To succeed as a storyteller–or in music, architecture, science, or other creative endeavor–you must work within a specific genre.The story genre provides the style, rules, and expectations for the tale. What kind of hero and other characters will we meet in the story? What kinds of settings, struggles, and values will we explore?
A genre is a promise: If you read this detective/romance/action/whatever story, you will get what you’re looking for.
In recent years, the idea of genre has spun out of control. One recent analysis posits thousands of kinds of stories. That’s way too many. That’s why I decided to create a simple framework for understanding genre.
Recent Posts
- Genre, Simplified
- How Does a Writer Develop Voice or Style?
- Broken and Whole
- Thinking, Fast and Slow: The Perfect Overview of How the Brain Works from a Nobel Laureate
- Eric R. Williams on the Machinery of Genre and Storytelling
- Varieties of Writer’s Block
- Don’t Believe a Word Your Friends and Colleagues Say. Instead, Find Someone Who Will Tell You the Truth.
- Andy Reid’s Approach to Creativity
Storytelling Posts
- Genre, Simplified
- Broken and Whole
- Eric R. Williams on the Machinery of Genre and Storytelling
- Let Us Now Praise Robert McKee
- ‘What If?’ Angus Fletcher on the Brain and Storythinking
- Kate Daloz on a Bygone Era, Research as Me-Search, and the Craft of Storytelling
Click here for complete list of posts on storytelling
Posts on Writing Mechanics
- How Does a Writer Develop Voice or Style?
- Varieties of Writer’s Block
- Don’t Believe a Word Your Friends and Colleagues Say. Instead, Find Someone Who Will Tell You the Truth.
- Andy Reid’s Approach to Creativity
Click here for complete list of posts on writing mechanics
Miscellany
Writers on Writing
- Let Us Now Praise Robert McKee
- ‘What If?’ Angus Fletcher on the Brain and Storythinking
- Kate Daloz on a Bygone Era, Research as Me-Search, and the Craft of Storytelling
- John Truby’s Story Beats for 14 Genres
- Ellen Jovin on the Strangely Universal Fascination with Grammar (And Other Topics)
Click here for complete list of posts on “Writers on Writing”
Posts on Analysis
- Thinking, Fast and Slow: The Perfect Overview of How the Brain Works from a Nobel Laureate
- How Donald Trump’s Rhetoric Jazzes His Base … And Splits the Nation
- Beware the Gaslighters: Some Simple Questions to Ask To Avoid Getting Manipulated
- The Broken House of Race in America
Click here for complete list of posts on writing analytic pieces