Genre help

Sobel318 · Jan 7, 2010

Hi, I tried doing a search, but I didn't get too far. My question is pretty easy though, can someone list for me all the different types of "major" genres and the ways to identify them? I have an MS that I've given to 6 betas, and 2 English teachers at my community college; each of them have told me that it falls under different categories (Urban Fantasy, Sci Fi, Traditional Fantasy, YA, etc)
Then I wrote a short story, and it contains no magic and no futuristic anything, and I have no idea how to categorize it.
I would just like a list of genres and ways to identify them, or something that is as equal useful. Thank you.

alleycat · Jan 7, 2010

This is a start: http://www.cuebon.com/ewriters/genres.html#subgenre1

stephenf · Jan 8, 2010

Sobel318 said:
My question is pretty easy though,

Unfortunately it is not as easy as you would like it to be.I like science fiction, there is a lot of stuff that is classified as SF,but it's not.... I think your best bet is ,you decide what genera you are writing and leave it at that.

Dave.C.Robinson · Jan 9, 2010

Genre is just the answer to the question, "which shelf will they put it on in the bookstore?"

If you have something that could fit into multiple genres just call it whatever the market/agent you are sending it to focuses on most.

jmascia · Jan 15, 2010

Genre is a hard thing to classify and with all the different sub-genres out there, with all the descriptions, it would be a list that would stretch from New York to California.

I agree with Dave. Just call it whatever market you're going for.

Genre help

Sobel318

Beta Readers!

alleycat

Still around

stephenf

Dave.C.Robinson

... with the High Command

jmascia