What Does Genre Even Mean, Anyway?
“What genre do you write?” On the surface that seems like a pretty straightforward question, but anyone who’s spent some time in the literary world knows it can get weirdly complicated—especially for those of us who write in the styles often shoehorned under “genre” (AKA anything that’s not literary realism).
Part of the problem is that genre is a very broad term. The dictionary definition is simply “a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique, or the like.”
In layman’s terms, that means a literary genre is just a set of written works that share something in common. That defining characteristic could be form, length, style, themes, setting, or any other aspect of writing and storytelling (or combination of them).
Depending on the context, though, the word “genre” can have more specific meanings, most commonly one of the three uses below.
Use 1: Genre as Form
There are generally accepted to be 4 form-based genres:
- Fiction: Works written in prose that are not intended to be read as truth.
- Nonfiction: Works written in prose that are intended to be read as truth.
- Poetry: Works written in form or verse.
- Drama: Works written to be performed, such as plays.
Works that fall in between these broad categories are often referred to as “hybrid” or “cross-genre” and would include things like lyric essays or prose poetry. Even with these cross-category works, though, this is the easiest type of genre to define because it’s the most objective. You can see at a glance whether something’s written in prose, poetry, or as a script, and in most cases it’s equally clear-cut when something’s intended to be read as fact or fiction.
Use 2: Defining Tropes and Expectations
When discussing literature, trope is another way to say a common idea or widely-accepted convention. Examples would be fantasy protagonists following the hero’s journey, the final girl in a slasher film, or having the big reveal of a mystery be that the butler did it.
Many genre definitions in the literary world are a shorthand for the collection of tropes works within it draw from. Stories in that genre share certain traits that readers come to expect. If something’s shelved under romance, for example, you expect things to get at least a little steamy.
The thing is, no single book in any genre is going to include every trope, and which elements are “must-haves” for a genre label aren’t set in stone. Writers also often invert tropes to subvert reader expectations, or integrate conventions from multiple genres into the same story. This makes those stories difficult to classify under existing labels, spawning the plethora of subgenres that make the publishing landscape such a quagmire to navigate and that “What genre do you write?” question so tricky to answer.
While the borders between genres are malleable, changing from book to book and reader to reader, they can be useful for defining how stories relate to each other and the broader literary canon. The main top-level genres when the term is used this way include:
- Children’s: Works intended to be read to or by kids, roughly those of preteen age or younger. This could include picture books with illustrations or chapter books written at a grade-school level.
- Fantasy: Works utilizing non-realistic elements that aren’t explained in-world by science or technology. Common sub-genres include myth, folklore, fairy tale, high fantasy (sword and sorcery, normally in a medieval setting), magical realism (mostly reality with supernatural or magical undercurrents), and urban fantasy (fantastical elements in an otherwise contemporary, realistic setting).
- Historical: Works set in an accurate past, often relating to real-world events or historical figures, but with fictional elements. Subgenres tend to be defined by which period of history and area of the world they’re set in, with Western Fiction (set in the American Old West) being one popular subgenre. There are also subgenres that cross-over with fantasy and sci-fi, such as historical time travel or alternate history.
- Horror: Works that intend to frighten, disturb, or disgust. This may involve supernatural elements, such as ghosts, demons, zombies, vampires, and other monsters, or it may be entirely realistic, such as many psychological horror books or stories involving psychopaths like Misery or The Silence of the Lambs.
- Literary: Works set in the real-world driven primarily by character relationships and emotions, often with a high degree of sophistication in the word choice, syntax, and other aspects of the prose. Subgenres tend to be defined by their plot arc, such as family dramas or coming-of-age narratives (or Bildungsroman, since we’re being literary about it).
- Mystery: Works driven primarily by a puzzle that needs to be solved, often involving a crime or caper. Common subgenres include detective stories, noir fiction, and procedurals. There are also cross-over mystery subgenres, like historical mysteries, paranormal mysteries, and suspense/thriller stories, which occupy the intersection of mystery and horror.
- Romance: Works driven primarily by a romantic (typically sexual) relationship. Normally they have a happy ending, and yes, that means two things. Subgenres can describe the extent and type of on-page sex (e.g. sweet, erotic, BDSM, etc.), the lifestyle of the main protagonist(s) (e.g. cowboy, billionaire, LGBT, etc.), or cross-over points with other genres (e.g. western, Regency, time travel, paranormal, etc.).
- Science Fiction: Works utilizing non-realistic elements with a technological or scientific in-world explanation. It’s called “hard” science fiction when that science or tech is the main focus of the plot, while in “soft” sci-fi the characters or themes are the main focus. Common subgenres include apocalyptic, dystopian, space opera (melodrama set in outer space), steampunk (historical setting with steam-powered technology), and cyberpunk (high-tech meets low-life).
- Young Adult: Works whose intended readers are between the ages of roughly 12-21 (though the upper age of that range may instead be labeled as “New Adult”). They typically feature a protagonist in that same target age range and deal with themes relatable to teenagers, like identity, independence, first love, or defying authority. There is often cross-over with other genres, especially fantasy, sci-fi, and historical fiction.
Bear in mind there are writers and scholars who would disagree with where I’ve set those genre boundaries, or who would say the sub-genres I’ve mentioned are top-level genres in their own right. This is the inherent problem with putting rules on creative work: give a room of writers the same rule and most will find their own unique way to break it.
Use 3: Genre as Catch-All
Neither of the above use cases explains someone who says they write “genre” or publishers who say “no genre” in their guidelines. In those cases, the word is being used in its third common meaning: as a catch-all term for non-realistic fiction.
In this sense, genre is a close synonym to speculative, the umbrella term that’s become common in the modern literary world. The main difference is that “speculative” is a purely categorical term, often adopted by writers whose works blur the boundaries between non-realistic genres. “Genre”, on the other hand, nearly always has a disparaging subtext, or at the very least an exclusionary one, typically set in contrast to “literary” works.
Even more confusing, those who use genre this way don’t usually mean it to include all non-realistic fiction. From William Shakespeare to Mark Twain to Toni Morrison, writers who are accepted into the literary canon have used things like ghosts, time travel, and mythical creatures, dipping their toes into trope pools now assigned to certain genres, but few would shelve their works anywhere but the main “Literature” stacks.
There is an unspoken extra qualifier as to whether something is considered genre, and like other definitions of the word, exactly what that is depends on who’s using the term. For some, it’s synonymous with “pulp” and implies low-quality writing, something that’s entertainment as opposed to art and intended to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Others make a similar distinction to that of hard vs. soft science fiction, defining “genre” as works where the tropes are central, as opposed to character-driven narratives that make use of settings and conventions typical to a given genre.
Whichever way you slice it, this use of the term is not very helpful, and you can probably tell from how I’ve written about it that I’m glad this particular function of the word is falling out of favor.
What about all those subgenres, though?
That’s a long topic best saved for another blog post (or 2 or 3). However narrowly a genre is defined, though, it serves the same purpose as the top-level and big-picture divisions above: identifying similarities. Those similarities will be more tightly defined the further out you go on a sub-genre tree, until you reach the point you’re basically just writing a blurb for one book or author.
While some sub-genres get so niche as to feel a bit silly, as a concept genres can be very helpful. For readers, they help guide you to new books and writers who you’re likely to enjoy, based on what you’ve liked reading in the past. For writers, they help you describe your story and contextualize it within the vast, chaotic sea of published literature. The important thing is to remember genre is just a classification tool, not a rule you have to follow or an indication of quality.
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