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Genre and the Overall Story Problem

Last week, we talked about the importance of selecting a genre story skeleton.

This week, we will look at the broad skeletons explored in Story Building Blocks that make up popular fiction. It is easy to choose a broad category for your story skeleton by looking at the overall story problem.

1) Romance: the overall story problem focuses on a relationship.

2) Mystery: the overall story problem focuses on a crime or puzzle that needs to be solved.

3) Thriller & Suspense: the overall story problem focuses on catastrophic danger to one or many that must be averted.



4) Con, Heist & Prison Break: in which the overall story problem focuses on a person or group that wishes to escape from somewhere, steal something, or set someone up to fail. A vendetta is enacted or an injustice needs to be righted.

5) Gothic: the overall story problem focuses on a secret that lies buried and must be unearthed or a puzzle that needs to be solved. Suspense and setting are crucial.

6) Horror: the overall story problem focuses on a mortal threat to an individual or group.

7) Science Fiction: the overall story problem focuses on good versus cosmic evil.

8) Fantasy: the overall story problem focuses on good versus paranormal evil.

9) Western: the overall story problem focuses on man fighting against self, other men, or nature to survive in an unsettled land. The conflicts weigh the morality and challenges of survival.

10) Historical: the overall story problem focuses on an event from the past. It can involve historical characters in a historical situation, historical characters in fictional situations, or fictional characters in historical situations. There can be elements of Thriller & Suspense, Con, Romance, or Mystery, but the focus is the historical situation.

11) Team Victory: the overall story problem focuses on an underdog who needs to win.

12) The Road Trip: the overall story problem focuses on a lesson that needs to be learned or a secret that needs to be revealed. Two or more people are forced to travel together. The friction between the characters and the obstacles they encounter lead to the lesson learned or truth revealed.

13) The Comedy makes your reader laugh while subtly focusing on ideas, ethnicity, relationships, prejudices, social practices, politics, religion, or manners. It uses humor to explore topics without having to be “politically correct.” A Comedy can range from mindless farce to dark satire. It can follow the pattern of other genres as long as it is funny.

14) Literary in which the overall story problem focuses on a wrenching, life altering, personal decision or life event. Literary can have a specific plot or be a slice of life vignette.
I realize some are insulted by suggesting "literary" is a genre. All I mean by this is that the heavy focus is on character, mood, and theme rather than a genre-specific set of expectations. I am not defining "literature" this way. That is an entirely different thematic argument.

In the upcoming months, we will explore each genre in detail.

For more about how to craft plots using conflict check out, Story Building Blocks: The Four Layers of conflict available in print and e-book and check out the free tools and information about the series on my website.

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