More on genres
As promised, I am posting another discussion about different types of genres. It is vital for an author to know where his/her work belongs. The good thing is, you don't need to know everything about every genre. You just need to know where you belong, then learn from there.
Different mystery genres. There are several different types of mystery novels, but all include a mystery to be solved and a detective-type person to solve it. These novels can contain, profanity, sex scenes, and violence.
Link to mystery genres
Psychological novels are basically a product of the mind. A lot of imagination and thought goes into these novels as well as a demented mind set. It doesn't hurt, anyway. If you are unsure about this genre, check out Stephen King and Dean Koontz who have been terrifying readers and keeping them up at night for years. A psychological novel keeps you on the edge of your seat, biting your nails, and pulling the covers up under you chin when you finally go to bed. These are often linked with horror and are usually about 85,000 to over 100,000 words and typically have a lot of adult content.
Thrillers are typically set in modern times with drug lords, bombs, runaway trains, large body count, etc. Romance can play a small part in these stories, but usually it's about the action and readers simply want to see the good guy beat the bad guy. Of course, the bad guy dying some horrific death is always the best ending for most readers of the Thriller persuasion. Thrillers are usually between 85,000 and just over 100,000 words.
Horror Everyone who lived in the eighties knows this genre well. The bad guy usually doesn't die very easily even if you stab him ten times and put several bullets in his back, he still comes up for one last scare. The body count is high and typically on the gory side with blood, guts, and a lot of blood-curdling screams. The reader wants you to scare their pants off of them. They want to feel their chest tighten when they hear a bump in the night. Think back to when you were a kid. There you were in bed, all was dark, silence clung to your room and suddenly you heard footsteps coming up the hall, closing in on your room. That feeling, the feeling you had at that moment, that's horror.
Historical fiction is obviously set in the past and can include romance, fantasy, etc. The setting for a historical novel is usually real and created from history. This genre is typically over 100,000 words in length and can include adult content. Some examples of historical fiction include
Forever amber, Gone with the wind, Spartacus, Key of gold just to name a few.
Contemporary fiction The setting for this genre can begin as far back as the 1940's and still fit into this category. This genre usually expresses our emotions, has characters that are very realistic in what they say and do. The events that take place in a contemporary fiction are things that can actually happen in true life, so meeting a ghost in this genre simply doesn't happen. These novels are usually over 100,000 words, and may or may not contain violence, profanity, and sex. These novels are about relationships, tragedy, families, etc. Some examples of contemporary fiction include
On Chesil beach,
Fifty shades of grey, Keeper, and
Happy hour, as well as many, many more. If you need more examples, just do a quick search of popular contemporary fiction novels.
Mainstream fiction are difficult to categorize and can derive from many different ideas. They are usually about good versus evil and tells a classic story such as, Lovely bones, and The time traveler's wife. Mainstream fiction is basically genre fiction that likes to break the rules. For instance, if you want to write a romance novel, but don't care to stick to the typical romance formula, then you'll more than likely come up with a mainstream novel.
Until next time, happy scrawling.
