Genre Discussion

The term "genre" is ambiguous. That is, it is possible for a given story to actually be in several genre, for example, Science Fiction Romance.

In deciding what genre I wanted to write in I had to come to grips what the term genre means. Such hybrid genres as Science Fiction Romance, Western Romance, etc. lead be to analysis of what the term genre means.

I must admit that I was part of a group where the question was brought up, "Is Science Fiction a 'real' genre?"

The essence of my analysis is that genres may be divided into two types: the background genres, and the plot genres. Once you know a story is part of a particular background you can tell something about where it takes place, but nothing about the plot.

On the other hand, if you know that a story is from a given plot genre, you know something about what happens, but nothing about where it take.

For example, if something is from the Romance genre you know that the story has something to do with the relationship between a man and a woman (although in todays world it might also be two men, or two women). However, you don't have any idea where it takes place. It could take place in 17^th century Spain, or twentieth century United States.

On the other hand, if the genre is a background genre, then you can get some feel about where a story takes place, but not what happens. If I call something a western, then I know it takes place in Western United States in the 19^th century, but I really don't know what takes place. It could be about a romance, although most westerns are from the adventure genre.

In fact, any story, if it is of any quality, has at least two genres, one background, and one plot genre.

(There may be more, such as Back to the Future III, which is a Science Fiction, Western Romance.)

It might also be possible for different plots and subplots of the same novel to be in different genres. Having just brought up Back to the Future I could point out that there is a subplot involving "Mad Dog" Tannin that is an adventure genre. (For a discussion of plot and subplot, see my plot description. )

The main point is that the term genre really has two meanings, plot genres and background genre. Stories each have at least two genres, one from each class. They may have more than one genre from either genre. In fact, it is possible that different subplots might have different genres.

Background Genre

Science Fiction, Western, Medieval, Modern, etc.

Plot Genre

Romance, Adventure, Mystery, etc.

Writing Universes

A writing universe refers to the Universe the writer creates for the execution of a novel.

For a more complete discussion read Writer's Universe discussion.

The Gustave Universe

The Gustave Universe consists of a series of novels each dealing with the Gustave Station, a starship/station.

Gustave Universe