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.
