Monday, May 14: The Scribbler
WHAT’S IN A GENRE?
by James Lincoln Warren
To most people, the term “genre” implies a certain formulaic content: chick lit, mystery, science fiction, romance, historical adventure. But the word was originally applied to reflect method, not content, and is still used so by students of literature: novel, short story, lyric or epic poetry, drama.
So the mystery short story belongs both to the genre “crime fiction” and to the genre “short story”. When I tell people I write short stories, I usually find myself basking in some small glow of admiration—some folks think that short fiction is inherently the most difficult form of prose to compose. (I can’t speak to that, because writing a short story is a much more familiar act to me than writing anything else.) But when I mention that I write mysteries, I occasionally detect a certain glazing of the eyes—“Oh. You’re a genre writer.”
Well, yes. Doubly so. And damn proud of it. All things being equal, the term “genre” is not a value judgment, you see. Just because I’m telling stories within a set of traditions and conventions doesn’t mean that what I write is any better or worse than stories that don’t adhere to those traditions and conventions. But I don’t just write genre fiction; I write eighteenth century historicals—at least most of the time. Not merely a genre writer, I am a subgenre writer.
A subgenre is a specialty within a more broadly defined content-genre. Short stories are richer than novels in representing them for a number of reasons. Generally an anthology, even a themed anthology, will strive for variety, so many more subgenre pieces will be gathered in one place. And also, I think that short fiction is less prone to trends and fads driven by bestseller lists, and so provides greater variety.
In crime fiction, some of the most common subgenres are:
Traditional: a ratiocinatory detective follows a string of well-concealed clues and assembles the solution at the denouement.
Contemporary British: the effects of the crime are more important than the solution to the crime.
Hard-boiled: a tough private eye on a piecemeal quest to uncover the truth via sheer persistence, encountering several very unpleasant persons, violent circumstances, and extremely attractive members of the opposite sex along the way.
Cozy: a subset of traditional, featuring an amateur detective, usually a strong-willed single female of a certain age, or possibly a cat. Violence is off stage. Sex is rare.
Historical: crime set against a background informed by historical events and conditions.
Noir: the protagonist, usually driven by some dangerous obsession, fights against a brutal and uncaring world, and tragically fails.
Contemporary noir: usually a story in which the protagonist is a vicious criminal; frequently features themes of betrayal, vengeance, and brutality, but also applied to any story that involves alienation and graphic psychosis.
Whodunnit: a traditional mystery in which the detective solves the clues to determine the identity of the criminal.
Howdunnit: a traditional mystery in which the detective uncovers the means of how the crime was committed. A special case is the locked-loom mystery.
Cat-and-mouse: you know who the crook is; the mystery is in how the detective brings him to justice.
Police procedural: generally featuring an ensemble cast with a lead character, the actions follow the police as they work their case.
Woo-woo: investigation of a crime with supernatural elements, involving a psychic detective together with various appurtenances of the occult such as Tarot, channeling, astrology, etc. So-called because of the plaintive cries traditionally attributed to ghosts.
Thriller: (1) an innocent person is sucked into deadly intrigue and must survive by his own wits, (2) a story featuring global stakes, (3) a ticking clock, or (4) involving the specifics of a learned profession such as medicine or law.
Caper: the preparation and execution of an ornate crime, frequently humorous.
I could go on, but I won’t. I want to hear from you, instead.
And while we’re on the subject of reader feedback, take a look to your right, and in the sidebar you’ll see a new and exclusive Criminal Brief feature, Instant Reviews. This is your chance to let us know all about the stories you especially like. Click on the “Write a Review” link and you’ll see what I mean.