Questions tagged [genre]
Questions about writing in specific genres, such as science fiction, or about genres in general.
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How to add the “thriller” in a supernatural thriller?
I’ve had this idea for awhile now and would love to start planning and writing it but I don’t know how to make it a supernatural thriller. I know how to write the supernatural part.
Basically, the ...
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What's the difference between a fantasy mystery novel and an adventure novel?
I'm setting out to write a mystery that is firmly rooted in the fantasy genre. The MC time travels to another historical era, where the MC has to solve a multi-faceted mystery (having both ...
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Tips for writing a contemporary story
I have a couple ideas for an upcoming novella that I am writing - one that I am quite excited about happens to fit into the contemporary fiction category. I don't consider myself to be a contemporary ...
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How does a multi-genre author find an agent?
I have made several unsuccessful attempts to find a literary agent, sending out queries, going to conferences, and asking other writers to introduce me to their agents.
For background, I have an ...
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Can there be fan fiction of a public domain universe?
Fan fiction generally occupies a gray area of the law - widely tolerated under "fair use" for noncommercial sharing, publication, and performance, but almost never acceptable for profiting ...
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"Find out my secret" Mystery Challenge TROPE Name
I'm looking for the name of a trope or mystery subgenre. The antagonist has a secret and they challenge the main character to find it.
If I have the trope name, it will be much easier to research ...
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Is there a good book to help someone decide what kind of writing to pursue?
Is there a good book to help someone decide what kind of creative writing they are best suited to pursue? (I'm excluding non-fiction, technical writing, journalism and the like.)
For example, whether ...
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How seriously can the wild wild west nature of pro wrestling be taken in a story or fictional world that takes place in a modern setting?
I wanted to take a realistic approach to pro wrestling when it came to world-building. If you are not a fan of pro wrestling, I would tell you that pro wrestling is an insane concept when taken ...
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Is there a word for something that is structured like a parody, but utilizes an idealized or improved version of the original context?
(Edit: title frames the question better thanks to @TheRubberDuck)
This has been bugging me for a while; enough to join this wonderful community - thanks for any help you can offer! Keep in mind ...
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What is the difference between magical realism story and a low fantasy story?
If you’re creating a real world with fictional powers or magic, when are you creating a low fantasy vs. a magical realism story? Both are in the real world. Where is the line between these types of ...
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What is the sub-genre/trope of the characters in a multi-POV story all coalescing in violent mayhem called?
Imagine your typical multi-POV story, with an urban setting and within the action genre, boasting a lot of not-so-upstanding citizens for characters. These characters are spread about, some with ...
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What is the difference between a horror and genre shift horror?
I think I have an ok good idea of what makes up a horror piece. But recently I've come across the term genre shift and wondered what exactly makes something not straight up horror but a piece that ...
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Can I use pre-existing mythological characters in a story that isn't about any mythology?
I'm writing a fantasy story where I want to incorporate various pantheons of mythology, without having them actually belonging to any pantheon. Is that possible? I mean. I like the idea. But is it ...
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How to avoid promising a romance?
I am struggling with handling reader expectations in my novel. I have clearly telegraphed the genre to the reader so that they know that it's speculative fiction.
However, I have a situation where a ...
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What is the opposite of parody?
What I mean is a parody/spoof is a comical adaptation.
The opposite would be a dramatic adaptation.
For examples, both Batman: the Movie (1966, Leslie H. Martinson, Disney/20th Century Studios) and ...
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Have merpeople been depicted this way in a story before?
Basically, I'm wondering if there's a fantasy novel or series of novels that has already met these broad characteristics.
As I was considering ideas for a novel, I noticed that the mythical creature ...
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A word for a free-form poetic sentence
I'm looking for a word or poetry genre to describe a short free-form lyrical and poetic sentence, verse, or paragraph.
Something like "free form Haiku", but without any rules like number of ...
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What is the opposite of black comedy/dark humour?
What I mean is black comedy (or dark humour if you want) is a subgenre of comedy that consists to make light of otherwise serious topics (in other words, serious and horrible things played for laughs)....
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How do I manage audience expectations for a paranormal romance story?
A big part of writing is managing audience expectations, especially as it pertains to the genre. I.e., if a story is pitched as an action-adventure story, people expect a story of fight scenes and ...
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How to avoid overdoing deconstructive tendencies in writing?
The Issue
I'm a person who likes to take things apart to see how they work, and someone who likes to poke holes in ideas. As a result, it's not surprising that I've always been drawn to a writing ...
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Is there any such thing as a Thriller/Action Stream-of-Consciousness writing style?
Is there any such thing as a Thriller/Action Stream-of-Consciousness writing style?
Would that be considered to be essentially a normal writing style.
If not, how will this be done? (Structurally ...
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Writing an American-style book as an outsider to the culture
I am an aspiring writer from Pakistan. It's a south Asian country rich in culture. Our cultural heritage and history is very interesting, twisting and multifaceted. However, I have grown up reading ...
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What is this Genre?
So I'm starting a story right now that isn't non-fiction but idk if it could be classified as fiction. It's set on Earth in the USA, basically the main thing is that a tsunami occurs. I'm debating on ...
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Is it okay to change plots/genres multiple times?
My question is rather simple, and means exactly what it looks like. I'm writing a book in which there have been a genre change, from a not-very-good suspense novel to more of an action, however, the ...
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Does this genre/setting have a name? [closed]
So, I'm tryng to figure out if there is a name for a specific sort of genre I've seen around. Well, it's more of a setting oriented subgenre, I suppose (probably of fantasy? though it can have sci fi ...
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Asking about a possibility of a genre [closed]
Can I mix science-fiction and history in a story? I mean a story that is based in historical events with a touch of science fiction, is that possible or am I trying to invent something "...
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Is my novel Fantasy or Sci-Fi?
I have a Wattpad account and I've been entering contests... I've been using the fantasy genre to describe my novel, but I just saw descriptions of fantasy and sci-fi and now I'm wondering if my novel ...
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What is the relationship between legend and epic? [closed]
My superficial understandings of these terms are quite distinct: a legend is told and retold, exists independently of a particular telling, is often held by some to have some grounding in historical ...
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What is the literary form or style of a story with no heroes?
I have a piece of non-fiction to write that I'll be doing by telling a story. It's somewhere between a news report, op-ed, and historical lesson, but told as a short story.
In this story there are ...
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How to Categorize Novel Set in 1930s where people got married at 11+ years
I am writing fiction novel with historical event as backdrop.
During 1930s British India people got married at 11+ years old and had full adult responsibilities.
My story is a memoir of a fictional ...
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Is my work urban fantasy or paranormal romance?
I have been writing a story that for a long time I considered to be an urban fantasy, with supernatural elements in a recognizably modern setting. However, while I thought I was writing a rather ...
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Literary magazines that publish surreal/absurdist fiction?
Does anybody know of any literary magazines that publish surreal/absurdist fiction? I have a short story I'm looking to submit. The closest comparisons I can think of are A Clockwork Orange, Brave New ...
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What makes something "anime"?
I read the following question on WorldBuilding.SE last week: What early middle ages weapons would suit an extremely strong child? I thought the premise was interesting, but I noticed a comment that ...
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What is the ideal word count when shopping a mystery novel to agents?
I know for certain genres, agents and publishers will only consider manuscripts that fit within their expected page count ranges. What's a good target for a standalone mystery novel? My current draft ...
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What genre would a fictional eyewitness account of a real historical event fall under?
I've written a short story about a true historical incident which involves a very famous person in history. The incident is true as are the people involved in it. But the story is a fictional ...
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Is there a difference between historical fiction and creative non-fiction?
I have seen two similar terms, historical fiction and creative non-fiction. I'm writing some stories that are set during a real time in history, that might mention real events, real people, but that ...
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Is it the right call to title my romance a 'legend'?
I am writing a book and I plan to call it "Legend of (name of the protagonist)". But I'm writing in first person (protagonist). Searching the meaning of the word "legend" in google I get: "a ...
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Avoiding episodic writing
I'm working on a novel that will have at least three distinct sections in three distinct locations (the two main characters start in the first location, travel through the second location, and one ...
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In what genre do you categorize a story that starts off normal but takes a very dark turn as it progresses?
I’m not sure if I’d classify the story as full on dark, because there are some light hearted aspects in there. Sometimes it can be very dark when something serious happens, but it never stays that way ...
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What is the most important characteristic of New Weird as a genre?
Recently I've stumbled across China Miéville's novels. Apparently, they fit in a genre called Weird Fiction, or to be even more specific New Weird, where the "new" is used to distinguish new ...
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Who decides how to classify a novel?
Young Adult fiction is distinguished from Adult fiction typically by the age of the protagonist(s) and the subject matter or experiences involved. You can, of course, have adult novels starring ...
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What are some good historical sources for writing medieval battles?
This question popped into my mind after criticizing the strategic choices in a recent episode of a famous fantasy television show (coffs).
A lot of genre fiction (mostly fantasy, even if we may cast ...
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Is every story set in the future "science fiction"?
Science Fiction is a "big tent" genre, and we all know it when we see it. Even if we argue about the specific tropes – and what might make something lean heavily towards another classification (...
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Can I bring back Planetary Romance as a genre?
This question is about genre and reader expectations. I'm not trying to change my story to fit a mainstream genre. I have already taken steps to broaden it's appeal, but it's too late to create an ...
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The unknown and unexplained in science fiction
Science fiction has been defined as a genre where the "incredible" elements are "recognizable as not-true, but also as not-unlike-true, not-flatly- (and in the current state of knowledge) impossible" (...
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How to avoid drifting into a different genre?
My intention is to write a novel that falls into the "contemporary fiction" genre. Also, maybe, the "family drama" subgenre, if such a thing exists. I have a plot point that puts one of my characters ...
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How to identify target audience? And how much details do I need to know about my perfect reader?
I'm identifying my target audience based on the experiment explained in the Snowflake Method book. The narrator describes it as follows:
“Now I want you to imagine that you’ve published your novel ...
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What should tie a collection of short-stories together?
Short-stories are a nice format to write. If you have been an aspiring writer for at least one year, it's quite probabile that you've got at least three short stories drafted out, sitting in some ...
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What should I call a short book about my life? [duplicate]
I want to write a very short book of 100 pages. I want to put into it what I've suffered throughout my life: Hardships, failures, disappointments.... as an inspiration that, despite hardships, I ...
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Is there a way to break genre expectations successfully?
Premise: I believe that breaking genre expectations can alienate readers. If you go into a book expecting one thing and get another thing out of it - especially if that other thing is the complete ...
