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0.3: A. Categories and Genres

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    a. categories and genres

    To recap, sort of, this textbook covers the categories – also called genres – of creative writing, and you probably realize the OVERLAP\(^1\) possible with these categories and genres, but let’s conduct a quick review\(^2\) with a few visuals.

    In this first Venn diagram, the main categories/genres covered in the book are shown overlapping each other. One might ask, how can poetry show up in fiction, flash fiction, drama, and nonfiction? Well, how can it?

    Venn diagram of the categories drama, flash fiction, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

    questions:

    • What do you already know about these genres and categories?

    • What could be created at the intersection of each of these circles?

    • Can fiction overlap with nonfiction? What could that look like? Can flash fiction overlap with drama? What could that look like\(^3\)

     

    Purple Venn diagram showing how experimental literature is found in ALL categories and genres.

    The gigantic purple circle shows us that experimental literature can be found in all of these genres and categories. 

    So, what about the categories and genres that the book covers in the Final Chapter?

    Okay…

    Let’s say you really like to write fiction… well, within fiction itself is the possibility that you could write romance fiction or fantasy fiction. On the flip side, someone your polar opposite might write nonfiction in those same specialties… there’s a lot of overlap. Check out the massive pink circle illustrates this point in a visual manner:

    Pink Venn diagram showing how humor and horror or romance or fantasy is found in ALL categories and genres.

    The reason for separating the five “core” categories and genres – poetry, flash fiction, fiction, drama, and nonfiction – from the others in the Final Chapter is because once you understand those five, you can really dive into the specialties. AND, let’s be honest, testing out one’s writing skills with BASIC poetry and fiction is easier – probably?! – than testing out one’s skills with horror and humor right away. 

    \(^1\)The circles on the cover of this textbook are meant to symbolize that overlap. FYI.

    \(^2\)And this might not be review. And that’s okay.

    \(^3\)We might have to come back to this after we learn more about the categories and genres, especially flash fiction, which may be new to some people.

    This page titled 0.3: A. Categories and Genres is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Sybil Priebe (Independent Published) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.