Genre is a category of art, music or literature. Here are some definitions of the main genres:

MYSTERIES AND THRILLERS, INCLUDING CRIME : A involving a crime or a mystery which the must solve often involving suspicious death, murder or a lethal threat to them. Within this there may be elements of, or a veering towards, police procedurals, serial killers, conspiracies, , psychological , family sagas, young adult or new adult fiction, , sci-fi, historical or period drama, noir thrillers (ver dark)

ROMANCE: A plot within which the emotions of love, loss and unrequited love are examined usually resulting in a happy ending for the protagonist. Within this there may be elements of, or a veering towards melodrama, historical or period drama, erotica, family sagas, chick lit, young adult or new adult fiction, fantasy, sci-fi

SCI-FI & FANTASY: A plot in which the protagonist and secondary characters are living within the past, future, on another planet/ universe or encounter technology or events beyond the norms of what we currently accept as reality. Within this there may be elements of, or a veering towards, fantasy, historical or period drama (going back in time instead of forwards), conspiracies, thrillers, , romance, horror, young adult or ne adult fiction, paranormal fantas, fantas

HORROR: A plot which scares the hell out of you! There may be violence and gore, or there may simply (but effectively) be only psychological tension for example, The Woman in Black by Susan Hill. Within this there may be elements of, or a veering towards, police procedurals, serial killers, young adult or new adult fiction, conspiracies, fantasy e.g. supernatural creatures, noir fiction

SPECULATIVE FICTION, INCLUDING FANTASY: Plots that cross genres and eamine hat if? are . What if nuclear war did happen? What if all the women in the world bar a handful became infertile? What if our sun started to die prematurely? Within this there may be elements of, or a veering towards, the paranormal, the supernatural, urban decay, apocalyptic fiction, sci-fi, sagas, young adult or new adult fiction, thrillers, noir fiction

EROTICA: Erotica includes sexually explicit details as a primary feature, although unlike pornograph, erotica doesnt aim eclusivel at seual arousal. The of Anais Nin are good examples of well-written erotica see Delta of Venus and Little Birds. Within this there may be elements of, or a veering towards, romance, LGBT, BDSM, fantasy, sci-fi, , crime, romance

HISTORICAL: The plot is set within a historical period, and beyond that the story line may encompass any of the above with perhaps the exception of sci-fi.

Within genres there are also sub-genres, for example, in the romance genre there are also these possibilities: Sagas Historical Romance Contemporary Romance LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) Fantasy Erotica

And drilling down further, in Fantasy I might find:

Paranormal Apocalyptic Sword & Sorcery Metaphysical & Visionary

You can do this with almost all genres. A good exercise is to go onto Amazon and look at a specific genre and all its sub-genres. Do any of them feel like a good fit for what you want to write? Make a list of the books ouve read in our chosen genre. In only one sentence, what do each of them deal with? Is there a gap you can identify? How would you fill it?

Could that be your genre?

© 2016 Debrah Martin