Dreamland Workshop

✨ Audience and Genre Guide ✨

This chapter is skippable but helpful for filling out the form if you aren't fully aware of these two aspects!

Please be reminded that this account doesn't really see Teen Fiction as a genre. It is usually either YA Romance or YA General Fiction.

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Here are the basic audiences used to advertise your story! These are not always who do read your stories, but what audience range the story was written for. Trust me, I'm a 25-year-old still reading books meant for 8 to 12 year olds :D A good rule of thumb is to go by the age of your protagonist, but this isn't always fully accurate.

✨ Middle Grade: Can be shortened to MG. These are the books advertised to 8-12 year olds. These books tend to be lighter, have very basic romance if any (hand holding, small kisses), and explore the sort of preteen expanding upon and understanding of emotions and growth.

✨ Young Adult: Can be shortened to YA. These books are advertised to 12-18 year olds. Yeah, I know, big difference. I dunno, ask the publishing world about it. These books have more ability to step into the darker themes while still having a lot more of those lighter moments because, well, it's still mostly young teens these are being advertised to. Characters are hitting those teenage years, learning who they are, figuring out romance stuff, usually dealing with the hatred of their psychological stage of life (overdramatic mindset, the world is always watching them, all that fun stuff that makes teens hate life).

✨New Adult: Can be shortened to NA. These books are advertised to 18-25 year olds or 18-30 year olds. It depends on who you ask. But basically, these are people just blossoming into adulthood. They're going to college, getting jobs, establishing families, and the stories tend to reflect these struggles. Even for those stories not taking place in the real world, the theme of starting their adult lives but not quite knowing how still prevails. They've gotten a good idea who they are, but they're truly cementing it while seeing the bigger picture of their place in the world.

✨Adult: These books are advertised to 25+ year olds/30+ year olds (depending on when people say NA ends). The characters may still make mistakes and grow, but they've created roots, established themselves. There is a lot more focus on societal pressures because of the expectations put on adults (gotta love all those murders done to preserve image!) Also a lot more whole-world awareness and family awareness stuff. They're out there doing the whole life thing and hating it the entire time!

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We will not be able to explain every aspect due to a few reasons, but here are some basic explanations of genres:

✨Fantasy: Stories where the magical is real. Maybe the fantastical is hidden in the real world, or your mc is in a whole other realm of your own creation. Maybe someone from our world goes to another. Fantasy explores the most magical parts of the imagination.

✨Sci-Fi: Aliens, advanced technology, time travel. Things that may be out there, may be possible, if only science was a little bit more... fictional. Sometimes interacts with fantasy but always has that "explainable" connection to science.

✨Action/Adventure: These two almost always go hand-in-hand as readers follow the characters through some grand adventure. Think Indiana Jones, Uncharted, Tomb Raider, even National Treasure! Things grounded mostly in reality, with maybe the smallest hint of other genres, where the main focus is always some adventure! Please be aware that fantasy adventure is fantasy primarily UNLESS the fantasy elements are so light that you can barely tell. Magic makes it fantasy though, guys.

✨Paranormal: First off, this is NOT horror. There's paranormal horror, just like there's paranormal romance, but the genre of paranormal focuses on creatures out of the ordinary: vampires, werewolves angels, demons, you name it. If you're wondering if it's fantasy or paranormal, when there's a smidge of magic and it's more just, well, unexplained phenomenon/creatures, then it's Paranormal.

✨Romance: The core goal of the plot is the mc and their love interest getting together! Many struggles and personal growth situations may occur along the way, but the entire time, the relationship between the two is growing. Romance is a subgenre of *many* books, but romance books have that theme at its core. So if it's fantasy romance, please go put it in fantasy.

✨Chicklit: These books follows the journey of young women as they make it through the world. It may have romance, it may not. It *tends* to be lighter and more up-beat, but the life of women isn't always easy, and sometimes, neither is the happenings of those in these stories.

✨Historical: Explore the past, whether it be regency romance, the hardships faced during certain time periods, whatever it may be. When you take us back to a real point in the past--yes, even with fictional accounts and characters--you are writing a historical story!

✨Mystery/Thriller: There are questions in the air, questions that answering will be very important to the story, and maybe the only way to save someone's life. These are the stories that leave you trying to solve some unknown riddle or your mind spin as you chant for the MC to get away from a killer.

✨Horror: Serial killers. Bloodthirsty demons. Murderous monsters. Basically, in horror, something wants you dead or makes you wish you were dead. It can interact with mystery/thriller, but always, the intent is to leave you fearful of the dark afterwards.

✨General Fiction: These are the stories that don't really have a specific "genre." They can sometimes be referred to as slice-of-life because, well, it is an exploration of life. Maybe it is coming-of-age. Maybe it is a person just trying to survive every day in a hard family life. Whatever it is, the core of it will always be the experiences of life.

✨Nonfiction: Books that are only there to make you laugh :smile:

✨Nonfiction: These are tales that are true/real. Thing biographies or autobiographies. Yeah, that simple.

✨Poetry: Uh... Poems... In a book... Pretty basic, sorry XD

✨Spiritual: From growth in your faith to real accounts of spiritual encounters. These stories will always stem from a real faith greatly influencing the tale.