Genres - Part 1
- Leo Marcorin
- Dec 13, 2022
- 10 min read
That's right, folks!
Here comes a brand new post on the series "how to write a story!"
This time, we talk about Genre.
Since it is a big topic, I divided it into two posts. Here goes the first part.
Genre... This word is terrible! Being a non-native English speaker, I can't pronounce it. Genre.
Yet, as a thing, at least, Genre is easy to grasp. Simply put, Genre is a box. A Box can be big, square, ugly, with a very specific format, black, pink, hexagonal, or full of glitter. Yet, independently of its shape and smell, it serves a single purpose: To fit something in. Big epic boxes can fit a whole new world of magical races, lands, new technologies, and intrigue. In contrast, a small true crime box may contain a very specific situation that happened right here in our world and was significant enough to be retold.
I am a guitarist, believe it or not. A guitar case is a box built to fit a specific shape. The Instrument must sit comfortably inside and cannot move or shake; otherwise, it would brake if someone dropped the box or threw it somewhere on the stage. So, you can only fit a Stratocaster into a Les Paul case if you damage the box. BUT, like in Desperados, we can easily fit a machine gun ;)
Genres are containers with specific shapes, colors, and materials, and these physical limitations are followed. Every Genre has a set of rules, styles, and tropes that the writer must consider by following or breaking them.
Here we will talk about the most important fiction boxes, their rules, and examples of well-written stories of compliance and rebellion.
Before ancient Greece, there was never a classification for stories. They were simply history (confused with Mythology), religion, or bureaucratic documents. The concept of Genre was cunned by Aristotles to classify poetry, prose, and performances. Then, the Idea became a useful label for art forms, particularly music and written/play stories.
There are SO MANY types of Genre that one can get overwhelmed. Basic genres can be subdivided into so many specific categories... Yet, in Romance must be love: in Horror must be scares; in Sci-Fi... You get the gist. It's hard to get away from the Papa-Genres, but we can create new Subcategories by mixing elements. That's why we have more than 20 subcategories for Thriller stories and Metal music.
Every Genre has rules to be followed, and even though they are not displayed on a huge billboard, the audience knows it. For instance, every Romance calls for a happy ending, every Horror has a final girl, and every western has a duel in front of the salon.
Here is when things get interesting:
Must a Western Romance have a duel in front of the salon? Not necessarily, but it must have a happy ending.
Now, Must a Western with Romance have a shooting in front of the salon? Hell Yeah!
I hope you got the difference.
When you write, think about the main Genre that will drive the plot. Yet, most importantly, have other genres to enrich the story. A Horror story is always nice, but what if it happened in the 17th century during enslavement? What if the vengeful spirit is a slave, killing everyone who harmed his family? What are the ethical implications of a story like this? Who are the heroes and the villains?
Of course, people already wrote this story: Assassin's Creed Liberation, Jango Unchained, and Candyman, among others. The point here is, mixing up genres and subgenres makes Fiction interesting.
Even so important as making an awesome original story is to inform your audience about your story's Genre. This is the first contract you do with your reader, and the most important is setting expectations.
By informing your audience that the story is a Horror, they can expect to be scared. If someone doesn't like to have their hearts pumping too hard, they can always close their eyes when the music becomes tense. Finally, Horror lovers know they will have gruesome deaths, jumpscares, and a lot of supernatural juice.
We mention how mixing genres is important to make interesting stories, but you know what makes it even more? To mess your audience up with their expectations. Think of someone consuming a romance where all of a sudden, one of the lovers is transported in time to the past, transforming the story into science fiction! Think about how to throw your audience off by knowing what they want, playing with their feelings, and surprising them with something they never saw coming.
Really, you can mix up whatever you want, like a Fantasy Dystopian Thriller Noir-Style. Take a minute to think about that!
Are you still thinking about the Fantasy Dystopian Thriller Noir-Style story? No? Don't worry, I can wait... think about it!
In short, let them know what is coming (Not to surprise them negatively), mix up other genres to make it interesting, and surprise them with something unexpected by changing the Genre in the middle of the story.
And now, let's look at the main types of Genres, their implied contracts, rules, styles, and examples.
Note 1: Due to the many ways to categorize a story, I will use the ISBN catalog for this exercise since it will also be useful later on when we talk about publishing.
Note 2: As said, many times during this series, we will only talk about Fiction.
There are hundreds of categories in ISBN, so I bundled them by similarity:
Fiction/
Action & Adventure (incl. Sea Stories, Western);
Humorous (incl. Black Humor, Satire);
Drama/Tragedy (incl. War & Military);
Dystopian (incl. Political);
Horror (incl. Ghost, Gothic, Occult & Supernatural) & Thriller (incl. Crime, Mystery & Detective, Noir, Psychological)
Magical Sagas (incl. Fairy Tale, Folk Tale, Legends, Metaphysical, Mythology, Fantasy, Magical Realism, and Visionary);
Science Fiction
I left out many others because they are too vague/general (General, Alternative, Anthologies, Biographies, Family Life, Historical, Literary, mashups, Media Tie-In, short stories);
Or too specific (African/Asian American, Amish, Contemporary Women, Cultural Heritage, Gay, Hispanic/Latino, Jewish, Legal, Lesbian, Medical, Native American & Aboriginal, Urban);
Or it doesn't interest me (Coming of Age, Christianity, Erotica, Holidays, Religious, Romance, Sports, and Superheroes).
These "excluded" subcategories/genres can still be combined with those I will deep dive into (For instance: Christian Dystopian - Handmaid's Tale; or African American Action - Jango Unchained).
Action & Adventure
Action... Well, it is in the name! It is fast, it is bold, and it is awesome.
A good Action story must have a lot of actions!
We are talking about speed. For instance, in books is rushing words. The writer must use small phrases, onomatopoeias, plenty of dialogs, and word painting. The reader must be able to run through 10 pages in less than a minute, feeling the sweat on his neck. If an average novel page is about 4.000 words, make sure to have a page with 400, so the reader can feel the speed. In a car chase of about 220km/h, you need to make your reader feel like he's inside the car.
In Movies and TV Series, Action usually has a lot of cut scenes, as well as very intense and high risky/stakes situations (Bay's Transformers, Nolan's The Dark Knight). Of course, you have the opposite. In Daredevil (Goddard's TV series, the movie sucks!), there are veeeery long single-cut fight scenes that, like in any Michael Bay movie, make you swallow your nails.
Pure Action stories, like those thousands of 90s movies, are predictable and lack basic plot and character development. Therefore, they get old very quickly. For me, Action is a tool, passages in the story that can make the reader's blood flow.
An Adventure follows the Hero Journey mold formulated by the writer and professor Joseph Campbell:
A protagonist (or a few), someone special with agency that is taken from his original starting point (normally by accident - The Wizard of Oz; By means of a Mentor- Harry Potter; Or by a very hard choice - The Hunger Games).
During the Journey, our Hero meets many extraordinary people, some trying to harm him, some others helping or joining. Many dangers will be faced, but our Hero is special and always win.
There will be a Low Point in the story where everything seems lost (Losing someone dear or important item - The Lord of The Rings; by separation of the group due to conflicts - Tom Sawyer; A trial that the Hero persistently cannot overcome - Dom Quixote).
After overcoming the Low Point, the Hero is ready for the final challenge. After the final battle, the Hero returns to the place of origin victorious and a better person.
Since Adventures normally are long and full of trials, they can be overwhelmingly boring without Action.
Action needs Adventure, and vice-versa. The combining both... muah! Perfection.
In music, if you want Action & Adventure? Iron Maiden! Fast, full of stories and Adventure, and gets you moving and shaking your head beyond the limits of your neck.
To conclude, Action equals speed, which means many images/ words/ beats per second. Adventure means Hero development. Combine both (and more Genres) to make your story more interesting.
Humor
Humor is one of the most ancient genres; after all, humans have been laughing as a biological need from the get-go. In their work, Socrates and Aristotle described Humor as "the ridicule that one ethically cannot retaliate" or "ugliness that does not disgust.". In Latin, Humor means body fluid, something so powerful that it could balance the human body.
This Genre is widespread in words, movies, and, since the dawn of humankind, "mouth-to-mouth" (standups, puns, and jokes). The tricky part is how to make someone laugh without pissing someone else off. By nature, comedy relies on ridicule. The pain of one is the joy of many, right? It is really hard not to offend a group of people in this Genre. In any case, we must sometimes laugh at our day-to-day dismay to survive in this indifferent and cruel world (Dark Comedy). We say in Brazil: We Laugh, not to Cry.
You can see a few types of Humor below:
Blue comedy: usually sexual and profane;
Dark comedy: usually about disturbing subjects;
Burlesque: To ridicule serious pieces of art to make a statement;
Cringe comedy: based on embarrassment;
Improvisation comedy;
Inside Humor: Usually limited to a group and situation;
Mockumentary (i.e., The Office)
Comedy Music (i.e., Weird Al)
Prop comedy: relying on objects
(...)
Humor always comes in three:
You introduce the characters and place (Exposition);
You give an absurd situation (Expectation - The Context);
And you come with a punch line (Unexpected - Punch line).
This formula works for any comedy. You introduce the story by telling who and where the characters are. Then you put them into the most absurd (but funny) situations, and, in the end, you give the utmost unexpected but smart conclusion.
And nothing translates this premise better than Douglas Adams' the Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. During 4,5 books (he died before finishing the last), he takes the reader to the most absurd of the absurd. I remember reading this book on a bus going to school and people frowning at me for laughing out loud. You can see an example below:
Think about the investment of millions and millions of dollars and lives, and generation after generation, to build a supercomputer that would you give you the answer to Life, the Universe, and everything. (Exposition)
The computer is ready, so the most respected elder asks: "Oh, Great Computer, What is the answer for Life, the Universe, and everything?"
"Well, that is a tricky question. I need time to calculate. Come back in 7,5 million years and I will give the answer".
Generations past, many more people died in war defending the machine. Punctually (after all, this is a British book), the crowd is back at the Great Computer, dying to know the answer to Life, the Universe, and everything. Hence, they ask, and the computer says: (Expectation)
"42" (Unexpected)
Even though I cry laughing at this story, it is not for everyone. Comedy is very specific, and that's why there are so many forms.
The thing about the most obnoxious characters putting themselves in such an uncomprehensive danger and getting out of it by pure luck. That is the irony of comedy (and its recent downfall): It doesn't need to be logical, just funny. It doesn't need to be of good taste, just funny. Any comedy can age badly in today's world, where everything is ultra-realistic and serious. Who would laugh today a Top Secret's sex jokes, Jim Carey's body comedy, or Ghostbuster's sexism? Remember that a writer walks on thin ice these days to write comedy, so he/she must know their audience. That's why the Hitchhiker's Guide is a masterpiece, not because it is the funniest and most unexpected story, but because Mr. Adams knew his audience very well (goofy science-curious teenagers).
In short, keep your reader interested with the 3 steps formula. Remember not to offend anyone, and the most important thing: KNOW THY AUDIENCE!
Drama/Tragedy
I am no specialist in Drama or Tragedy, so I will be very brief in telling what I know.
Drama is empathy.
For example, War stories (Anne Frank, The Boy in the Stripped Pijamas, The Book Thief, and Schindler's List - All books adapted to movies). These stories make you put yourself into someone's else shoes.
Drama imitates reality, so it touches one heart personally. People who dislike this Genre usually would rather not be challenged by painful situations, rather not think about the unthinkable and face an ugly reality. Any drama will always raise the question: Imagine if it was you or your family.
I like Horror, you must know that by now, but no Horror will ever mimic the horrors of reality. No Horror story can capture the pain of war, of losing someone you love dearly or sacrificing everything for something greater than you. Again, imagine if it was you.
Imagine that you pulled the trigger, even though you didn't want to.
Now imagine you are the one on the other side of the gun.
Now imagine you are the one watching.
Now imagine you are the one giving the order.
That is what Drama is all about!
Learn the situation (mainly if it is historical), pick up a side but understand all angles. If you can't understand all the sides and cannot have empathy even towards something you despise, Drama is not for you.
Because of its "reality" nature, most dramas are based on real facts or historical moments. So, research is key in this Genre.
The Tragedy is an Allegoric Drama. It also tries to imitate reality, but usually, it is more mythological and tries to convey an ethical lesson. Tragedies were the main form of storytelling in old Greece (yes, back to the greeks).
One of the most famous is the one of Oedipus, that man who unconsciously fulfills the prophecy of marrying his mother and killing his own father in the process only because he tried to run away from his faith. The lesson here is: You can't ever escape faith (not to get the hots for your mother, Mr. Freud).
In summary, Dramas imitate reality by putting the audience in the subject's shoes (Empathy), forcing the question: Imagine if it was you. Tragedy is an allegoric form of Drama meant to teach a moral lesson.
That is all for now. See a summary below, and we will carry on with the rest of the Genres in the next post:
Action = Speed, few but impactful words, lots of scene cuts. Question: How to make your reader be part of the scene?
Adventure = Hero's Journey.
Comedy = 3 Steps - Exposition, Expectation, Unexpected.
Drama = Rooted in Reality, Empathy, "Imagine if it was you."
See you in one week :)
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