Oh! That Thing with Genres

Ah yes… Genres. They are such tricky little thing. Curious. Very curious indeed. Don’t underestimate the word called Genre. You be surprise of its power…. *wahahahahahah*

*Ahem*

What am I mumbling about? What powers? Why, How, Huh?

Let me regress… There were times when genres are just the differences between fiction and non-fiction. They have their own divisions and sub-divisions. But as I grew up… I found it has evolve to such an extend that half of the time, genres overlap here and there, that we can’t recognize if it's one genre or the next. As a librarian.. this makes cataloging a bit *just a bit* difficult, but of course.. sometimes, internet helps. I can’t really blame them, cause as an aspiring writer, I do too jump and mix genres when mood strikes.

As I was saying, the main division of genres are FICTION and NON-FICTION. As I have taught the kids during library introductory at school, FICTION is naturally story books and novels, of course throw in comics and graphic novels in for some sense. NON-FICTION is Factual books, in means, whatever that is left, which are their reference books, and their school sort of books. *shows textbooks, encyclopedias, dictionaries as emphasis.*

So let’s start with some of the NON-FICTION (FACTUAL) sub-divisions available:

• Autobiography – A book about the life of a person, written by the person himself.
• Biography - A book of somebody's life that is written by another author.
• Comedy / Humor - Huh? Don't forget the book of jokes!
• Art & Craft - Arts & hobbies related books.
• Documentary - Books that reminds you of Discovery, National Geographic & History Channel.
• Educational - Textbooks, handbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias and all that.
• True Stories - Famous books from this genre are usually true tales of crime. There are other sub-divisions for this one but you get the idea.

Here's my favorite part. FICTION. Now this one really breaks out in so many overlapping sub-genres that half of the  time is confusing. and yet fun! But it’s a good technique to introduce readers to various other genres. Here are some of the main categories.

• Action - Think Rambo and Indiana Jones...
• Adventures
• Comics, Graphic novels
• Crime
• Detective
• Erotica
• Fan-fiction
• Fantasy
• Historical
• Horror
• Gothic
• Literary
• Mystery
• Romance
• Saga
• Science Fiction
• Thrillers
• True Story
• Western

So... to set an example... let me break out the HORROR genre (since it's one of my favorites) into a few of its sub-genres. It's a genre where it is intended to scare its readers, by inducing terror and horror. It can go either supernatural, or non-supernatural.

• Ghosts
• Shapeshifters - Lycans, werecats, were/something
• Gothic
• Magical
• Death
• Demonic
• Vampires
• Witches
• Science Fiction %
• Fantasy %
• Romance %
• Historical %

And then some....  The ones with % are notably the genres which is available as a main sub genres as well as available in other sub genre’s sub-divisions. I am not really sure if that came out right. But you know what I mean. See what I mean?

Oh my.. so how can I choose a book and make sure it is in my general interest of reading? Flip to the back, and read the blurb, or you can do research over the net. Another way would be flip open a random page and read to get a more accurate flavor. Don’t fret though, sometimes, books are are slow or fast, and they probably trip you here and there. If you gotta try a dip here and there and want to be convince, I suggest you visit the Teasers Tuesdays Meme which is currently hosted by MizB @ Should Be Reading.