Definition of Literary Genres and Elements

What are Literary Genres?

Literary genres are categories, types, or collections of literature. They often share characteristics, such
as their subject matter or topic, style, form, purpose, or audience. Genre is a way of categorizing readers'
tastes.
Why Literary Genres is important?
To the readers:

 Genre is one way we match what readers want to what writers want to write and what
publishers are publishing.
 By understanding how genre works, you not only can find more things you want to read, you
can also better understand what the writer is trying to do.
To the writers:

 Genre is a set of expectations from the reader.

Story Type vs. Literary Genres
Genre is not the same as story type. There are ten or more types of stories, including adventure, love
story, mystery, and coming of age, but there are hundreds, even thousands of genres. They are related but not
the same.
Genre is about how the work is perceived and marketed.
Literary Genres
There are over a thousand genres and subgenres. But there are
4 Essential Genres
1. Nonfiction – A prose writing that is based on facts, real events, and real people. It is also called
narrative nonfiction and creative nonfiction. It includes travel writing, essays, autobiography,
memoir, biography, sports writing, science writing, and nature writing. Literary nonfiction is when
an author uses facts and research to create a story with no “made-up parts.”
2. Fiction – A work that is based on imagination rather than on fact, like a novel or short story. It
involves information that describes imaginary people, settings and events. Authors use fiction as
the foundation of all other literary genres, outside of nonfiction. When writing literary fiction, you
can include anthropomorphized characters, which is when you give human-like characteristics to
animals or inanimate objects. Sometimes, authors base fiction writing on actual events, periods or
places, though they change major details to keep the writing fictional.
3. Drama – It is genre literature that is written for the purpose of being performed in front of an
audience. It's a literary genre that allows actors to act out a writer's words directly to an audience.
This includes theater, film, and audio plays.
4. Poetry – It is a genre of literature that conveys a thought, describes a scene or tells a story in a
concentrated, lyrical arrangement of words. Poems can be structured, with rhyming lines and
meter, the rhythm and emphasis of a line based on syllabic beats. Poems can also be freeform,
which follows no formal structure.
Subgenres
Fiction

 Action/Adventure
 Comedy
 Crime/Police/Detective Fiction
 Drama or Tragedy
 Fantasy
 Horror
 Historical Fiction
 Mystery
 Suspense or Thriller
 Science Fiction
…and more
Nonfiction

 Biography & Autobiography

 Foreign Language Study
 Business & Economics
 History
 Language Arts & Disciplines
 Educational Books
…and more
Drama

 Action
 Horror
 Adventure
 Comedy
 Musicals (Dance)
 Science Fiction
 Drama
 Romance
…and more
Poetry

 Ballad
 Epic
 Light verse
 Lyric
 Riddle
 Romance
 Satire
…and more
Components of Genre in Literature (how genres created)
1. Form – Length is the main component of form (e.g. a novel is 200+ pages, films are at least an hour,
serialized episodes are about 20 minutes, etc), but may also be determined by how many acts or
plot lines they have. You might be asking, what about short stories? Short stories are a genre
defined by their length but not their content.
2. Intended Audience – Is the story meant for adults, children, teenagers, etc?
3. Conventions and Tropes – Conventions and tropes describe patterns or predictable events that
have developed within genres. For example, a sports story may have a big tournament at the
climax, or a fantasy story may have a mentor character who instructs the protagonist on the use of
their abilities.
4. Characters and Archetypes – Genre will often have characters who serve similar functions, like the
best friend sidekick, the evil villain, the anti-hero, and other character archetypes.
5. Common Settings and Time Periods – Genre may be defined by the setting or time period. For
example, stories set in the future tend to be labelled science fiction, stories involving the past tend
to be labelled historical or period, etc.
6. Common Story Arcs – While every story type may use each of the six main story arcs, genre tends
to be defined by specific story arcs. For example, comedy almost always has a story arc that ends
positively, same with kids or family genres. However, dramas often (and when referring to
historical drama, always) have stories that end tragically.
7. Common Elements (such as supernatural elements, technology, mythical creatures, monsters, etc)
– Some genres center themselves on specific elements, like supernatural creatures, magic,
monsters, gore, and so on. Genre can be determined by these common elements.
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Elements of Literature
The phrase ‘Elements of Literature’ refers to the constituent parts of a work of literature in whatever form it
takes: poetry, prose, or drama.
Why is it important?

 Readers must understand these common elements if they are to competently read or write a piece of
literature.
 It enables readers to examine specific aspects of the work in isolation before piecing these separate
aspects back together to display an understanding of the work as a whole.
 It also helps readers develop a deeper appreciation of literature in general.
Elements of Literature

 Plot – refers to all related things that happen in the sequence of a story. The shape of the plot comes
from the order of these events and consists of several distinct aspects that we’ll look at in turn.

The plot comprises a series of cause-and-effect events that lead the reader from the story’s beginning,
through the middle, to the story’s ending (though sometimes the chronological order is played with for
dramatic effect).

Exposition: This is the introduction of the story. Usually, it will be where the reader acquires the
 necessary background information they’ll need to follow the various plot threads through to the end.
This is also where the story’s setting is established, the main characters are introduced to the reader,
and the central conflict emerges.

Conflict: The conflict of the story serves as the focus and driving force of most of the story’s actions.
Essentially, conflict consists of a central (and sometimes secondary) problem. Without a problem or
conflict, there is no story. Conflict usually takes the form of two opposing forces. These can be external
forces or, sometimes, these opposing forces can take the form of an internal struggle within the
protagonist or main character.

Rising Action: The rising action of the narrative begins at the end of the exposition. It usually forms
most of the plot and begins with an inciting incident that kick-starts a series of cause-and-effect events.
The rising action builds on tension and culminates in the climax.

Climax: After introducing the problem or central conflict of the story, the action rises as the drama
unfolds in a series of causes and effects. These events culminate in the story’s dramatic high point,
known as the climax. This is when the tension finally reaches its breaking point

Falling Action: This part of the narrative comprises the events that happen after the climax. Things
begin to slow down and work their way towards the story’s end, tying up loose ends on the way. We
can think of the falling action as a de-escalation of the story’s drama.

Resolution: This is the final part of the plot arc and represents the closing of the conflict and the return
of normality – or new normality – in the wake of the story’s events. Often, this takes the form of a
significant change within the main character. A resolution restores balance and order to the world or
brings about a new balance and order.

 Setting – Setting consists of two key elements: space and time. Space refers to the where of the story,
most often the geographical location where the action of the story takes place. Time refers to the
when of the story. This could be a historical period, the present, or the future.

The setting has other aspects for the reader or writer to consider. For example, drilling down from the
broader time and place, elements such as the weather, cultural context, physical surroundings, etc.,
can be important.

The setting is a crucial part of a story’s exposition and is often used to establish the mood of the story.
A carefully crafted setting can be used to skillfully hint at the story’s theme and reveal some aspects of
the various characters.

 Character – A story’s characters are the doers of the actions. Characters most often take human form,
but, on occasion, a story can employ animals, fantastical creatures, and even inanimate objects as
characters.

Some characters are dynamic and change over the course of a story, while others are static and do not
grow or change due to the story’s action.
 There are many different types of characters to be found in works of literature, and each serves a
different function.

Protagonist: The protagonist is the story’s main character. The story’s plot centers around these
characters, who are usually sympathetic and likable to the reader; that is, they are most often the
‘hero’ of the story.

Antagonist: The antagonist is the bad guy or girl of the piece. Most of the plot’s action is borne of the
conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist.

Flat Character: Flat characters are one-dimensional characters that are purely functional in the story.
They are more a sketch than a detailed portrait, and they help move the action along by serving a
simple purpose. We aren’t afforded much insight into the interior lives of such characters.

Rounded Character: Unlike flat characters, rounded characters are more complex and drawn in more
detail by the writer. As well as being described in comprehensive physical detail, we will gain an insight
into the character’s interior life, their hopes, fears, dreams, desires, etc.

 Point of View – Point of view in literature refers to the perspective through which you experience the
story’s events.

There are various advantages and disadvantages to the different points of view available for the writer,
but they can all be usefully categorized according to whether they’re first-person, second-person, or
third-person points of view.

First Person: The key to recognizing this point of view is using pronouns such as I, me, my, we, us, our,
etc. There are several variations of the first-person narrative, but they all have a single person
narrating the story’s events either as it unfolds or in the past tense.

When considering a first-person narrative, the first question to ask is who is the person telling the
story. Let’s look at two main types of the first-person point of view.

First-Person Protagonist: This is when the story’s main character relates the action first-hand as he or
she experiences or experienced it. As the narrator is also the main character, the reader is placed right
at the center of the action and sees events unfold through the main character’s eyes.

First-Person Periphery: In this case, we see the story unfold, not from the main character’s POV but
from the perspective of a secondary character with limited participation in the story itself.

Second Person: This perspective is uncommon. Though it is hard to pull off without sounding corny,
you will find it in some books, such as those Choose Your Own Adventure-type books. You can
recognize this perspective by using the second person pronoun ‘you’.
 Third Person Limited: From this perspective, we see events unfold from the point of view of one person
in the story. As the name suggests, we are limited to seeing things from the perspective of the third-
person narrator and do not gain insight into the internal life of the other characters other than through
their actions as described by the third-person narrator (he, she, they, etc.).

Third Person Omniscient: The great eye in the sky! The 3rd person omniscient narrator, as the name
suggests, knows everything about everyone. From this point of view, nothing is off-limits. This allows
the reader to peek behind every curtain and into every corner of what is going on as the narrator
moves freely through time and space, jumping in and out of the characters’ heads along the way.

Advantages and Disadvantages

As we’ve mentioned, there are specific advantages and disadvantages to each of the different points of
view.
- The main advantage of the first-person perspective is that it puts the reader into the head of the
narrator. This brings a sense of intimacy and personal detail to the story.
- The third-person omniscient point of view allows the reader full access to each character, while the
third-person limited point of view is great for building tension in a story as the writer can control
what the reader knows and when they know it.

 Theme – The theme is the big ideas explored in a work of literature. These are often universal ideas
that transcend the limits of culture, ethnicity, or language. The theme is the deeper meaning behind
the events of the story.

Notably, the theme of a piece of writing is not to be confused with its subject. While the subject of a
text is what it is about, the theme is more about how the writer feels about that subject as conveyed in
the writing.

It is also important to note that while all works of literature have a theme, they never state that theme
explicitly. Although many works of literature deal with more than one theme, it’s usually possible to
detect a central theme amid the minor ones.

Readers should look for symbols and motifs within the text to identify the theme.

Here are some examples of thematic concepts commonly found in literature:

 Love
 Revenge
 Justice
 Betrayal
 Jealousy
 Forgiveness
 Tone – Tone refers to how the theme is treated in a work. Two works may have the same
theme, but each may adopt a different tone in dealing with that theme. For example, the tone
of a text can be serious, comical, formal, informal, gloomy, joyful, sarcastic, or sentimental, to
name but eight.

The tone that the writer adopts influences how the reader reads that text. It informs how the
reader will feel about the characters and events described.

Tone helps to create the mood of the piece and gives life to the story as a whole.