Genres
Below is a list of genres with a brief description of each.
Fiction: Stories that may be based on actual events or people, but are written entirely with imagination of the author, containing made-up elements.
Realistic Fiction: Fictional stories that take place in modern time, right here and now. The characters are involved in events that could really happen.
Historical Fiction: Stories that take place in a particular time period in the past. Often the basic setting is real, but the characters are fictional.
Science Fiction: Story based on impact of actual, imagined, or potential science, usually set in the future or on other planets.
Historical Fiction: Stories that portray alternate accounts or dramatization of historical figures or events.
Non-Fiction: Informational text dealing with an actual, real-life subject.
Creative Non-Fiction: Stories that contain literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives.
Narrative Non-Fiction: Factual information presented in a format which tells a story.
Biography: Story of a real person's life, written or told by another person.
Autobiography: story of a real person's life, written or told by that person.
Survival: Fiction and Non-Fiction – contains elements of the main character's (or persons within the story) personal struggle(s) to maintain conscientious decisions which ultimately could effect the outcome of the story's ending.
Fable: Narration demonstrating a useful truth, especially in which animals speak as humans; legendary, supernatural tale.
Fairy Tale / Folk Tale: Story about fairies or other magical creatures, usually for children.
Western: Stories set primarily in the later half of the 19th century, portraying how primitive and obsolete ways of life confronted modern technological or social changes.
Fantasy: Fiction with strange or other worldly settings or characters; fiction which invites suspension of reality.
Mystery / Suspense: Fiction dealing with the solution of a crime or the unraveling of secrets.
Thriller / Horror: Fiction in which events evoke a feeling of dread in both the characters and the reader.
Humor: Fiction full of fun, fancy, and excitement, meant to entertain; but can be contained in all genres.
Poetry: Verse and rhythmic writing with imagery that creates emotional responses from the reader.
Drama: Stories composed in verse or prose, usually for theatrical performance, where conflicts and emotion are expressed through dialogue and action.
Legend: Story, sometimes of a national or folk hero, which has a basis in fact but also includes imaginative material.
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.
Speech: Public address or discourse.