Is it time for a new genre?

[Taylor]

This thread is inspired by some of luckyscars recent threads, “Dead” Genres and The Well Written Story v The Good Story. I was very entertained by your lively discussions. But it got me wondering if we are ready for a new genre. And if yes, what would it look like? Would it be inspired by other movements or art forms?

Rap is a relatively new music genre. While not as melodic, it focuses more on basic, visceral lyrics. Common themes are social awareness, and non-violence. I didn’t like it at first, but I have come to appreciate it for it’s redeeming qualities. What would the novelist's version of it look like?

Reality TV has come on with a fervor. I remember seeing Jim Carrey in The Truman Show and thinking that couldn’t really happen in real life. And voila! The birth of Kardashians and Real Housewives. What would reality TV look like in a novel?

I thought about a combination of the two, and this is what I came up with:

Rap is about content...getting a message across. So this new genre wouldn’t focus on writing style or a sophisticated taste with respect to the use of the language. And as with reality TV, it wouldn’t follow an expected formula. This new genre would be raw and fluid. Each new paragraph would be read only for it’s individual merit. Dialogue would be clever, funny and interesting, not just used as a means to carry out a predetermined plotline. It would be a page-turner because the reader wanted more, not just because the reader wanted to find out ‘whodunit’. YouTube and TikTok, are the competitors, so the reader would need instant gratification often with pleasing morsels that could be digested in short durations. That’s my vision so far.

Do you think we are ready for a new genre?

What would it look like to you?

[BrandonTheWriter]

All I know is it will be the younger generation that comes up with it, whatever it is. I honestly don't understand most of the stuff that is popular these days. I only recently discovered FanFiction, and some of it is actually great. Especially if you have always wanted to see something continue and someone does it well.

I like your ideas. I think whatever the new genre is, it will break the foundation of what writing is. It won't be clean and neat and well presented, it will something else.

[LadySilence]

And in my Top 10, of "Writer's Goals"


Try every genre, even if I don't like it, or it's not for me. I want to try, love stories, theater scripts, movie scripts, creepy pasta, horror, spy ... etc.


In my opinion, that's something everyone should do. Even just for personal pleasure; without letting anyone read anything.

[bdcharles]

What I want is immersive augmented-reality fiction. Eschewing conventional linear structure, this genre uses the actual world as its page. You receive a first line - maybe as a DM on your social media - and it points to a new location. You must go there to get the next line, or the next scene. You may have use your phone, or contact other readers, to decipher the whole thing. You may have to converse with a complete stranger in order to get to the next bit. The story may change midway through with no warning and no explanation; readers themselves may even be able to enact changes as the race to the last page intensifies.

[Taylor]

All I know is it will be the younger generation that comes up with it, whatever it is. I honestly don't understand most of the stuff that is popular these days. I only recently discovered FanFiction, and some of it is actually great. Especially if you have always wanted to see something continue and someone does it well.

First Time I have heard of fan fiction. Interesting. Not sure how I feel about it. For those of you who don't know, it's fiction written by fans of existing books/TV shows/movies, using existing characters. It is rarely published, because most of it infringes copyright. I wonder how the copyright holders feel about it. On the one hand it's stealing their well-established characters, but then on the other hand I could see how they may find it useful if there is that much interest and activity. It's almost like free advertising, like for example for the Star Trek series, which I take it was the first one used for the genre. I could also see a huge market for characters from classics coming back to life. Who doesn't want to read about Holden Caulfield again. Although I just noticed that Salinger is still alive at 91. I wonder if it makes a big difference if the author is living or dead.

I like your ideas. I think whatever the new genre is, it will break the foundation of what writing is. It won't be clean and neat and well presented, it will something else.

I agree that it will be something else very different. And it will be from someone who isn't even trying to create a genre. It'll just come out of nowhere. I remember when the kids all started to play video games. Reading went way down. If you had told me that a series of books would come out about a bunch of kids and wizardry, I would have said...good luck! But 500 million copies later, Harry Potter is still selling. Although I'm not entirely certain that it was a new genre, it has created a whole new industry that merchandises fiction. Last time I was in a Barnes & Noble in the US, It had its own section. And I would say only 30% of the shelving was books. There were toys, games, costumes...you name it.

But then maybe that would be something to try, a story that could be merchandised for adults. I was just trying to picture that and thought of E.L. James Grey series...OOPS!!

[MistWolf]

Rap is a relatively new music genre. While not as melodic, it focuses more on basic, visceral lyrics. Common themes are social awareness, and non-violence.

Common themes are also rape, degradation, murder and cop killing

Reality TV has come on with a fervor. I remember seeing Jim Carrey in

The Truman Show and thinking that couldn’t really happen in real life. And voila! The birth of Kardashians and Real Housewives. What would reality TV look like in a novel?

Facebook and 4Chan (among other social media) are already there

I thought about a combination of the two, and this is what I came up with:

Rap is about content...getting a message across. So this new genre wouldn’t focus on writing style or a sophisticated taste with respect to the use of the language. And as with reality TV, it wouldn’t follow an expected formula. This new genre would be raw and fluid. Each new paragraph would be read only for it’s individual merit. Dialogue would be clever, funny and interesting, not just used as a means to carry out a predetermined plotline. It would be a page-turner because the reader wanted more, not just because the reader wanted to find out ‘whodunit’. YouTube and TikTok, are the competitors, so the reader would need instant gratification often with pleasing morsels that could be digested in short durations. That’s my vision so far.

Do you think we are ready for a new genre?

What would it look like to you?

Remember IRC Chatrooms?

What I want is immersive augmented-reality fiction. Eschewing conventional linear structure, this genre uses the actual world as its page. You receive a first line - maybe as a DM on your social media - and it points to a new location. You must go there to get the next line, or the next scene. You may have use your phone, or contact other readers, to decipher the whole thing. You may have to converse with a complete stranger in order to get to the next bit. The story may change midway through with no warning and no explanation; readers themselves may even be able to enact changes as the race to the last page intensifies.

Hook up with online gamers on Discord

[Taylor]

And in my Top 10, of "Writer's Goals"


Try every genre, even if I don't like it, or it's not for me. I want to try, love stories, theater scripts, movie scripts, creepy pasta, horror, spy ... etc.

In my opinion, that's something everyone should do. Even just for personal pleasure; without letting anyone read anything.

Wow, that's really ambitious! I just learned what creepypasta is. Wikipedia says:

Creepypastas are horror-related legends that have been copied and pasted around the Internet. These Internet entries are often brief, user-generated, paranormal stories intended to scare readers. They include gruesome tales of murder, suicide, and otherworldly occurrences.

Apparently it peaked in 2010. It seems that anything horror-related will always survive with younger readers. I guess it's all part of discovering life. I wonder if there are other stories that are distributed this way that aren't horror.

It makes me think of using social media in conjuction with the written word. A sort of timed story that comes with photos and videos. It seems that social media has taken a huge chunk of our reading time, so we should be finding ways to use it more. Do you know if there are authors doing something with social media that goes beyond just marketing their books?

[escorial]

happy books.....harry potter goes to benidorm....

[Taylor]

What I want is immersive augmented-reality fiction. Eschewing conventional linear structure, this genre uses the actual world as its page. You receive a first line - maybe as a DM on your social media - and it points to a new location. You must go there to get the next line, or the next scene. You may have use your phone, or contact other readers, to decipher the whole thing. You may have to converse with a complete stranger in order to get to the next bit. The story may change midway through with no warning and no explanation; readers themselves may even be able to enact changes as the race to the last page intensifies.

I love this idea! Is anyone doing it already? I think the function of interacting is so inherent in our everyday lives now. I mean...just look at how many hours we all spend on this forum interacting. I'm finding it a life-line when I am at home just writing by myself. It sounds like your concept would need a platform, like a TikTok type thing. I guess someone would have to create the app, and then find a way to make it user generated. So anyone could set up a story as long as they have an account and follow the rules. I thought I saw something like this described in another post, but I can't remember where. Maybe that person will chime in.

[Taylor]

Common themes are also rape, degradation, murder and cop killing

True, but I guess most of the ones about things like that don't make it into my relm. I think it originated with social causes no?

Facebook and 4Chan (among other social media) are already there

Are people sharing novels on facebook? I thought about doing that. Just posting a section each week. And then allowing people to comment and have discussions online. You could alter the plot based on people's opinions. I know soap operas do that now, with respect to the fan-driven plotlines. But you could only do it once. Then what would you do with it afterwards. I guess you could self-publish then. Or maybe it never ends like a soap opera. Hmmm...I like that idea. Could be a bit demanding in time. Would your fans complain if you took a week off?

I had never heard of 4Chan before, but at first glance, I didn't see fiction or stories on there. Seems more like a discussion site. Or did I just not go to the right section?

Remember IRC Chatrooms?

Yes, they are apparently on the decline now. But still a discussion forum, not fiction or story related.

Hook up with online gamers on Discord

That's a good point! I never thought of it that way, but story-driven video games could be considered a new genre. There is a huge studio(?) in our area that employs people to design these games. But are the authors and the illustrators the same person, or does it take a team of people to produce the game?