The Story of Plots and Genres Pulp Fiction, The Mummy, and Galaxy Quest.
Short Story: Genres · Short Story: Genres “If a story is in you it has got to come out” ~...
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Short Story: Genres “If a story is in you it has got to come out” ~ William Faulkner
Transcript of Short Story: Genres · Short Story: Genres “If a story is in you it has got to come out” ~...
Short Story: Genres
“If a story is in you it has got to come out” ~ William Faulkner
Group Brainstorm
In your group … brainstorm as many musical genres
as you can … GO!
Literary Genres
Just like music has genres, so does literature.
Sooooo, let’s try this again with literature in mind.
Drama
Historical
Science Fiction
Comedy
Mystery/Thriller
Fantasy
Biographical
Western
Fable
FictionNon-Fiction
Adventure
Characteristics of Genres
Each genre has specific characteristics,
devices, style that fit within that genre
(just like music)
Two Main Categories …
Fiction False
Figment
Events did not happen
Examples: Fantasy, fable, myth,
legend, realistic fiction, folk tale
Non-Fiction True
Real
Events really happened
Examples: biography,
autobiography, instruction
manual, memoirs
Fairy Tales
“Once upon a time …”
Difficult, seemingly impossible problem to solve
Tell a moral or lesson to be learned
Often include characters with magical powers
Imaginary characters (ie. Dragons, fairies …)
Horror Written to frighten, scare, or disgust the reader
Uses dark, eerie, or gloomy language
May deal with the supernatural or the dark side of human
nature
Ghosts, haunted houses, murder
Suspense … do not know what will happen next
“Monsters are real, and ghosts are real
too. They live inside us, and sometimes,
they win.”
– Stephen King
Love Written to display a specific kind of love
A problem that may prevent the two from falling in
love or being together
Full of emotion
Written to explain qualities that the emotion of love
can bring out in humans
Human Nature
Story that tells us something about innate qualities of
humans
Usually have a twist or unexpected ending
Reveal a specific idea/though about how humans
behave (ie. good vs. evil)
Written to remind us that we are all capable of such
actions
Science Fiction
often based on scientific principles and
technology
may make predictions about life in the future
often deals with aliens or with life on other worlds
can comment on important issues in society
