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What would be your complete list of genres?

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OnyxLily View Drop Down
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    Posted: 27 Jan 2020 at 8:12pm
Everyone loves to hate one or more of the genres they give us at NYCM, although we also know it's part of the fun. However, the genre list feels a little... quirky... to me, and I feel like there are some weird double ups and omissions.

If you were going to update the genres list (not just the ones you like) - what would your list look like? Mine would be

- Action
- Comedy
- Drama
- Historical Fiction (maybe? Because I guess you can write hist fic for a lot of other genres)
- Fantasy
- Mystery/Crime
- Horror
- Paranormal
- Romance (puke)
- Satire (distinct from comedy, but removing the "political" which confuses people)
- Science Fiction (sorry Random)
- Western (although I'd be screwed if I ever pulled this one)

There's still some crossover, but less I think, and it would remove those weirdly specific ones like Fairy Tale, Crime Caper and Spy, which you could write under other genres if you so wished.

You could possibly take out Sci Fi and Fantasy (and maybe horror?) and add in Speculative, or keep those three separate and add in Speculative as an additional category...

Interested to know if other people have similar thoughts.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MrLipto Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jan 2020 at 8:16pm
Yes! Mystery should just be “Crime”

And Spy should her get absorbed into thriller/suspense which should fall under Action.

And Crime Caper should get the boot.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote robcunn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jan 2020 at 8:18pm
Yeah, I definitely would keep the speculative genres separate (the idea of it being even less likely for me to land one saddens me) but might add another genre called Weird to capture that movement and encourage imagination outside of the genre tropes of the other speculative genres as well.

I like your list, though. Thank you for removing RomCom, lmao. 
SSC2023 R1, G188 RomCom/Outdated/Mediator: The Empath & the Sorcerer
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote OnyxLily Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jan 2020 at 8:21pm
Originally posted by robcunn robcunn wrote:

Yeah, I definitely would keep the speculative genres separate (the idea of it being even less likely for me to land one saddens me) but might add another genre called Weird to capture that movement and encourage imagination outside of the genre tropes of the other speculative genres as well.

I like your list, though. Thank you for removing RomCom, lmao. 


I figure anyone who really wants to write a rom com can do it under either romance or comedy, and that would not be me!

I like the idea of "weird" but it might be tricky to define!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote StopStalkingMe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jan 2020 at 8:24pm
Yes, bye-bye to crime caper!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote crez Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jan 2020 at 8:29pm
I like the idea of making more general categories and having fewer of them. If they were going to stick with having lots of quirky specific categories but wanted to freshen them up though, I would suggest adding ‘dystopian’.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dashesndots2 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jan 2020 at 8:35pm
Drama
Historical Fiction
Romance
Comedy
Suspense / Crime / Mystery 
Action / Thriller / Spy
Horror / Paranormal
Science Fiction
Fantasy
Satire

^That's what I'd do.  You could even combine Sci Fi and Fantasy into Speculative if you had to, but I would personally keep them separate.

Definitely get rid of or absorb Crime Caper, Spy, Fairy Tale and Action Adventure into other broader genres. I agree with dropping the "Political" from Satire and it would be less confusing.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote fioOxf Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jan 2020 at 8:40pm
I wouldn't cut 'adventure', just because Action sounds like explosions and combat of some sort or another. Adventure and caper (not specifically crime caper, though) could still be in there. But oh no not Western! agh! See that could be adventure.... 
Yeah, I like 'weird' or 'quirky' as a genre. Or Mash-up, where you mash up any you want, but you mash.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote OnyxLily Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jan 2020 at 8:55pm
Originally posted by crez crez wrote:

I like the idea of making more general categories and having fewer of them. If they were going to stick with having lots of quirky specific categories but wanted to freshen them up though, I would suggest adding ‘dystopian’.


Haha, I've managed to turn many of my genre prompts into dystopian. I didn't go there with rom com this round, but I was tempted.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote DukeREK Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jan 2020 at 9:16pm
I like simple. 

And not too limiting. 

I also enjoy ignoring debates on the definitions, complexities and limitations of 'genre' anyway (and the tendency of labels to create labels - genres falling into genres and so on ad infinitum). 

And genre as a tool for marketing. I love not talking about that.

We've been telling stories for millennia. I think set the broad experience of story and let the writer find the 'genre' through the elements of Action, Plot, Character and Setting.

So - tell me a story that

- gets the adrenaline going, or:
- scares the crap out of me
- makes me feel fulfilled and happy
- makes me cry in my pretzels
- makes me piss myself laughing
- gets my brain working
- inspires me to do stuff

... or some combination - stories are complex.

Elements of 'genre' are then set by action and plot - what is happening and how it is unfolding. Characters and setting then add the elements of where it is happening and to whom.


Or something.


edit: The story still needs to be appropriate for it's audience, of course. Also something we've been doing for millennia. 




Edited by DukeREK - 27 Jan 2020 at 9:18pm
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