The heat pressed in on us like the walls of a volcano as my team hurried to secure the rope. If we didn't get it tight, we would fall to our death. And nobody, not even the ones without hope, wanted to be cooked and eaten by a company of Bonebreakers. Jacko was the first to start the climb, and I held my breath as his webbed feet touched the searing hot surface of the mothership, cursing in Klingon as he went.

What is genre?

Genre is a category of artistic composition, such as in literature or music, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.

Did you know that genre fiction has its own definition? If anyone asks the question "What is genre fiction?" you can tell them that it's popular fiction. And because it's popular, it has a good chance for commercial success. Genres provide a way for authors to hone their focus and for publishers to market books. Categorizing literary works this way also serves as a tool for readers who use genre searches to find their next great story.

The challenge for a genre writer is to use the approaches that work for their particular readership so they are recognizable, and they need to pull this off in a way that strikes readers as fresh and distinct. Let's dive into some popular genres to see what makes them and their readers unique.

The Five Basic Reader Types

THE RISK TAKERS - These readers are looking for the adrenaline rush. They want stories that take them on an exciting, page-turning, roller coaster of a journey.

◾ Adventure - Stories in which a hero or group of heroes overcome obstacles and dangers to accomplish a worthy objective. These adventures may take the form of a quest to obtain or be rid of a powerful object, perform a rescue, defeat a monster, win a place in society, or simply survive in a hostile environment. Subgenres include: military adventure, historical adventure and chivalric romance.

◾ Thriller - Stories in which the hero uses the specialized skills and knowledge of his profession to defeat a power-hungry villain and/or successfully deal with a dangerous threat. Subgenres are distinguished by the hero's particular area of expertise, such as espionage, law, medicine, finance, science, military, history, information technology, politics, or crime.

◾ Suspense - Stories in which a villain stalks or lays a trap for the main character who is unaware of the villain's identity until the climax. With suspense, the reader sees the trap closing long before the main character does. Subgenres are categorized as hard or soft-edged. Hard-edged suspense has more graphic content and a focus on police procedures. Soft-edged suspense has little graphic content, i.e. romantic suspense.

THE FEELERS - These readers crave stories that evoke a strong emotional response, whether it be tugging on their heartstrings, doing a fist pump of triumph, or making them scream and turn on all the lights.

◾ Horror - Stories in which the main character faces a threat, whether based in reality or supernatural. The purpose is to create feelings of fear, dread, repulsion, and terror in the reader. Subgenres include: gothic, slow build, comedy horror, slasher, visceral, psychological, serial killer, and splatterpunk.

◾ Romance - Stories that primarily focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, which usually has an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending. Subgenres include: historical, contemporary, erotica, LGBTQ+, and paranormal.

◾ Women's Lit - An umbrella term for books that are marketed to female readers. These stories portray women overcoming life's challenges to achieve fulfillment. They are generally written in contemporary settings and concern problems such as career, family, or friendship. There is often humor and romance, although romance does not have to be the focal point. Subgenres include: chicklit, adult lit, and romance.

THE THINKERS - These readers enjoy stories that focus on ideas or analysis to stimulate their intellect. They want a cerebral experience that allows their brains to get involved.

◾ Mystery - Stories in which the main character investigates a crime, usually a murder, and succeeds in discovering who committed it, how and why. The story often features a closed circle of suspects. Each is usually provided with a credible motive and a reasonable opportunity for committing the crime. Subgenres include: amateur detective, cozy, police procedural, and hard boiled PI.

◾ Psychological Suspense - Stories about the unfolding of a character's inner nightmare which may involve madness, obsession, guilt or the loss of the character's sense of identity or reality. This genre is also known as psychological thriller or psychological horror; and is sometimes seen as a subgenre of either suspense, thriller, horror, or crime fiction.

◾ Science Fiction - Stories about human beings coping with a plausible future built upon current knowledge and trends in science, technology or society. There can be no magic and no breaking of physical laws. This is what distinguishes science fiction from fantasy. Sci-fi subgenres include: hard sci-fi, soft sci-fi, sci-fi adventure, cli-fi, space opera, alternative history, humanist, slip stream, dystopian, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic, steampunk and all its subgenres.

THE EXPLORERS - These readers love to immerse themselves in unfamiliar settings and worlds. They hunger to discover the unusual and don't mind reading weighty descriptions of the landscape and inhabitants.

◾ Fantasy - Fantasy stories are set in imaginary worlds that could never exist due to the presence of magic or some other violation of physical laws. Most often, there are imaginary species, and the underlying theme is of good vs evil. Subgenres are many and include: high fantasy, low fantasy, sword and sorcery, epic fantasy, mythological, fairy tale, paranormal fantasy, urban fantasy, dark fantasy, magical realism, and alternate reality.

◾ Historical Fiction - Stories that take place in the past. While historical settings can be found in many genres, subgenres and crossovers, pure historical fiction is distinguished by the wealth of accurate information included about the chosen era and its inhabitants. Historical stories are usually divided into subgenres according to the historical period and settings, such as Regency and Civil War. They can also be divided by themes, such as romance and mystery.

◾ Western - Stories set in the American West in the years following the Civil War (roughly 1865-1900). Present day westerns are becoming more common and are set in cattle ranching areas or small towns. While subgenres are seen more in films, they include: classical western, acid western, chili western, comedy western, contemporary western, electric western, epic western, euro western, and fantasy western.

NONFICTION READERS - These readers are varied and many. They seek facts and true events, whether it be a purely objective viewpoint, or delivered through humorous or strongly opinionated commentary.

◾ Memoir, Autobiography & Biography - This subset of nonfiction focuses on the life story of a particular subject. Biographies are written in the third person about someone other than the author. Autobiographies and memoirs are written by the subject themselves.

◾ Expository & Journalism - Expository nonfiction reveals the truth or brings light to important issues. It requires a deep level of understanding with the subject. Writers who come in contact with controversial topics must approach their writing with sensitivity and understanding. Journalism is a broad subgenre of nonfiction and one that encompasses many media; i.e. newspapers and magazines, but some also take the form of books. This includes narrative nonfiction and true crime books.

◾ Prescriptive (Self-help) & How-Tos - Self-help books are some of the most popular sellers in the world of nonfiction. Many are focused on business success, building confidence, staying organized, relationship advice and diet. How-To books are closely related to the self-help subgenre but are more focused on specific skills; such as cookbooks, songbooks, athletic instructionals and tutorials for hobbyists.

◾ Humor & Commentary - These subgenres are forms of creative nonfiction where analysis and reflection on real-world events are shared through the lens of an author's point of view. Sometimes that point of view can be humorous, political, or even meditative.

◾ Historical - Historical nonfiction consists of true accounts of historical eras and events. Some histories dwell purely in objective facts, and others are distilled through the author's personal beliefs.

◾ Academic Texts - Academic texts are designed to instruct readers on a particular topic. Most people first encounter these in the form of school textbooks. Academic texts are also used by anyone wishing to learn a particular trade; such as car repair or music arranging.

◾ Travelogues & Travel Guides - Travelogues are a close cousin of memoirs, but they specifically recount an author's experience traveling somewhere. Travel guides tend to be more instructive, offering suggestions and practical information for travelers bound for a particular destination.

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These lists are, by no means, exhaustive. And the number of new subgenres seems to grow daily. But you can use the basic structure of a genre to bring your readers what they expect while striving to create something unexpected. If you're interested in diving deeper into a specific genre, add this book to your library, as we will be dedicating chapters to each genre (including subgenres).