What is genre?

Genre can be considered a form of communication between a creator and audience,

whether the audience is one person (as in single cell phone text message) or a book
written with a broad audience in mind. The audience can also be a group of people sitting
in a movie theater or watching something at home on their television or computer screen.

Different types of genre include letters, emails, novels, text books, magazine essays, etc.
Each type of writing has its own conventions and expectations. For instance, fiction is a
genre, a type of writing.

Fiction as a genre (or category or type of writing) has the following characteristics:

The story is made up. It tells us things that might have happened. Fiction may mirror real
life, or fiction may be fantastical, set in totally alien worlds. Fiction, however, must still
have an anchor in the real world so that the reader can relate to it. Fiction also tends to
provide the reader with some form of entertainment, usually offering a catharsis. A
catharsis is a term given to us by the Greeks. It refers to the purging or release of
emotions. Reading a novel, we therefore start to identify with a character or with a
situation. We start feeling a connection and want something to happen. We feel the
conflict a character in the novel feels and we cheer him or her on, hoping that the conflict
will be resolved. When it is the conflict is flushed away, or purged, and a catharsis is
experienced, a sense of satisfaction.

Non-Fiction as a genre has the following characteristics:

Depending on the reliability of the author and whether or not he or she has properly done
their job, the writing is based on truth and facts that can be checked. Often the authors
assumes the role of expert. Nonfiction can be anything from a “how to” book to a history
of the Civil War. It can be a book of opinion, where the author is basing his statements on
certain facts, trying to make an argument. This sort of non-fiction isn’t the same as
something where the facts are easily obtainable and clear in their intent, instead the
opinion is given to attempt to explain the facts or to persuade.

Categories
Most people when they think in terms of genre think in terms of categories. Westerns,
romance, fantasy, mysteries, etc. Some people become fanatical about it, breaking a
category into subcategories. For instance, a story might start out as fantasy or science
fiction and be broken down into steam punk, or steam punk romance. Another person
might look at Laurel K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series, which begins under the broad
category of fantasy and break it down into horror, paranormal romance, urban fantasy,
action-thriller…and all would be correct.

When looking at fiction from this perspective, we should consider some of the
conventions that people expect from a category. Not that one story can’t cross over. For
instance, a horror story can also be western and at the same time be a romance. Whew!!!
However, to keep things a bit cleaner let’s just say that there are certain expectations we
have as the audience that we expect the writer to fulfill (see how sneaky I am in returning
us to the basic concept of genre?). These expectations are called conventions. For
instance, in a western we would expect some of the following conventions:

• The story is set in the western United States in the 1800’s, or around the turn of
1900’s.
• The main character is usually someone rugged and individualistic.
• Certain historical themes will play into the conflict or plot (the Gold Rush, the
Cattlemen v. the Settlers, the Native American conflicts).
• At some point the plot will be resolved with gunplay, often the climax might be
showdown in the center of a western town.

Now these conventions help set the tone and give the reader a frame of reference. That
doesn’t mean the author can’t attempt to play with them. For instance, although a
convention might be the rugged individualistic protagonist, the writer might instead make
the protagonist a displaced city dweller and coward who hates his environment. Or
instead of the gunslinging sheriff who resolves things with his fists or weapons, we might
have a reluctant sheriff who doesn’t carry a gun and settles matters using his brains and
conning the bad guys into submission.

Conventions are a framework, a guidepost, a compass. They aren’t inflexible. When we

read a detective novel, we are comfortable with the detective asking questions, shaking
things up, trying to solve a mystery. When we have a horror novel, we expect things to
get dark and frightening. But while there are different goals for different genres, there are
certainly more than one way to reach that goal.

One last thing you should consider is the idea of tropes. A trope is a common theme or
pattern in literature. It can be part of a convention within a genre. A trope can be a
stereotype or overused theme or device. It is usually a form of shorthand for the writer.
It’s a way for the writer to quickly communicate something. Above, we mentioned the
stereotype of the rugged individualistic protagonist in a western, the one who is reluctant
to fight and slow to express his emotions, but when pushed against a wall will fight to
preserve honor and order. These characteristics for a protagonist from a western are
tropes, they are expected and give the reader an anchor. They are a quick way for the
writer to do away with setting things up and allows him to get to the good stuff.