Genre, What's That?

So, you've decided to become a writer.

You've got this brilliant idea for a novel and you're so excited to start it officially that any free moment you have, you've been writing snippets of information on anything you can find (receipts in your wallets, restaurant napkins, etc).

Soon you'll meet a fellow writer or perhaps join a writing group and one of the first questions you'll be asked is, "What kind of genre do you write?" You'll smile and politely say, "Oh, I write fiction." Then the fellow writer will do either one of two things. Shake their head and explain what genre means, or they'll give you some polite non-response and turn to talk to somebody else.  Hopefully you've had the first experience.

So what is genre? According to Merriam Webster online, a genre is:

1: a category of

artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style,

form, or content

2: KIND, SORT

3: painting that depicts

scenes or events from everyday life usually realistically

Today, I'd like to focus on some of the sub-genres in romance writing. Romance in itself is a genre and below are a few of its more common sub-genres.

Contemporary: This type of genre is probably the closest to real-life as we see it. Your hero and

heroine live in a present day world which we can relate to and social

understand.

Paranormal: I know most of you have met Susan's vampire David as he makes frequent

appearances on this blog. His world is outside or norm (as is he, which is why

he is so appealing). Other favorites in this genre include shape shifters,

witches, demons, ghost, fae, etc.

Suspense: In addition to romance, the romantic suspense genre will usually have danger and

mystery to them. There is some element of tension leading to one or more dramatic

moments.

Historical: Any romance not set in contemporary time periods. This ranges widely but some of

the favorites are Medieval, Regency and Victorian.

This is a very short list to give you an idea of where you can go just within the romance genre.

Other popular sub-genres include inspirational, mystery, erotic, fantasy, mainstream, interracial and thriller. These days, more and more genres are being blended to create new genres.

A few months back, we had an editor come to a local writer's meeting. She mentioned that genres like Urban Fantasy and Paranormal are beginning to be phased out, but she also stated that she thought they would most likely reappear under a different name. Her basic philosophy—which I happen to agree with—was to write what you want and write a good book. Then it really doesn't matter which genre it's under. As this industry changes and blends, we'll continue search out trends. But at the end of the day, our readers just want to escape somewhere with dynamic characters. Happy writing!

Filed under: Toni Kelly, Writing Topics