5.1: Classroom Lecture and Activity

Genres

picture by juri schick

There are stories about many different things. In fiction, different types of stories are split into categories and then into sub categories. These categories are usually referred to as genre fiction. Genre fiction differs from realistic fiction in that the themes, tones, and plot are often times established by a set of rules or expectations. These ‘rules’ are often called tropes, but tropes tend to have a negative connotation, so another way to think about them is as reader expectations. The fun part about creative writing is that genres can be combined, and your writing can be as speculative as you want. The key, like it was mentioned in the previous lesson, is to make sure the rules you create are not broken. Let’s look at some genres and the expectations that they have.

Romance ❤️: Under romance, there are sub categories like romantic dramas, or romantic comedies. The expectation for a romance is that the relationship take center stage of the story and that the love between the two characters creates the conflict in the story. Since there are many sub categories of romance, the expectation is not always that the two characters end up together at the end of the story. For instance, consider the differences in a romantic drama versus a romantic comedy. Therefore, if a person were to read a romance story where the relationship was secondary to the story, they wouldn’t consider it romance.

Mystery🔍: There are many types of mysteries, but like with romance, there are expectations. You wouldn’t call a story a mystery if there was absolutely nothing to solve. Sometimes, it is the mystery of solving a crime of some sort; think murder mysteries or Sherlock Holmes. Sometimes, the mystery is finding an object that could be stolen but could also be lost to time; think about stories like the Pink Panther, or The Search for Atlantis. Overall, the main characters are trying to solve the mystery whether that be something thrilling and bit scary as they find clues, funny and ridiculous, or full of adventure.

Horror 👻: This genre relies heavily on the relationship to the reader, which of course many stories do since we learned that stories are meant to read; however, horror stories are largely defined by how scared the reader gets when reading the story. The author often keeps this in mind as they write and revise. The other main expectation of the horror genre is that something horrific has occurred and continues to occur throughout the story. Therefore. if something is technically horrific, and the characters are horrified by what happens, it works whether or not the reader feels scared by these elements. Horror also pairs well with fantasy. Many horror stories are fantastic in nature; they lean on characters that go bump in the night. There are also many horror stories that use the real world as the setting.

Fantasy🪄: This genre is very large and encompasses so many sub genres. The simple expectations for a fantastical story is that there be an element that does not exist of this world or that which can not be seen of this world whether that element was believed to exist in the past or whether it is believed to exist currently. Fantasy is the nature of the unseen. It is important to remember this when reading fantasy across cultures. If we were define fantasy as make believe, it would not fit into many stories around the world. For instance, in the West many consider the stories of the Greek gods to be myths. However, we also know that these stories were very much the reality of the people living in those times. This is the case for many people across world from the continent of Africa to the countries of southern and eastern Asia; stories of fantastical creatures and gods are still very much the reality of many cultures. Overall, if there is no fantastical element, it wouldn’t be considered fantasy.

Science-Fiction 🛸: This genre relies on the possibilities of science. It stretches past what we know to be true and uses imagination to bridge the gap between real science and our hopes and fears for what the world might become. It has a tendency to poke exactly at the sore spots in our hearts and open our eyes to possibilities. The expectation for science fiction is that there be an element of the real world that has been expanded or developed in some way or has reached some sort of limit or disaster. It is useful to keep in mind that science involves not just technology, but biology, geology, astronomy, chemistry, physics, etc. This means that not only do science fiction stories deal with space and aliens, there are science fiction stories about the rise of the oceans, earthquakes, biological mutations, experiments, time travel, wacky or impressive inventions and many more. You may see science fiction and fantasy mixed and molded to tell stories. When these lines blur, it can make for a pretty interesting story.

While we haven’t explored sub genres too closely in this introductory lesson, it is worth pointing out that dystopian stories are considered science fiction because they deal with the social sciences. Many dystopian stories use the shaping and remaking of society as a backdrop. This can also happen after a natural disaster. They use real life social or historical events or made up ones to help create the rules for the society in the story. This sub-genre is also a great example of how science fiction is defined here. What else can stretch our hopes than a utopia and our fears but a dystopia born of the mistakes and delusions of that utopia?

If you are wondering further about any specific genre, I would highly recommend visiting your local bookstore and browse the sections. See what kinds of stories end up where. And also, as a beginner writer, it is important to read widely with your writer’s hat on. Do the activity from the previous lesson on the stories that you read.

BUILDING A WORLD VS SETTING

All fiction requires that you as the writer consider place. However, when thinking about writing genre fiction, especially, fantasy and science fiction, the world you build becomes even more important. When you build a world, you are doing more than just picking a place for your characters to interact in. You are writing the rules of the universe of your story. Once these rules are cemented, they must be adhered to as you write the story.

For instance, you might build a world where the Nazi's won World War II. (This happens in the dystopian show, The Man in the High Castle based on the story by science fiction author, Philip K. Dick). In this world, only 10 years after the war, you would have to consider the laws that would change, the decade, how much things would cost and could cost. You would have to consider behavior and social norms.

Another example of world building, would be creating a whole new world. This needs to happen in high fantasy stories. High fantasy stories are not based on our world as we know it. The first thing you might do is draw a rough map of that world, so you have a visual representation of it. Then you would have to consider the people, languages, history, cultural differences or similarities, and climate of the world. In other words, you are starting from scratch. This is very difficult to do and time consuming, but some examples are Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Game of Thrones. There may end up being things that are familiar to the reader, which is fine. You, the author, are still a person of your world. You only know what you know. So it is inevitable that your present day knowledge will seep into your story. This is especially important when writing out the dialogue. You might ask yourself, why does this character that is not from present day earth, sound exactly like someone from present day earth all the way down to the profanity?

One final way that authors create worlds is by using our current world as a foundation and creating a hidden world amongst us or creating a story that could happen in that real place. Examples of worlds that are hidden amongst us would be Hogwarts (Harry Potter), The New York Institute (The Mortal Instruments), The Free Agents (Akata Witch) or Neverwhere (Neil Gaiman). In these stories, there are always 'regular' people that have no idea what is happening in the story.

In science fiction, earth becomes the baseline of knowledge so the reader makes comparisons to what is happening on earth, has happened on earth, or how earth used to be. Some examples would be Starfleet base in Star Trek, and The UN in The Expanse Series.

When stories happen in a real place, this is usually the setting. So a story could be placed in Chicago, New York, London, Lagos, etc. Even if the story doesn’t happen in a real city, it needs to be clear where: a small town outside of the city, an apple orchard that backs up to the highway, a seaside town, a research center in the middle of the ocean, or on a boat traveling down the Mississippi. The setting of the story could also be during a specific time like during the riots and protests of 2020, during the Chicago fire, or during summer camp of 1975. This opens the door to historical fiction which needs to rely on the historical date and place to be where the characters interact. The more accurate and true to the time and place, the more believable the characters will be.

The Importance of Place

There are stories that are set in no particular place or time, but in order for those stories to be successful, the reader must be drawn away from questioning why there is no specific place by the action of the story. A good rule of thumb is to always put your story in a set place. This anchors the story and helps define the characters. This also brings stories to life. We don't exist nowhere or without time(unless the character is indeed lost to time), so your stories shouldn't either.

Activity \(\PageIndex{1}\)

Read "Rusties" by Nnedi Okorafor and Waniru Kahiu

clarkesworldmagazine.com okorafor kahiu [clarkesworldmagazine.com]

After reading “Rusties" discuss the world of this story. What type of world building is happening in this story? Can you think of other worlds that we haven't discussed? Please share.

Journal:

Which type of world building are you doing for your story?

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