Fiction - Types of Fiction

Terms Related to Types of Fiction

Prose –

a style of writing generally used in a variety of settings for communication and record keeping and characterized by non-poetic elements; follows standard grammar and other conventions of writing.

Biography –

a factual story written about a person by another person

Autobiography –

a factual story written by a person on his or her own life

History –

the actual events

Narrative –

a story or poem about a sequence of event

Travel narrative –

a narrative about a journey usually written by the person about his or her own journey

Capture narrative –

a journal kept by a person who was captured and held against his or her will and forced to live in another culture; generally associated with stories white people have written about being captured and living with the Indians in early American history.

Anecdotes –

short, amusing, true events about a person that relate a bigger truth about life than the specific incident

Parables –

a short tale used for teaching a lesson

Fables –

a short tale used for teaching a lesson which uses animals, objects, or nature

Beast fable –

a fable that has animals with human qualities as characters

Folk tales –

stories or legends that are about or from a culture or group of people (folk)

Fairy tales –

stories that include supernatural creatures such as fairies or magicians

Epic –

a narrative that involves conflict on a broad scale with humans of special stature or ability fighting a battle or having an adventure whose outcome will impact the world beyond the participants; often includes gods

Myth –

a traditional story which explains the world and existence of humans usually as part of a cluster of such stories and which is a reflection of a religious belief system.

Picaresque –

a story about a rogue

Short story –

a fictional story that is shorter than a novel; usually begins near climax; setting is generally limited, and characters are few and less developed than novel; often includes an epiphany (where a character has a flash of insight).

Modern short story –

a short story characterized by an apparent lack of action or conflict and/or without resolution

Short-short story –

a short story from a paragraph to a page or so in length; less than 1500 words; includes flash fiction and micro fiction; also called sudden fiction

Flash fiction –

a type of short story less than 1000 words

Micro fiction –

a type of short-short story ranging from a few words to a paragraph of less than 250 words

Sudden fiction –

a type of short story of less than 1500 words; another way of referring to the short-short story

Novel –

a longer piece of fiction characterized by more plot and character development than a short story

Novella –

a piece of fiction shorter than a novel and longer than a short story; usually thought of as a short novel

Metafiction –

writings about fiction

Stream-of-consciousness –

a style of writing meant to convey written-down thoughts

Fantasy –

a fiction which includes some aspect or situation that does not fall into the understood rules of physics, scientific possibility, or reality

Science fiction –

a type of fantasy that includes unreal scientific technology or events

Horror fiction –

a type of fiction that includes an event or events that are very frightening and which may include fantasy or science fiction

Crime fiction –

a type of fiction whose plot revolves around solving a crime

Romance –

as a literary genre, romance fiction began in the Middle Ages and involved high adventure of noble heroes often with super-human qualities pursuing a righteous quest, included some supernatural aspect, and did not necessarily involve a love situation. The modern usage or the term is a fiction which includes a romantic element.

Pastoral romance –

a romance which focuses on the pleasures of the simple, rural life

Chivalric romance –

a romance popular from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance involving the romantic exploits of chivalric heroes, men who abided by the Code of Chivalry.

Pop fiction –

a type of fiction with exciting or thrilling plots designed for popular audiences characterized by suspenseful plots, usually flat characters, and focus on a swift-moving action.