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Classics

Classics are stories written over 100 years ago that stand the test of time as works of high literary merit and artistic qualities. Classics are universally appealing to readers and their themes endure and resonate in contemporary society. Classics are also traditionally accepted as influential in shaping culture.

Science Fiction

Science Fiction typically revolves around a futuristic or space-age world wherein imaginative scientific and technological innovations are possible within the story's established laws of nature. Science Fiction deals with the consequences and impact of science (actual or imagined) on individual and societal levels, and often includes advanced devices, such as time-machines, or other life forms, such as aliens.

Humor

Humor stories seek to entertain and amuse with fun, fancy, or ridiculousness, while simultaneously constructing a narrative that resonates with the reader. Sometimes these works take the form of Satire, wherein a story that may seem serious on the surface is carrying out a tongue-in-cheek critique of some cultural or societal element.

Mystery / Thriller

Mystery stories feature a protagonist who investigates a crime, problem, puzzle, or some sort of unknown. The protagonist, whether an actual detective or an amateur, often struggles to achieve his or her goals and endures various psychological and physical obstacles, but gradually deduces the solution through facts, logic, and working backward. These stories encourage the reader to actively engage in solving the mystery for themselves and require the reader to pay careful attention to clues, suspects, and evidence presented in order to intellectually satisfy.

While thriller stories also focus on uncovering mysteries, they move at a faster pace and are driven by action, tension, excitement, and violence. Thriller stories are often quite sensational, and involve larger-scale criminal offenses with higher stakes, such as conspiracy or espionage. Thrillers also include dangerous situations that the protagonist endures while trying to solve the greater problem.

Action / Adventure

Risk, danger, and excitement inform adventure fiction, which focuses on a particular challenge, quest, or journey which the protagonist, or hero, must undertake and successfully complete. Adventure fiction includes a villain or other antagonistic forces which the hero thwarts with wits and ingenuity, rather than violence.

Teen Fiction

Teen Fiction traces the ins, outs, ups and downs of growing up through the emotional, physical, and social experiences of a teenaged or young adult protagonist with which readers identify. Teen Fiction often takes place within a high school setting and may serve as a "coming-of-age" story, documenting the awkwardness of adolescence and the challenge of coping with difficult social issues.

ChickLit

ChickLit concerns itself with the struggles of modern womanhood. While romantic elements often exist in ChickLit, stories typically focus on the female protagonist's relationships with friends or family.

Poetry

As William Wordsworth said, poetry is "the spontaneous outflow of powerful feelings." Indeed, poetry employs rhythm, language, rhetorical devices, and figures of speech to convey an imaginative, emotional experience. Poetry contrasts with prose, or everyday writing, and often uses elaborate diction and figurative language which conceals deeper meaning.

Vampire

Vampire fiction concerns itself primarily with the subject of vampires who feed on living creatures in order to survive. While vampires were traditionally horrific and villainous, modern interpretations often reimagine the fanged bloodsuckers as more nuanced and complex entities. Vampire fiction usually deals with the human protagonist's encounter with a vampire, their romantic relationship with a vampire, or his or her transformation into a vampire themselves. Other conflicts may include vampire-hunting or drama within the vampire coven.

Werewolf

Werewolf fiction concerns itself primarily with the subject of werewolves or other human/beast forms from folklore and monster myths. Werewolf fiction often focuses on lycanthropy - the supernatural transformation of a human into a wolf - and its repercussions, but may also include associated drama within the hierarchy of the pack and the struggle for the protagonist to repress primal impulses and bestial urges.

General Fiction

General Fiction, sometimes called contemporary fiction, focuses on the everyday experiences and conflicts of a protagonist, usually an adult, with detailed characterization and background. General Fiction is intended for older readers and has more mature themes.

Non-Fiction

Non-Fiction is writing that focuses on real events, people, and experiences. The genre includes (but is not limited to) memoirs, travelogues, biographies, and business advice.

Random

Not every work of writing easily fits into these categories, and we are fully aware that these content categories may need to change over time. Until they do, we have included a "Random" category to capture writing that lives outside these defined genres.