Fiction Genres

Definition of Fiction Genres

Fiction genres are a way of categorizing the various literary genres related to fictional stories. These are narratives made of imaginary characters, plots and settings. This means that the narratives that make up these stories are not based on history or facts or truth; instead, these stories are simply the product of an author’s imagination.

Here are some benefits of categorizing fiction into fiction genres:

• Authors can easily communicate what the story is about
• Readers know what to expect when picking up a book of certain genre
• Publishers know how to ensure these books reach the correct readers

Now that you’re aware of what are fiction genres and why they are important, let’s make two important distinctions.

Fiction Genres vs Genre Fiction

Fiction genres and genre fiction are actually two very distinct things.

Fiction genres refer to the different genres of fiction literature. As you’ll learn later in this article, there are hundreds upon hundreds of literary genres that belong to fiction genres—genres that categorize narratives with imaginary plots, characters, and settings.

Genre fiction is one of many of the fiction genres that literature has to offer. Indeed, genre fiction represents a group of fiction genres, namely, crime fiction, fantasy literature, science fiction, horror fiction, romance novel, chick lit, among others.

But there are many fiction genres that don’t fit into genre fiction, such as historical fiction, fable, satire, erotic literature and many others.

Fiction Genres vs Creative Nonfiction Genres

Fiction genres are attributed to stories that are the fruit of the authors’ imaginations. These fiction stories include plots, characters and settings that do not exist in the real world. They may resemble things that do exist, but that’s usually just a coincidence.

Creative nonfiction genres are about facts and truths. It’s called creative nonfiction simply because the authors write about the real events in a way that is engaging, like a storyteller. It’s thought that this allows people to retain what they read much better than they would otherwise. 

The opposite of creative nonfiction is a news article or a textbook, where the authors simply describe things without any particular consideration about whether or not their content is engaging. In a news article or a textbook, the only concern is to provide the information.

Fiction Genres and Literature Formats

Regardless what format you’re reading—flash fiction, short story, novella, or a novel—you can find every fiction genre.

However, notice that the vast majority of fiction genres offer stories in the form of novels. This is because it does take a lot of words and, therefore, pages of writings, to create a plot, characters and settings. The writers of all fiction genres aim for their books to have enough depth so that it makes sense and the reader can become immersed in the story. This is why novels are the primary format in all fiction genres.

This is not to say that there aren’t good novellas or even short stories in every fiction genre. There is certainly at least one great example of a novella or short story for every fiction genre that still stands today as great books.

List of the Most Popular Fiction Genres

As aforementioned, fiction genres are a group of literary genres created to categorize the books of fiction.

There are a few hundreds of fiction genres. And, as the taste of readers and our culture evolves, resulting in increasingly distinct books, there are new fiction genres appearing all the time. However, there are a list of fiction genres that have stood the test of time and are the most popular ones. So, although this list is not an exhaustive one, it will include the fiction genres bound to be the most useful and helpful to you.

For each fiction genre in this list, we will provide a short definition and one of the most popular and celebrated books for that fiction genre.

Children’s Literature

Books of fiction that are specifically written for children, typically until around the eleven-years of age, belong to the fiction genre of children’s literature. These protagonists of these books are children and they might include pictures to make them more attractive for such a young audience.

Book example of children’s literature:Charlotte’s Web by E. B White

Charlotte’s web is one of the most celebrated books of children’s literature, enjoyed as much by adults of all ages.

It tells the story of a pig named Wilburn and his friend, a spider friend Charlotte. When Wilburn is about to be killed for food by a farmer, Charlotte writes messages with her web, trying to convince the farmer to not kill the pig.

Will spider Charlotte’s innocence change the impending future and save pig Wilburn’s from death?

SCHEMA

Young Adult Fiction

Young adult fiction, also known as YA or juvenile fiction, is a fiction genre for books written for readers between twelve- and eighteen-years-old. It includes protagonists between these two years of age. This genre can be thought as the middle-step between children’s literature and all the other fiction genres of adult literature.

Book series example of young adult fiction: Harry Potter series by JK Rowling

Coming-of-age story

In literature, coming-of-age stories are those that are focused on the development of the protagonist from a child to an adult. These stories give special attention to the typical problems we all encounter when growing up, like puberty, development of long-lasting friendships, first love and high school.

Book example of coming-of-age story: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

Genre Fiction

Also known as popular fiction, genre fiction is a broad fiction genre encompasses the books that are written with a specific genre in mind. These books are said to be commercially-oriented, because they are targeting readers of a particular genre that have specific tastes. Genre fiction encompasses a variety of fiction genres: crime fiction, fantasy literature, science fiction, western fiction, inspirational, historical fiction, horror fiction, romance novel, chick lit, among others..

Book series example of genre fiction: The Handmaid’s Tale book series by Margaret Atwood

Erotic Literature

Written exclusively for adults, erotic literature, also called erotic fiction, is a fiction genre dedicated to books whose main events is something sexual. These books are typically written to sexually arouse their readers.

Book series example of erotic literature: Fifty Shades book series by EL James

Speculative Fiction

Speculative fiction is a broad fiction genre that includes all the genres that deal with things that do not exist, nor have ever, existed in reality. Frequent themes of this genres include supernatural abilities and futuristic inventions. Speculative fiction includes science fiction, fantasy literature, horror fiction, superhero fiction, alternate history, utopian and dystopian fiction, supernatural fiction, among others.

Book example of speculative fiction: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Gothic Fiction

Gothic fiction, less frequently called gothic horror, is a fiction genre about wonder, terror, death and, often, romance. Common elements in gothic fiction include vampires, blood, witches, werewolves, monsters and old castles. It’s certainly not the best fiction genre for the weak of heart.

Book series example of gothic fiction: The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice

Military Fiction

Military fiction, also called war novel, is a fiction genre that categorizes stories that focus on war or other military activities. The plot of these books tend to mostly happen either in the battlefield. If such is not the case—if it’s in a civilian setting—then the characters are most likely preparing to war, suffering the effects of war, or recovering after a war has been fought. Readers expect a lot of violence, death and hardships, when reading military fiction.

Book series example of military fiction: Jack Ryan by Tom Clancy

LGBT Literature

As the initials indicate, LGBT literature groups together lesbian literature, gay literature, bisexual literature and transgender literature. The books that belong to any of these fiction genres are typically authored by someone that belongs to the LGBT community, though not necessarily so. LGBT literature is certain to include homossexual characters engaging in homossexual behaviors.

Book series example of LGBT literature: Creekwood by Becky Albertali and Mathilde Tamae-Bouhon

Philosophical Fiction

The fiction genre of philosophical fiction is attributed to the books whose significant part of them is intended to raise and/or answer philosophical questions. Common themes include trying to understand human nature, the purpose of life and whether to which degree free will exists. These books may not even be written by philosophers; instead, they are often written by regular authors who are simply raising questions about their own existence.

Book series example of philosophical fiction: The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Adventure Fiction

In adventure fiction books, the protagonists typically have to face a lot of dangerous and/or exciting plots. This fiction genre is characterized by fast-paced stories and focus on unordinary happenings of the characters’ lives. Indeed, the danger is the focus in adventure fiction.

Book series example of adventure fiction: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Mystery Fiction

Mystery fiction, often called detective fiction, is one of the most popular fiction genres. In these books, the protagonist is typically in charge of solving a mysterious event, typically a crime. It’s often the case that only by the end of the book the mystery is solved, leaving the readers on the edge of their seats until the very last book pages.

Book series example of mystery fiction: Robert Langdon by Dan Brown

Thriller

Thriller is a fiction genre attributed to books filled with suspense, excitement, surprise and anticipation. In fact, in thriller books, the readers are constantly surprised with the developments and the protagonists have to face incredible odds to carry on with the plot, which tends to be very consequential to other characters and to the setting. The readers of thrillers never reliably know what to expect that will happen next.

Book series example of thriller: Jack Reacher by Lee Child

Epistolary Novel

Epistolary novel is a fiction genre of books written as a great number of letters or diary entries. This way of writing is typically intended to add realism to the story, as it would seem that one is reading about something that actually happened.

Book example of epistolary novel: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

Action Fiction

Action fiction is a fiction genre attributed to stories with plots full of excitement and action. Typical elements of this genre is fighting, extreme sports and car chases. It is usually the conflict between the protagonist and the villain that drives the plot forward of action fiction stories.

Book series example of action fiction: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Fable

Fable is a fiction genre of stories that involve animals, legendary creatures, plants, or even inanimate objects, with human characteristics such as verbal communication. The point of fables is to teach a moral lesson to the reader. There are both fables for children as well as for adults.

Book example of fable: Animal Farm by George Orwell

Comedy

Comedy is a fiction genre dedicated to books whose purpose is to be funny and induce laughter. Often, these books filled with jokes are also called humor books. These tend to be written by comedians.

Book example of comedy: Bossypants by Tina Fey

Epic

Epic is a fiction genre attributed to stories that involve heroic deeds of the protagonist. These deeds tend to be of the utmost important for the other characters and, sometimes, even to the setting. And often the protagonist will have to make many personal sacrifices to do what needs to be done for the greater good.

Book series example of epic: The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Pop culture fiction

Pop culture fiction is a fiction genre where stories mention or reference a lot of other works authored or created by other people. These works might be anything from other books, movies, or tv shows, that were very popular. Typically, the goal of the author with these references is to bring a sense of nostalgia to the readers.

Book series example of pop culture fiction: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Political fiction

Political fiction is a fiction genre that uses the narrative to comment on current or past political events. Indeed, these books, often called political novels, tend to involve fiction characters and plots that resemble the current state of politics very closely. It’s how these books are often used to criticize the government or a political party, while being able to claim it’s all fiction and all resemblance of reality are purely coincidental. 

Book example of political fiction: 1984 by George Orwell

Final Thoughts on Fiction Genres

You should now have a more comprehensive understanding of the various fiction genres. Using any of the book examples above, you can now get yourself start on reading any fiction genre you might have not read before. Who knows, maybe you’ll fall in love with a new fiction genre that you weren’t aware of before.

If you have any questions about fiction genres, feel free to contact me on Twitter (@BillVazNeto).