Genres and Subgenres

1. Genres and Subgenres A lesson in classifying stories!

2. Genre • The word GENRE refers to a particular type or kind of literature. • GENRE = Category • All writing falls into a category or genre

3. 5 Types of Genres • Fiction: Creative or imaginative writing • Nonfiction: writing that is true or factual • Folklore: stories once pass down orally • Poetry: writing concerned with the beauty of language • Drama: plays or scripts

4. Fiction Subgenres

5. Fiction Length • Novel: • Usually 100 pages + • Multiple characters, themes, conflicts and plots • Novella: • Shorter than a novel, longer than a short story • 21-99 (roughly) • Short Story: • Few Characters, one theme and plot line

6. Realistic Fiction • Form of fiction • Reflects life as it could be lived today • Everything could happen to people living in our natural physical world • Characters have normal powers • Story may be set in real places, but NOT based on history nor does it have elements of science fiction

7. Twenty Boy Summer(Realistic Fiction) • For 16 year olds Anna Reiley and Frankie Perino, their 20 day-long, minimally supervised California vacation will be the “Absolute Best Summer Ever.” And according to Frankie, if they meet one boy every day, there’s a pretty good chance that Anna will get her first real boyfriend. • Anna lightheartedly agrees to the game, but there’s something she hasn’t told Frankie—she’s already had that kind of romance, and it was with Frankie’s older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago.

8. Historical Fiction • Based on historical events and/or real settings • Characters are portrayed in a real manner • Some characters may be actual people from history but the plot line is fictional • Artistic mix of fact and fiction

9. The Only Outcast(Historical Fiction) • In the summer of 1904, Fred Dickinson, a 16-year-old Canadian, sets out with his two younger brothers and sister for their annual vacation at their grandparents’ lakeside cottage. Still missing his mother, who died three years ago, Fred is relieved to escape his overbearing and critical father, who, Fred declares, “finds it too nerve-wracking to have me stumbling around all day.” Through carefully mapped scenes, Johnston traces Fred’s maturation as he rescues various siblings from danger, receives a first, painful lesson in love and discovers the truth behind the local legend involving a murderous ferryman.

10. Science Fiction • Contains some sort of scientific element such as outer space, medicine or technology • Events are within the realm of possibility but takes place in the future • Blends fact and fiction with futuristic technology

11. The Host(Science Fiction) • Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed. • Wanderer, the invading “soul” who has been given Melanie’s body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn’t expect; the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

12. Fantasy • Contains one or more of the following: • Supernatural occurrences • Characters and things with magical powers • Animals and things with human characteristics • Real people in fantastical places • Fantastic creatures or characters in real situations

13. A Wrinkle In TimeFantasy • Everyone in town thinks Meg is volatile and dull-witted and that her younger brother Charles Wallace is dumb. People are also saying that their father has run off and left their brilliant scientist mother. Spurred on by these rumors, Meg and Charles Wallace, along with their new friend Calvin, embark on a perilous quest through space to find their father. In doing so they must travel behind the shadow of an evil power that is darkening the cosmos, one planet at a time.

14. Mystery/Crime • Stories that have a real setting • Include a problem to be solved with clues & distractions • Includes an answer to the problem

15. The Other Side of Dark(Mystery) • She wakes up in a room that’s not hers, in a body she doesn’t recognize, to discover she’s been in a coma for four years. Her mother is dead—murdered—and Stacy, recovering from a gunshot wound, is the only eyewitness to her mother’s murder. She can recall only a shadowy face, so far. But the killer is not about to let her reveal his identity…

16. Adventure • Focuses on action, danger and excitement

17. Other Subgenres • Western Novels • Romance • Horror • Thriller/Suspense

18. True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle • The story that takes place during an 1802 transatlantic journey that turns mutinous and even more dangerous than expected. Thirteen-year-old Charlotte must decide whom to side with and find her courage in order to survive.

19. Nonfiction Subgenres

20. Informational Writing • Provides facts or information • Newspapers • Textbooks • Reference Material

21. Persuasive Writing • Writing used to influence the reader • Opinion Pieces • Speeches • Letters

22. Biography • Story of a real person’s life • Written by someone else • Author must research by interviewing subject or those who knew subject

23. Autobiography • Story of a real person’s life • Written by that person • Author shares how he/she feels and what he/she thinks

24. Folklore Subgenres

25. Fable • Short story with talking animals and a moral (lesson of the story and it is clearly stated)

26. Myth • Has gods and goddesses • May account for the creation of something

27. Tall Tale • Funny story set in the Wild West • Main character’s size or skill is exaggerated

28. Fairy Tales • Has magic and talking animals • What is the difference between a fairy tale and a fantasy? • Fairy tales are part of the oral tradition • Fairy tales often start with “Once Upon a Time”