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Your Genre Questions

Here's where you can get answers to your genre questions.

A lot of beginning writers seem to worry about genre, probably because genre can be a complex topic.

On the one hand, it can be said that every truly original book is its own genre. At the same time, there seems to be a divide between books considered mainstream or literary fiction and genre fiction.

Some would argue that the difference between the two is that genre fiction tends to be more plot-oriented, while literary fiction is more character-oriented, but these distinctions often break down on close examination and are highly subjective.

For the most part, what distinguishes a genre is that there are enough books with traits in common as to set them apart from the herd. Those traits can be similar settings (e.g. historical, science fiction, fantasy), audiences (children's books, young adult, chicklit), story goals or themes (crime fiction, coming of age, thriller, romance), styles (humour), etc.

Below we invite you to submit your genre questions and will try to answer them. You can also read our answers to genre questions submitted by other readers.



Have A Question About Genres Or Genre Fiction?

Submit your questions about particular genres or writing genre fiction in general here. If we feel we can provide an answer that will benefit other visitors and that the question has not already been addressed at length elsewhere on this site, we will post it. (We also invite you to comment on questions others have submitted.)

Enter The Topic Of Your Question Here

Questions From Other Visitors

Click below to see answers to questions other visitors have asked...

Is my word count below the accepted word count?  starstarstarstarstar
Question: I read the word count for Fantasy is around 75k + and it's so because of world building.
My story is MG and it's around 24500, is it too ...

What would my genre be considered for my story?  starstarstarstarstar
The story takes place on a planet where Heaven and Hell are themes that represent the racial tensions between races of Demon and Angelic beings. The main ...

Finding a story goal in a parody novel.  starstarstarstarstar
Question: I absolutely love humor and recently found the inspiration to write a novel-length parody on the adventure and fantasy genres. I've worked ...

What's My Genre?  starstarstarstarstar
Question: I am not sure what genre my novel is categorized in. It's target is for young people ages 7 to 21, it is non-fiction and involves the discovery ...

Novel problem: how to explain superpowers  starstarstarstarstar
Question: First of all, I would just like to thank you for all the tips and information put up on this site-it has truly helped me better organize and ...

Children's Animal Stories  starstarstar
Question: I hope you can give some advice. I would like to write a fictional children's book about animals and perhaps publish it online on my website ...

DK about my genre  Not rated yet
Question: OK, so my novel is for Young Adults, I know that. The problem is, I don't know the genre within YA... that wouldn't be a problem except for ...

Space Opera  Not rated yet
Question: ok i guess this would fall under a sci-fi/action genre. i did a prompt in my college writing class about space pirates and was not having my ...

Can you write a topic that's YA but not teenager-y?  Not rated yet
Question I'm writing a story, and I want it to be directed towards generally teenager age readers, but I am terrified of it being put in the same class ...

What Genre?  Not rated yet
Question: I have a story idea that incorporates medieval times and modern times with Witches, Kings, Dragons and faery folk working with some goth teens ...

Will my readers accept this?  Not rated yet
Question: If my main character comes to earth right after she has been born - in another world - and just lives there, do you think I'd have to try and ...



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