# What Is Genre Fiction?

Genre fiction is also known as popular, commercial or category fiction. It is usually sold in the form of mass-market paperbacks, with only the big boys and girls (the Stephen Kings and Ruth Rendells of this world) being published in hardback first.

I am speaking generally here, but genre fiction places a greater emphasis on plot than literary fiction or mainstream fiction, and less on characterization, the exploration of theme and "fine" writing.

This isn't to say that it can't contain three-dimensional characters, an undercurrent of meaning and high-quality prose - because it can and does. But fans of genre novels are first and foremost after a good, entertaining read, and to achieve that the writer must always put the story first.

Here are some of the principal fiction genres:

- Crime
- Thrillers
- Horror
- Romance
- Action/Adventure
- Historical
- Science Fiction
- Fantasy

Visit any good-sized bookstore and you will find sections of shelving dedicated to some if not all of these genres of fiction. For a more detailed look at each of these categories, visit the section dedicated to the Fiction Genres.

Within each of the principal fiction genres are dozens of sub-genres (and sub-sub-genres) and these constantly evolve as readers' tastes change over the years. So within the crime genre, for example, you have detective fiction, private eye novels, and police procedurals.

What if the novel you have in mind spans several genres of fiction?

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