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Inspiration for writing can come in many different forms. Some forms of inspiration include discussions with friends, artwork, music, movies, other books and more. With these varieties of inspiration that come from all different sources it can prove challenging to come to a conclusion of what genre your book should fall into. Identifying the perfect genre for your book can be an intimidating task, but don’t worry, I am here to help. This article will focus on defining what genres are, why they are important, and five different genres to help you determine which your story may fall into. The genres included are:
Fantasy
Science Fiction
Speculative Fiction
Contemporary Fiction
Historical fiction
What are Genres?
Before trying to decide which genre your book fits into it is vital to properly understand what genres are, and why they are important. The best way to explain what book genres are is by looking at music. When attempting to find new music or songs, typically people search by genre. These genres can range from 60s classics and 90s rock, to 2010 throwbacks. Having these different categories make it easier to find songs that you know you will enjoy. Genres in literature work similarly. By classifying your book into a genre, it becomes easier for readers to find what they are looking for.
Classifying your book into one genre does not mean your story can only have specific characteristics from that genre. Think about some of your favorite books. Within those books there are traits that you might find in another genre. However, when deciding which genre to choose you must consider which category your book is most compatible with. Most books have aspects that fit into multiple different genres. This is why subgenres can prove to be helpful. Subgenres are genres that exist within larger genres.
Going back to our example of music, a sub-genre in music is House music. House is a sub-genre of Dance music. Dance music is an incredibly broad category. If you were to look up Dance music you would get tons of different results that vary from House, Techno, to Trance. However, by searching House Dance music you will have more specific results. This usage of subgenres is the same when looking at literature. Having sub-genres help readers even further narrow down the books that they might want within the category they are looking at. At the bottom of each section there is a list of subgenres, which are additionally helpful to explore when trying to determine which genre is best for you.
Now that genres and subgenres have been defined we are finally able to get to the fun part, exploring the different genres. Each genre listed will specifically look at what factors come together to form the genre. Some of these factors include their plot structure, tropes, and unique characteristics. These brief descriptions of each genre are just that, brief. There is more to each genre, but for the sake of simplicity we’ve condensed each genre down to the specific parts that will help you identify if your book falls into that category.
Fantasy
One of my favorite genres, so of course the one that has to start things off, is fantasy. Like many genres fantasy is an incredibly broad and diverse genre. The plot structure of fantasy varies dramatically from book to book. Some fantasy books are more based around a quest-for-knowledge. These fantasy books are usually based around a grand adventure. That being said, there are many fantasy books that do not follow this structure. The common trait that makes fantasy books fantasy is the presence of magic or something otherwise fantastical. Characteristics that can be found within fantasy books include in depth world-building, different cultures, new unimagined creatures, quest-for knowledge, and an epic journey. My current favorite fantasy which can also be classified as a New Adult as well as fantasy is A Court of Mist and Fury. Some examples of well known novels that fall into the category of fantasy that you might know include stories like Lord of the Rings, Eragon, Game of Thrones and more.
Subgenres of Fantasy: Dark Fantasy, High Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Magical Realism
Science Fiction
Science Fiction is similar to Fantasy in many aspects. Like fantasy, science fiction novels don’t necessarily follow the exact same plot structure. Some further commonalities between fantasy and fantasy are elements of world-building, different cultures, and the creation of new mysterious creatures. The main difference between science fiction and fantasy is that fantasy relies more on magic and the fantastical to explain things that might otherwise not make sense. Conversely, Science fiction uses science and technology to explain the way the world works. The science in these books usually come in two different forms.
The two different forms of science fiction are Hard Fiction and Soft Fiction. The difference between these two categories is that Hard fiction uses actual science that can be explained and elaborated on. This means that actual science like physics, and chemistry are heavily referenced and integrated in the story. Soft science fiction does not go deep into the explanation of the science behind what is happening, and sometimes will use science that is not realistic or entirely imaginary. Soft fiction can be incredibly helpful for people like me, who are not well versed in science fiction but still like using advanced technology in stories. A few famous science fiction books that you might know are Dune, The Martian Chronicles, and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Subgenres of Science Fiction: Cyberpunk, Dystopian, Steampunk
Speculative Fiction
Speculative Fiction is a large genre of fiction that is best defined through the way the stories diverge from what we know as reality to create a dialogue around present day society. . Speculative fiction does not have one plot structure that all the stories follow. In fact, this might be the most diverse category in terms of plot structure. There are also no specific tropes or traits that really make up speculative fiction. Of course there are themes that can be found in many different speculative works. Some of the themes that many of these books focus on are socioeconomic-status, climate, gender, race, and technological-development. These are all themes that are implemented to comment on an issue the author sees in society.
Many people consider fantasy, dystopian and science fiction subgenres of speculative fiction. Although, not all fantasy, science fiction, and dystopian novels fit under the category of speculative fiction. Largely whether or not a book can be classified as speculative fiction is based on the overall aim of the story. If the author creates a world or society with a central theme based around issues in present day society, then the story would be classified under speculative fiction. However, if the book was written primarily just to entertain and not with the goal of conveying an issue, then the book probably wouldn’t be classified as speculative fiction. Some books that you may have heard of that are vastly considered speculative fiction are Handmaid's Tale, Brave New World, The Giver, 1984, and Parable of the Sower.
Subgenres of Speculative Fiction: Fantasy, SciFi, and Dystopian
Contemporary
To put it in the simplest terms possible, contemporary literature is literature written in the present. This means that the stories are based in the present rather than the past. This can be a little bit confusing because most books are technically a little bit in the past by the time they are published. The easiest way to understand what books would be classified as contemporary is just by thinking of any book that is set from 2000-present. This might not be the technical definition, but it’s the best way I’ve come to understand contemporary literature. Since the contemporary genre is based in the present they are also inherently one of the more realistic versions of fiction. They all have the technology that is currency accessible to us. The government and economic systems are the same as what we know. The only variation from the real world is that the characters and events in stories are entirely fictitious.
Some examples of books that would be classified under contemporary literature include Where the Crawdads Sing, Running Man, and The Final Girls. You might notice that these books are all incredibly different. As the only large regulation to classify a book as contemporary is that they are based in the present; it allows for there to be a variety of subgenres. Meaning any book that is based in the real world could be considered contemporary. Below is a short compiled list of some possible contemporary subgenres.
Subgenres of Contemporary: Contemporary-Romance, Contemporary-Thrillers, Contemporary-Horror
Historical-Fiction
Historical-Fiction is the other side of the contemporary coin. Where contemporary novels are based in the present day, historical fiction are stories set in the past. These stories are curated with realistic, but imaginary characters that often interact with historically accurate events. Historical-Fiction novels often take from events that took place in the real world and then bend those events to fit into a new or alternative narrative on which the story is based. Like contemporary fiction, since the only requisite for historical-fiction is the time period that it’s set in. This allows for there to be a large variation of stories that can fit into the genre. Some books from this extensive genre that you might know are, The Book Thief, The Alice Network, and The Light We Cannot See.
Subgenres of Historical-fiction: Historical-romance, Historical-Adventures, Historical-Horror
It Doesn't End Here
The list discussed above is just the beginning of the many different genres that you can explore. You may have noticed that some of the genres and subgenres exist within each other. In Part II we will also discuss the way in which genres interact while also taking a deep dive into the variety of genres, believe me there are many more to explore. Until then, consider the list above, and the attributes that they each contain to determine if your newest story falls into one of the genres.
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