Genre

𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞/ˈʒɒ𝐧𝐫ə/𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 /𝐣𝐨𝐧𝐫𝐮𝐡/𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒚𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒈𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒓𝒕, 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄, 𝒐𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆

For SEA narrative responses, young writers are required to write fiction. Fiction is a broad style of writing that includes all types of stories that come from the writer’s imagination. They are made-up stories. There are quite a few subcategories of this genre. In fact, some writers can list up to fourteen! For SEA, however, and what young writers are required to do, there are six that are more applicable than the others.

Genre – Fiction

Subgenres – Realistic Fiction, Fantasy, Folktale-Fairytale, Mystery, Adventure-Action, Science-Fiction

Science-Fiction is all about discovery and exploration. Characters go into space, time travel to the future or the past, encounter aliens and strange creatures, and maybe even advanced technology.

Think about stories with spaceships and fancy machines that have not been invented yet. Star Trek is one of the most popular science fiction stories.

Can you think of other examples?

Adventure-Action stories are about excitement. Characters have to do dangerous things in order to get what they want and accomplish their goals.

The obstacles they face are not everyday or average, and their actions can lead to serious consequences if things don’t work out right.

Stories like Treasure Island and The Three Musketeers are two great examples.

Can you think of others?

Have you ever heard of “who done it” stories? Those are stories where the main character is a detective trying to find out the person who committed a crime. Crime dramas fall in the category of ‘mystery’.

Mystery stories always involve clues and puzzles that characters have to solve in order to accomplish their goal. There’s often some detective work involved.

Sometimes characters try to find the person who committed a crime, or they try to find the answers to a riddle or strange occurrence.

Scooby Doo, Nancy Drew, and Hardy Boys are great examples.

What modern examples can you think of?

Folktales and Fairytales are stories that are passed down through generations and include some elements of fantasy, as they are often about strange creatures and events.

These stories sometimes claim to be true and people may claim to be eyewitnesses. However, there’s never any solid proof to support these claims.

Trinidad and Tobago, like most cultures, has a vibrant folklore tradition about strange creatures and things that go bump in the night. Most often, these stories were told to scare little children into being obedient.

Some of our well known characters are Papa Bois, Douen, La Diabless, Soucouyant, and Lagahoo.

Can you name any others?

Fantasy stories feature magic and talking objects or animals. They also often involve strange things happening that might seem like they would never happen in real life.

This is a broad category that often works together with other categories.

Harry Potter is one very famous fantasy that involves creatures, wizards, witches, and a wide variety of magic.

What other fantasy stories can you name?

Realistic Fiction are about characters and settings that are made-up, but they seem true to life and the events of the story feel like they could actually happen.

These types of stories are often about characters operating in their everyday life reacting to their experiences and life around them.

They may have to deal with things like navigating school, moving to a different town, making and losing friends, and even the death of a loved one.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is popular book series that falls into this category.

See if you can name a few other examples. Share in the comments

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