There are four main book categories:
Poetry, Fiction, Non-Fiction and Drama.
In this blog, we're going to zoom in on Fiction.
Fiction can be split into two categories:
Popular Fiction - Plot-driven fiction written with a particular audience in mind. It normally fits into a specific genre and can already have a firm fan base.
Literary Fiction - Character-driven writing, which is valued for its complex form, language or style.
We are going to zoom in on Popular Fiction which has five main genres:
Romance, Horror, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Thriller & Suspense, and Mystery & Crime.
In this blog, we will discuss the subcategories of Sci-Fi & Fantasy, my favourite genre. These genres are known as the more imaginative of the writing world. They contain elements that are out of the ordinary and sometimes out of this world.
Science Fiction has a grounding in Science and is therefore possible.
Fantasy, on the other hand, has no grounding in reality.
Now, let's get into these subcategories.
Alternate History - Speculative Fiction that changes the accepted account of a historical event.
Cyberpunk - Stories featuring tough outsiders in a High Tech, near-future world where computers have produced major changes in society.
Dark Fantasy - Tales that focus on the nightmarish underbelly of magic, venturing into the violence of horror novels.
Dystopian - Stories that portray a bleak future world.
Erotic - Sci-Fi or Fantasy which focuses on sex.
Heroic Fantasy - Stories of war and it's heroes. The fantasy equivalent of military science Fiction.
High or Epic Fantasy - Tales with an emphasis on the fate of an entire race or nation, often featuring a young 'nobody' hero battling ultimate evil.
Historical - Speculative fiction taking place in a recognisable historical period.
Mystery Science Fiction - A cross-genre blend that can be either a Sci-Fi tale with a central mystery or a classic who did it with Sci-Fi elements.
Mythic Fiction - Stories inspired or modelled on classic myths, legends and fairy tales.
New Age - A category of speculative fiction that deals with occult subjects such as astrology, psychic phenomena, spiritual healing, UFOs and Mysticism.
Post-Apocalyptic - Stories of life on earth after an apocalypse. Focusing on the struggle to survive.
Space Opera - A traditional good guy/bad guy face off with lots of action and larger than life characters.
Spy-Fi - Tales of espionage with Sci-Fi elements, especially the use of High Tech gadgetry.
Steampunk - A specific type of alternate history in which characters of Victoria England have access to 20th Century technology.
Superheroes - Stories featuring characters endowed with superhuman strengths or abilities.
Thriller Sci-Fi - A Sci-Fi story that takes on the classic world at risk, cliffhanger elements of a Thriller.
Time Travel - Stories based on the concept of moving forward or backwards in time, often delving into the existence of parallel worlds.
Urban Fantasy - A Fantasy tale in which magical powers and characters appear in an otherwise normal modern context, similar to Latin American Magical realism.
Vampire - Variations on the classic vampire legend, recently taking on many sexual and romantic variations.
Young Adult - Speculative fiction aimed at a teenage audience, often featuring a hero the same age or slightly older than the reader.
Arthurian Fantasy - Reworkings of the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the round table.
Bangsian Fantasy - Stories speculating on the afterlives of famous people.
BioPunk - A blend of film Noir, Japanese Anime and Post Modern Elements used to describe an underground, Biotech society.
Children's Fantasy - A kinder, gentler style of fantasy aimed at young readers.
Game related Fantasy - Tales with plots and characters similar to High Fantasy but based on a specific role-playing game like Dungeons and Dragons.
Hard Science Fiction - Tales in which real present-day science is logically extrapolated to the future.
Mundane Science Fiction - A movement that spurns the fanciful concepts like warp drives, wormholes and faster-than-light travel for stories based on scientific knowledge as it actually exists.
Military Science Fiction - War stories that extrapolate military technology and tactics into the future.
Romance - Sci-Fi or Fantasy where romance plays a key role.
Social Science Fiction - Tales that focus on how characters react to their environment, including social satire.
Soft Science Fiction - Tales based on the softer sciences such as Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, etc.
Sword and Sorcery - A classic genre, often set in a medieval period and more concerned with immediate physical threats.
Wuxia - Fantasy tales set within the martial arts traditions and philosophies of China.
I hope you found a new genre to read, or discovered the subcategory of your book!
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https://www.youtube.com/user/Robynblond09
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Sources Kristen Martin - Determining the genre of your book https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3ZfSAzaGUc
Writers Digest - Sub Genre Descriptions https://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/genredefinitions
