Category Archives: Genres
Contemporary Literary Genre
Contemporary Literary genre is a misnomer because it really is the absence of a genre. But there are several ways you can tell if a work of fiction fits in this category. Some say that literary fiction is driven more by character … Continue reading
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Western Genre
The Western Genre is set in the old West of the United States, west of the Mississippi River before the year 1900. It’s usually between 45,000 and 75,000 words long. Westerns have had a great impact on American culture. Westerns … Continue reading
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Historical Genre
Historical genre novels are set at least fifty years in the past. The story usually concerns a historical event or period of time. Because historicals are set in different periods of time, each period is sometimes considered a sub-genre. But if you … Continue reading
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Romance Genre
The romance genre is the strictest of genres allowing no deviation from the rules. Although romance can be considered a sub-category in almost every genre, for a novel to be considered a romance, the story must be about a woman and a … Continue reading
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Fantasy Genre
Fantasy is about make-believe. It’s about building worlds that are not based on reality. Many times, it involves magic, mythical beings, and the supernatural as elements of plot, theme, setting. Fantasy is one of the oldest genres and includes fairy tales … Continue reading
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Science Fiction Genre
Science fiction, fantasy, and speculative genres are very closely related and, many times, overlap. Some novels could easily be classified as all three. But there are some differences. Because of that, some novels only fit in one of these three … Continue reading
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Speculative Genre
Speculative has been used as a catch phrase for horror, science fiction, and fantasy. While these are sub-categories of this genre, speculative fiction is a genre in its own right, and some speculative novels have nothing to do with these … Continue reading
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Suspense/Thriller Genre
The suspense/thriller genre is closer connected to the mystery genre, but the perspective is different. A mystery genre starts with a crime that needs to be solved. Suspense starts with what’s at stake. It creates drama before the crisis event. … Continue reading
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Mystery Genre
The mystery genre is one of the most popular genres of fiction next to romance. A genre mystery usually focuses on a crime, most often murder. This crime must be introduced early in the novel. The main character has to … Continue reading
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Genre Word Counts
Many times a writer will write a novel, edit it, polish it, write a great query letter and proposal, and submit it to a publisher or agent only to find the word count is wrong. Here are general guidelines for … Continue reading
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