Creative Non-Fiction 12

A. Introduction to Literary Genres

1. Understanding Conventions of Traditional Genres
a. Fiction
b. Poetry
c. Drama
d. Non-fiction
Learning Competency
Identify dominant literary conventions of a particular genre.
HUMSS_CNF11/12-Ia-1

Conventions of Traditional Genres

Literature-Definition
 Books or other writing
 Consists of written productions, often restricted to those deemed to have artistic or
intellectual values
Literary Genre
 is a style of writing
 is a type or category of literature
 fancy way of saying type of literature
 When you use the term literary genre you make it clear that you're talking about
books and writing
 Bookstores sometimes use literary genres as a way to separate books into different
sections like "classics" or "mysteries”
Genre
 means "artistic category or style," and you can talk about a movie's genre, or the
genre of music that drives you crazy.
 The word genre is French and it means "kind, sort, or style”

Main Literary Genres

Drama
 A play for theater told by character dialogue
Fiction
 A story that did not actually happen in real life
Nonfiction
 Writing that is real and factual or that actually happened
Poetry
 Writing using language and sounds in special ways to express ideas

Subgenre
 A subcategory within a particular genre: The academic mystery is a subgenre of
the mystery novel

Different Subgenre of the Four Literary Convention Genres

 Subgenres of Drama
1. Comedy – a funny or humorous, drama with a happy ending
 2. Tragedy – a sad drama with a sad ending
 Subgenres of Fiction
1. Fantasy – a story in a fantasy world
2. Folklore – old cultural stories (includes fairy tales, fables, myths, legends
and tall tales)
3. Historical Fiction – a fiction story based on real history
4. Mystery – a story about crime
5. Realistic Fiction – a story that seems real but isn’t real
6. Romance- a love story
7. Science Fiction – a story in the future with advance technology
8. Thriller or Suspense – a story that makes reader nervous or excited
 Subgenres Of Non-Fiction
1. Biography – a story of a person’s life
2. Autobiography – a story the author writes about himself or herself
3. Narrative Non-fiction – a story or narrative that happened in real life
4. Periodicals – magazines, newspapers, and journals that are written
regularly
5. Reference Materials – book with facts in alphabetical order
 Subgenres Of Poetry
1. Lyric – a poem about the speaker thoughts
- Most poems are lyrics examples include elegy, ode, sonnet and
haiku
2. Narrative – a poem that tells a story
- There are few types of narrative but one of them is an epic or a
long poem about a hero
3. Dramatic – words spoken by a character
- We see dramatic poetry in the genre drama or play