world fantasy. Secondary world fantasy takes place somewhere that isn’t Earth, or at least that isn’t Earth as we know it. The worlds follow different rules of physics, possess magic, and/or have different landmasses. It’s not unusual for the books to place the world as Earth long ago, before the gods left and magic diminished, but even though there’s that loose connection in some books, it’s very much a different world.
Other key traits are some of the archetypes that it uses. The stakes are huge in these stories. The fate of the entire world is at stake! Someone’s entire people has been slaughtered, and the lone survivor must avenge them! The conflict also tends to be good versus evil, although there are plenty of morally grey characters to be found in a good high fantasy. Still, it’s usually easy to sort people into good or evil (or the always fun trickster or betrayer). The main character or characters are a hero, keeping in mind that there are lots of types of heroes, and the main enemy is a villain of some sort. In terms of writing, high fantasy tends to follow the hero’s journey (see my post on dramatic structure for more detail on that!).
Unfortunately, mostly due to Tolkein’s influence on this genre, almost all high fantasy is set in the European “Middle Ages.” I put that in quotation marks because most high fantasy settings aren’t actually anything like the real Middle Ages in Europe, plus it ignores that medieval times spanned quite a bit of time and things changed dramatically throughout it. Can you have high fantasy with modern technology? Absolutely! (Vivian: GIB ME MAGIC MUSKETS UND CANNONS!) My own series, the Imperial Saga, does exactly this. But it’s extremely uncommon. Having modern technology in a secondary world fantasy with high stakes and a traditional hero’s journey structure isn’t done enough, in my opinion, and if it is medieval, I love seeing non-European versions.
Urban/Low/Contemporary Fantasy
(Anne:) There are so many names for this genre! It began as urban fantasy, then for some reason that developed a bad reputation so it was switched to low fantasy, but there’s some confusion there because low fantasy is another way to describe soft fantasy, so then it went to contemporary fantasy, which seems to be the one that most publishers today are using. Still, most readers know it as urban fantasy, and that’s what I use.
Urban fantasy takes place in today’s world* except that there’s magic. The asterisk is because it’s more fair to say it’s our world within the last twenty years or so. In terms of technology and culture, you can tell that most authors aren’t kids. In young adult, you’ll see much more modern things, and slowly technology like social media is creeping in, but there’s a definite delay in what is considered today’s world in urban fantasy. (Vivian: #NoInstaspellSocialMedia) No Instaspell… yet…
Anyway, it’s today’s world with magic, as I said. Often this magic is hidden from ordinary people so that we don’t know it’s there. Vampires and werewolves live among us, but they keep their presence hidden. Sometimes it’s more out in the open. Superheroes fight in the streets, identities hidden but the presence of otherworldly power clear. Regardless of how the magic is handled, the book itself is explicit about it, and there’s almost always an explanation for it. These lean towards hard magic, though there are exceptions.
(Vivian:) I’d love to see one where it isn’t hidden and more integrated, even if it was all revealed a few decades ago.
Cozy Fantasy
(Anne:) Want a secondary world fantasy without the high stakes? Or an urban fantasy without the fate of the world relying on your hero’s every choice? You’re probably looking for cozy fantasy! I’m not sure this is actually a subgenre according to the publishing world, but authors use it a lot. It’s for any low-stakes fantasy that doesn’t really belong in the other categories simply because it’s so personal and low-key.
The defining feature is the stakes. This may still be fairly high, for example if there’s a detective using magic to track down a serial killer. Lives are on the line! But the fate of the world isn’t. And often this is simply an individual matter. Maybe your characters run an Inn (because you’re naturally going for the “medieval” setting) and you get to deal with the customers and their woes. Maybe it’s a knight trying to rescue a princess (or prince!) but nothing really hinges on it. These are low stakes things.
Another feature is the tone. These stories are more relaxed, friendlier, and, dare I say, cozier. That’s pretty much it. The promise? Low stakes and cozy tone. It’s a great subgenre, not one widely recognized, but good if you want to read some fantasy without getting involved in an entire world’s survival.
Magical Realism
(Anne:) This subgenre is a little tricky because it gets into cultural identity. Some literary scholars say that it only occurs in Latino/Latina literature, but many people expand it. One of the big problems with the term is that it’s often used to describe things that definitely aren’t magical realism. Anytime an author has a soft magic fantasy set in our world that is more “literary,” they tend to market it as magical realism. It’s usually not. That’s one reason people get so up in arms about who can use the term. I’m going to neatly sidestep the question of who can write it and just look at the distinguishing factors.
Rather like urban fantasy, magical realism deals with our world except with magic. However, there are some key differences. First, magical realism uses soft magic, but does so differently. The magic isn’t viewed as magic but rather as simply part of the world. Now remember, this is set in our world! Normally magic in our world would be unusual, but here, it’s not. An old man shows up with wings? Okay. An enslaved woman murders her child to save her from a terrible fate, and that baby returns in the form of a young woman some years later? Sure. In both situations, that isn’t the story. The story is about the people.
One reason this often gets linked to Latino/Latina authors (aside from the fact that they pioneered this genre in Western literature) is that it’s said to be a reflection of the way Latinos/Latinas view the world. According to these scholars, what most people would view as magic is just part of the world for Latinos/Latinas because they view the world differently. To me, that seems like a bit of a blanket statement, and I have no idea how accurate it is, but that’s one argument I’ve read a lot.
One reason people like to claim this as their subgenre is that it’s written in a literary way (see literary fiction below). In fact, a lot of people would be insulted that I categorized this under fantasy at all! Fantasy is genre fiction, and magical realism is an offshoot of literary fiction! I did seriously consider where to put this subgenre, but since I hate the snobbiness of literary types, I put it here partially out of spite. But not too much spite! It genuinely is fantasy.
Another factor that is present in most magical realism is the plausibility of a non-magical answer. This isn’t always the case, but it’s often enough that it’s a good sign. Maybe the young woman is the slaughtered baby returning. Maybe it's just a young woman taking advantage of the older woman's situation and history, and all of the little things that the woman is viewing as clear signs of connection are just coincidence. However, it doesn’t matter whether or not it’s magic.
That’s the final key trait of magical realism. The magic is background and used to explore people and society, and learn more about who we are through the use of elements that may or may not be otherworldly but are accepted as truth even if they are.
Portal/Isekai
(Anne:) Most portal fantasy is a combination of urban fantasy and high fantasy. Characters in one world find a portal to another that’s vastly different. Often, this takes the form of characters in our reality (usually our very standard reality with no magic) finding a portal and being transported into a high fantasy, usually “medieval” world that contains magic. Although there are wonderful examples of this in all age categories, this is a popular one in children’s and young adult, as it gives kids the hope that just maybe they’ll stumble across a wardrobe that will take them to a fantasy world that at first glance seems free of the troubles they face.
Other forms of portal magic involve time travel, where a character is transported from one time to another. The difference between time travel portal fantasy and time travel in science fiction is generally the means of travel. Science fiction time travel, as with all science fiction, is based on science of some sort. Portal fantasy is based on unknown or unexplained forces. A woman wanders into Stonehenge at just the right time and finds herself centuries in the past, for example.
Usually the story of portal fantasy involves the character mastering the skills of the new world in order to get home, but there are plenty that involve characters moving back and forth in order to learn to live in both worlds. Generally speaking, the skills that the characters learn in the new world help them make peace with their lives in the old world or overcome some physical or metaphorical enemy there. In others, the characters remain in the new world. There’s so much room for exploration!
Horror/Dark
(Vivian:) We grouped these together despite them being quite different to save space. Anyway, horror is all about feeling fear and being scared. So the fundamental promise that any horror gives is it will make you feel afraid and scared. The exact nature depends on what kind.
Dark stuff is slightly different in that it doesn’t promise you fear or the likes; it might, but what it promises is that the world and setting is dark, negative, horrible. Examples include, but are not limited to, people viewing each other as disposable, might makes right, and having no genuinely good people in the world.
Cosmic horror/Lovecraftian
(Vivian:) Lovecraft pioneered this genre, and thus it is named after him. The entire point of cosmic horror is to invoke fear by making the reader feel and realise their own insignificance to the broader universe through the protagonist.
Often it includes a being or beings beyond human comprehension. Not in that you are unfamiliar with it, but it is something so big and unfathomable that its motives are truly incomprehensible no matter what knowledge you get. Think of yourself as an ant looking up trying to comprehend what humans do, how insignificant you are to the humans, and how, without even noticing you, they can and will swat you out of existence. You are that insignificant. Yet this comparison is in of itself insufficient–you are even less than said ant compared to the cosmic horrors.
Supernatural Horror
(Vivian:) This one is short and sweet! It is horror, but you promise it is supernatural! Demons from hell, angels fallen from heaven, ghosts from beyond the grave, supernatural creatures from folklore, their monstrous creations of humans, and much else. The source of the fear must be something that is beyond the known physical world.
Body Horror
(Vivian:) Oh this one is fun! A favourite of mine actually! I am a sick fuck, can you blame me? Anyway, you like your body, you enjoy how it is, how you have control over it, how it only slowly changes with age, and the next day when you wake up, it is what you remembered. Such nice things your body and mind gets to experience!
Body horror relies on bringing fear by destroying this foolish notion! Robbing you of your own agency in the body. It changes beyond your control into something you cannot wrap your head around. Make you into a thing that is as indescribable as Lovecraftian monsters. These are sometimes called Cronenbergs: bodily creatures that you can see but then are so mutated and wrong that they should not be possible to exist!
Grimdark
(Vivian:) Again, another one that is fairly simple! There is no hope, good will not win, for there is no good side. The protags can generally only hope for a pyrrhic victory, and it is generally to maintain the status quo. Escape is impossible; it is a depressing world of horrors. Darkness reigns supreme, and light is an illusion that only exists because the poor unfortunate souls know nothing more. In reality, all stars are dead.
Gore
(Vivian:) Let the blood flow! For it is gore time! Gore is a form of horror that is built on extreme violence that pulls the human body apart in ways it shouldn’t. Blood flows everywhere, limbs fly left and right, seriously the more you can maim and destroy the body in creative ways, the better the gore! People who want gore want creative ways to destroy the human body.
Romance
(Anne:) Okay, I have a confession to make here. Despite having written 19 romance novels under my pen name, I don’t actually know a lot about romance! I write science fiction and fantasy romance, blending the genres, so I'm less familiar with the traditional categories. As you can see from my preferred blend of romance with scifi and fantasy, there’s a ton of potential in this genre. I do know enough to get the basics down, so let’s go!
One thing that’s going out of style that I loved about romance was the covers. In my opinion, you should need to hide the cover in public! There are so many great ones; here’s one!
There are really only two requirements to romance, and they make the difference between…
Romance vs Romance
(Anne:) First, and this is so important, there’s a HUGE difference between a romantic story and a romance. Both fit the first promise of a romance novel, which is that it revolves around one or more romances. These can have any combination of genders and number of (potential) partners. Both romantic stories and romances have this. Some authors who don’t understand the genre will see that their stories have a romantic plot line as the main story and claim to be romance. However, unless they also have the second required promise, readers will scorn them and agents and publishers will never take them seriously. If all you have is romance, you have a romantic story and NOT a romance.
So what sets a romance aside? All romances–and I mean all–must have either a Happily Ever After (HEA) or a Happily For Now (HFN) ending. That’s not optional, and I’m not kidding. Every once in a while this comes up for discussion from non-romance writers, and we romance writers are emphatic in our stance: you need one or the other. Now, I hear people cry:
Oh, but what about Romeo and Juliet! It’s such a beautiful romance!
NO! It’s absolutely NOT a romance! Did you miss the part where they’re dead at the end? Even Shakespeare classifies it as a tragedy. It’s a romantic tragedy, definitely, but it’s not romance. Honestly, I don’t know why so many people bring up that play as evidence that a romance can have something besides a HEA or HFN.
If you have a story centered on romance that doesn’t have a HEA/HFN ending, you call it a “romantic ___” with your secondary genre in the second place, or just the word “novel” or “story.” For example, while I usually write fantasy romances, I have one romantic fantasy that has a pretty dark ending. Again, if you put them in the wrong order, the romance audience WILL notice. If you try to be cute or different, you’ll end up with a slew of one-star reviews.
Anyway, those are the two requirements! A story where the main plot line is one or more romance, and a HEA/HFN. And make sure you have that ending! It’s the main promise of the genre. That’s it! Blend away from there. However, there are a few common subgenres.
Historical
(Anne:) Historical romances need to be set at least 50 years ago to be considered historical. If you’re an Elder Millennial like me or an older generation, that time period is creeping up in a very disturbing way. I’ve heard some people try to classify the 1990s as historical romance, but thank goodness we’re not there yet! …As of posting this, at least. In terms of writing, just as much care goes into historical romance as in historical fiction–in other words, a lot. Every detail needs to be perfect, because your reader might happen to be an expert in that time period and spot the tiniest historical inconsistency.
There are a ton of sub-subgenres in here based on time period, but the current darling is probably Regency (set in the 1810s in England). Other fun ones include viking romances, pirate romances, Western romances, and then a ton of little groupings from medieval through various periods of English history, plus a bunch of little groupings in America as well. Why am I saying only England and America? Well, those are the majority of the books that have been published. As self-publishing becomes better respected and publishers finally figure out that other countries exist, we’ve seen other people and cultures represented in historical fiction, which I view as a huge improvement!
Contemporary
(Anne:) As you can probably guess, this is everything from the last 50 years! You do need historical accuracy here too, but it’s a little easier since it’s so recent. There are plenty of relatively young people to talk to about this depending on how long ago it was and how old you need the people you interview to be. One thing you want to be careful of is new technology. I remember one book making a huge deal of this great new invention called the fax machine that was going to revolutionize communication.
By all means include recent technology, but don’t make a huge deal about it, and just be aware that it dates your story. Historical romance is dated, contemporary romance is generally meant to be “modern” but undated. Of course, it’ll all eventually become historical, but that’s a worry for the future!
So the additional promises for both historical and contemporary? Time period and accuracy, and then have fun!
Note: I’m only covering Historical and Contemporary here because almost everything else is a blend of genres we cover elsewhere in this post.
Chick Lit
(Anne:) This isn’t actually a subgenre of romance, as it doesn’t always revolve around romance and doesn’t always have a HEA/HFN, but I wasn’t quite sure where else to put it. I’ll talk below about Target Audience Literature and specifically Women’s Literature, and this usually gets put there. It’s generally written by women for women about women’s issues. It promises a light-hearted tone, though it can cover serious topics, and it’s usually fairly empowering. But as I said, not actually romance!
Erotica
(Anne:) This often has similarities to romance in that there’s often a romantic plot and a HEA/HFN, but that’s definitely not required. Romance? Often. Sexual relationship? Yeah, that’s the promise here. The promise of erotica is sexual gratification to some degree. Any combination of genders and numbers of people is fair game, including solitary play. Sometimes it has a story and character development, sometimes it doesn’t. This is another one that can be blended with pretty much every other genre. However, it also falls into Historical and Contemporary on its own in the same way that Romance does.
Keep in mind, this is no slow-burn romance–or if it is, the sexual heat is inescapably steamy, and there’s a great sex scene at the end! The sexual relationship is the promise and purpose of erotica.
(Vivian: 👩❤️👨👉👌#️⃣ 👨❤️👨⚔️#️⃣ 👩❤️👩✂️)
Mystery
(Anne:) Oh no, someone is dead! Something is missing! We’ve got a problem, and there’s one main question: whodunnit? The central promise of a mystery is that something will happen that’s unknown, and the story will revolve around solving that mystery. This usually takes the form of finding out who did it, but if you get more into horror mystery (a crossover that I won’t discuss in detail as it just combines the two genres), the way that the promise is met is that the story revolves around solving whatever is causing the fear.
Detective Mystery
(Anne:) There are a few subgenres within this, but the core promise of this is that there will be a detective solving the mystery. This tends to have two primary formats: someone working as a detective who deals with clients who approach them directly where the police may or may not be involved, or an unorthodox person who’s good at solving things working with the police (either with their permission or against their will). Classic detective mysteries usually fall in the “hard-boiled mystery” category; think black and white movies with a voiceover telling the audience that a dame walks in and they know she’s trouble.
Cozy Mystery
(Anne:) This is often one of the many subcategories of detective, but I really like it, so we’re talking about it! Like cozy fantasy, this is basically a story with low stakes. It doesn’t usually have someone working as a detective, but it might have a busybody who tries to figure out their neighbor’s mysteries, possibly at the request of those neighbors. And it does often have people who are a bit unorthodox interacting with the police. While there can be murders, this also can focus on minor mysteries like theft or an inheritance that’s been left with someone who has suspicious motives. One basic promise here is that the protag will be a normal person in some way, not someone with super sharp abilities or a privileged position. Just your everyday person who likes getting their nose in other people’s business.
Punk punk
(Anne:) The traditional definition of punk stories offered two promises: technology as a prominent part of the setting (determined by first word, like cyber or steam), and rebellion against authority (hence punk!). Early punks, especially cyberpunk, always had these.
However, as Vivian will discuss, the terms have shifted more to an aesthetic than promises of social themes.We’ll look at the two big ones, then how it’s shifted, then some of the other punks in existence (hint: there are a ton!). I’d also like to clarify that I still go by the original definition and think there has to be rebellion against authority to count, while Vivian disagrees. You can decide for yourself!
(Vivian:) I don’t say that it isn’t a common thing in modern punk punks to this day, I am only saying that perception has somewhat shifted and seems to continue in this line. It has, however, not entirely left behind the original thoughts yet.
Cyberpunk (The Father)
(Vivian:) Definitely the first punk and the father. It was using the word “punk” as a way to show it was rebelling against authorities like the punk culture was doing back then. It added “cyber” because it was using cyber-technology to give an aesthetic that is near future where the authority has significantly changed or is so omnipresent you cannot get away. So you really have something to revolt against! It has lulled back and forth in popularity and seen a rise in popularity recently, I wonder why… 🙄
Steampunk (The Mother)
(Vivian:) This one was an extension of the cyberpunk, but instead of going forward in time to create devices and stuff to use to revolt against authorities, it went backward to when things were shit, during the Industrial Revolution! Where steam reigned supreme! The original meaning was still the same, revolt against the authorities but using a different form of aesthetics which leads us to…
Punk as Aesthetics
(Vivian:) As Anne and I have said, originally it was about authority defiance, and to this day, that is a common motive. But outside of cyberpunk, which really holds onto that, other punks have drifted away and become more of aesthetics. They inform you more of how the world is than what the story itself entails. This primarily started with steampunk, and people saw the differences were really aesthetics between it and cyberpunk, so logically… it must then mean that -punk is about aesthetics! Just like -burger means the patty in hamburger cause we got ham as meat!
Yeah, people's derivation is funny as language evolves. But to this day, a lot of so-called punk stories do not involve any uprising against authorities, just assholes like most stories, and it is set in a specific setting. Steampunk is about super advanced steam-powered machines, even when they have computers out of machines and steam! And other punks promise other things these days which brings us to…
| Punk Genres | |
|---|---|
| The Apunkalypse | Gaslamp Fantasy |
| Atom Punk | Gothic Punk |
| Biopunk | Mythpunk |
| Capepunk | Oceanpunk |
| Cattle Punk | Sandal Punk |
| Cassette Futurism | Scavenged Punk |
| Clock Punk | Solarpunk |
| Desert Punk | Silkpunk |
| Diesel Punk | Phlebotinum-Induced Steampunk |
| Dungeon Punk | Stone Punk |
| Fantastic Noir | Teslapunk |
(Anne:) For some reason, people say Hope Punk is a legitimate punk, but I would just argue… no.
(Vivian:) I agree it is a weird combo, but what are the aesthetics? I don’t know! You know, I could explain all of these… but for funsies, I will only do it if someone in the comments figures it out 😀
Literary Fiction
(Anne:) Okay, I have to come clean here. I have a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA), which means that I got my graduate degree surrounded by literary fiction writers. I sometimes feel like I tricked my way into the program because my portfolio was mostly magical realism, which many people put in this category, but then I jumped ship once I arrived and had a bunch of straight up genre fiction. And if you’ve never heard literary types talk about genre fiction… Well, let’s just say it can get ugly.
“Genre fiction sacrifices skill and talent for money.”
“It’s just a bunch of tropes and no independent thought.”
(Vivian:) What takes the most skill, coming up with new worlds and things or just writing about your boring old world?
(Anne:) In workshops and even during my thesis, I had people tell me that they weren’t sure they could give me advice because they were used to working at a “higher level” that involved character-driven literature, not plot-driven genre fiction (insert derision there). At this point, I practically have a visceral reaction to literary fiction. 😅
Now, obviously, literary fiction has just as many tropes and patterns as any other genre. But that last comment actually does point to a major difference. Literary fiction is always character-driven, meaning that character development drives the story forward. This is in contrast to plot-driven stories where events and plot push the story ahead.
While one of the promises of literary fiction is that it’s character-driven, that isn’t exclusive. There’s character-driven genre fiction. Interestingly, literary types are quick to claim those for their own.
“Ursula LeGuin’s The Left Hand of Darkness can’t be science fiction! It’s character-driven! And look at the beautiful writing!”
(Vivian:) Buncha tasteless elitist snobs who haven’t had a fun day in their lives.
(Anne:) The writing brings us to the other distinguishing feature of literary fiction: the emphasis is as much on the way things are said as what is said. Everything is poetic, meaning every word is carefully chosen to paint an image. Now, again, I would point out that genre fiction can be poetic as well, but it isn’t one of their promises.
Luckily, MFA programs like the Masters of Fine Arts program I attended in the United States are increasingly moving towards embracing genre fiction. I think if I entered a program now, even the one I graduated from, it would be a totally different experience. So congrats, literary world, you’re catching up to the fact that genre fiction has redeeming characteristics! Basically, while being character-driven and poetic aren’t exclusive to literary fiction, this is the only genre where those are the two promises being made.
Target Audience Literature
(Vivian:) These are less genres, but still worthwhile to discuss. So what are they, according to us? They are literature that generally has a specific target audience in mind. It can be based on style that is appreciated by the demographic in question due to various reasons. It can also be topics that are generally considered important to said groups of people. Not all groups care about the same things or experience the same things. So while genres make a few promises about the story, its world, or the ending (depending on the genre), Target Audience Literature (TAL) more makes a promise that it will appeal to a certain demographic of people that exists in the real world.
Women’s Literature
(Anne:) This is often considered its own genre, but it works better in this category since the only real unifying concept is that it deals with women and “women’s concerns,” whatever those may be, which ought to clearly identify it as a TAL. Often, stories of various genres get classified here in terms of publishing and marketing. It’s a big market, especially since Romance is often combined with this category (No sexism there! After all, romance is a “woman’s concern,” right? /s). Usually it’s just literary fiction focusing on women, but you’ll get other genres as well!
Queer Literature
(Anne:) Unlike Women’s Literature, which many people consider a genre, this one is usually treated as a TAL and recognized as a variety of books from all genres that focus on stories of queer protagonists and/or dealing with issues relevant to the queer community. Stories tend to be negative due to the discrimination that queer people face and often involve overcoming obstacles, or sometimes failing to overcome them. However, stories of queer joy definitely fit in this category and are usually eagerly read!
(Vivian:) I definitely wish for more positive ones!
African American/Black Literature
(Vivian:) This is Anne’s domain but I have to say, as a 🇪🇺, the derived term “X American” really grinds my gears. Side note to all Americans visiting Europe, don’t use them.
(Anne:) Honestly, it bothers me too! It seems to imply that “X Americans” aren’t real Americans.
But back to this as a TAL! Like Queer Literature, this one is treated as a TAL. These may get displayed at bookstores together and occasionally have their own section, but they’re recognized as a collection of genres, not a single entity that excludes all else.
(Vivian:) Especially in, what is it, February?
(Anne:) Yeah, you’ll often see these displays then, since it’s Black History Month in the United States, which is a little weird since we should study that all year long. However, with Black history being increasingly banned in schools, sometimes it’s the only chance Americans get!
Anyway, as a TAL, it’s useful because Black Americans face serious discrimination, and stories that deal with their reality are vital for all audiences. As with Queer Literature, these usually focus on the negative, but are increasingly focusing on Black joy, which is great!
Age groups
(Anne:) I’m basing these age groups on the publishing world. If you’re trying to publish a book, including self-publishing, you need to know which category you’re in. If you’re just reading, though, it usually doesn’t matter. These overlay every other genre, and any genre or TAL can be in any of these categories.
Adult (25+ years old)
(Anne:) No, you don’t have to be an adult to read these. Lots of younger people read them as well. I started reading these around 9 years old. However, they deal with adult characters and adult issues. Writing is complex, and they tend to be long. In publishing, 75k is usually the lowest you want to go. Fantasy can sprawl much larger, generally up to 150k before it starts getting excessive.
New Adult (18-24 years old)
(Anne:) This category doesn’t exist in the publishing world yet, but writers tend to use the term. It’s a distinct category about young adult characters in the 18-24-year-old age range who, like the next category, face things like coming-of-age, but also the issues with becoming adults and entering the adult world. It’s written at the same level as adult literature and has the same length.
Young Adult (13-18 years old)
(Vivian:) If you are not good enough to write for adults, this is the age group to go for!
(Anne:) Despite Vivian’s extreme disdain, this is an important category! In terms of writing style and difficulty, it’s between middle grade and adult/new adult. Unfortunately, as Vivian mentioned, because the writing style is meant to be more accessible, some bad writers are drawn to this category, thinking it’s easier and that the teenage audience won’t care (...and sadly, a lot of teens don’t because they don’t have the experience).
It usually features protagonists in this age range, though there are exceptions. A huge number of books seem to settle on 16 years old. It’s actually rare to find a book with protagonists under that. Although it’s intended for teens and deals with coming-of-age issues, way too many adults read it and then complain that it’s too immature! Which I find ridiculous. This level is meant for teens, so of course it’s immature!
(Vivian:) You mean an age group’s problems that are considerably below my current age are considered immature? I am shocked! SHOCKED! Well not that shocked.
Middle Grade (8-12)
(Anne:) Length is a big determining factor in this one that we haven’t really seen above (although YA does tend to be shorter than adult). Middle grade is usually 50k words max. Language is simple and directed, intended for a young audience. Characters are usually in this age range, and topics include those relevant to this age range. However, topics in recent years have become darker as a lot of people have realised that children actually do face real, serious problems in their lives such as discrimination, mental health, and abuse.
Children (under 8)
(Anne:) Okay, in publishing and marketing this is broken up into several categories depending on age and reading level (which often don’t correlate). We’re lumping it all together because this probably isn’t what you’re writing. Length is a major factor, and these books are much shorter, all the way down to picture books which might just be a couple of sentences. There are often illustrations in children’s books, even chapter books. Language is very simplified, with a lot of noun-verb structure and almost no clauses. And content and tone tend to be fun and whimsical.
Mixing genres
(Vivian:) Genres are like oil and water, they do not mix!
(Anne:) Ahem. What I believe Vivian means to say is that genres are like cinnamon and sugar, combining to make what my family calls cinnasugar and is a superb topping on cinnamon toast!
(Vivian:) Someone has to die for that abomination of a name.
(Anne:) Cinnasugar is wonderful! But like that delightful combo, you want your genres to mix with each other, distinct but blended into something new that has its own flavor. A fantasy romance will contain the promise of fantasy (magic) with the promises of romance (focused on a romantic relationship(s), HEA/HFN), but while it has elements of each, it feels like something new and unique. Fantasy readers might not like it, and romance readers might not either. Some people like fantasy romance but don’t especially like straight fantasy or romance. Mixed genres are unique and fun.
If you’re trying to figure out your genre, look at the promises you make and keep, then match them to what each genre promises. You might have multiple genres, or just one. A warning, though: try not to combine too many genres if you want to publish. If you go traditional, you’ll have trouble finding agents, who usually specialize in a few areas, and an even harder time finding a publisher, who definitely specialize. If you’re doing self-publishing and you go through something like Amazon or IngramSpark, you’ll need to limit yourself to two genres. You can include more things in your keywords, but you really only get two. There are some tricks around that, but that’s a topic for another day!
Basically, know your genre, keep the promises, try not to combine too many genres, but have fun and don’t limit yourself!
Summa Summarum
(Vivian:) So what have we learned? Quiz time! Nah, just kidding. The big thing to remember with genres is to understand the promise they and people expect. If I grab a space opera book and there isn’t space travel and planet hopping, imma be miffed! Just like a romance reader would be miffed if you end your story “Everyone died”. The promise is fundamental and the amount of genres are huge. So focus first and foremost on writing your story and once done, figure out what genres it fits into. Got Anniething to add?
(Anne:) You said it quite well! The promise is what defines genres. Many have similar plots or characters or settings, but you really want to zero in on that promise. Will it sometimes include plot elements, character types, or settings? Sure, but not always! So know your genre, know what’s expected, and be creative within those bounds. Originality is good, but Vivian will throw your book across the room if there’s no planet hopping in your space opera! Have fun, but respect your genre!
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Copyright ©️ 2024 Vivian Sayan and Anne Winchell. Original ideas belong to the respective authors. Generic concepts such as genres and the promises that make them are copyrighted under Creative Commons with attribution, and any derivatives must also be Creative Commons. However, specific language or exact phrasing is individually copyrighted by the respective authors. Contact them for information on usage and questions if uncertain what falls under Creative Commons. We’re almost always happy to give permission. Please contact the authors through this website’s contact page.
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