Build-A-Book Workshop

Writing 105

When picking what genre to write, it is important to write what you know. Don't get too comfortable with just writing fantasy or just writing werewolf stories. If it's your main thing, that's fine, but go and branch out as best you can. If you can't exactly get in the swing of things, relax. No one is expecting you to write in every genre.

Here's a list of genres according to Wikipedia:

Classic – fiction that has become part of an accepted literary canon, widely taught in schools

Comic/Graphic Novel – scripted fiction told visually in artist drawn pictures, usually in panels and speech bubbles

Crime/Detective – fiction about a committed crime, how the criminal gets caught, and the repercussions of the crime

Fable – narration demonstrating a useful truth, especially in which animals speak as humans; legendary, supernatural tale

Fairy tale – story about fairies or other magical creatures, usually for children

Fanfiction – fiction written by a fan of, and featuring characters from, a particular TV series, movie, etc.

Fantasy – fiction with strange or otherworldly settings or characters; fiction which invites suspension of reality

Fiction narrative – literary works whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact

Fiction in verse – full-length novels with plot, subplot(s), theme(s), major and minor characters, in which the narrative is presented in verse form (usually free verse)

Folklore – the songs, stories, myths, and proverbs of a people or "folk" as handed down by word of mouth

Historical fiction – story with fictional characters and events in a historical setting

Horror – fiction in which events evoke a feeling of dread and sometimes fear in both the characters and the reader

Humor – Usually a fiction full of fun, fancy, and excitement, meant to entertain and sometimes cause intended laughter; but can be contained in all genres

Legend – story, sometimes of a national or folk hero, that has a basis in fact but also includes imaginative material

Magical Realism - magical or unreal elements play a natural part in an otherwise realistic environment

Metafiction – also known as romantic irony in the context of Romantic works of literature, uses self-reference to draw attention to itself as a work of art, while exposing the "truth" of a story

Mystery – this is fiction dealing with the solution of a crime or the unraveling of secrets

Mythology – legend or traditional narrative, often based in part on historical events, that reveals human behavior and natural phenomena by its symbolism; often pertaining to the actions of the gods

Poetry – verse and rhythmic writing with imagery that creates emotional responses

Realistic fiction – story that is true to life

Science fiction – story based on impact of actual, imagined, or potential science, usually set in the future or on other planets

Short story – fiction of such brevity that it supports no subplots

Suspense/Thriller – fiction about harm about to befall a person or group and the attempts made to evade the harm

Tall tale – humorous story with blatant exaggerations, swaggering heroes who do the impossible with nonchalance

Western - set in the American Old West frontier and typically set in the late eighteenth to late nineteenth century

You can also go to the Wattpad page for ideas of what genres are out there. 

http://support.wattpad.com/hc/en-us/articles/200774334