Mainstream Novels
Mainstream Fiction are stories that appeal to a wide audience and a broad cross-section of society. Publishers love mainstream novels because of their ability to attract readers away from their favorites genres. Mainstream novels tend to cut across several genres such as romance, mystery, and comedy along with the stuff from everyday life that we all can identify with. Mainstream is the Holy Grail of authors who want their books to become bestsellers.
Mystery Novels
Mystery novels involve intricate plotting with clues and a combination of gathering information, deductions derived by reasoning, and inference to solve a puzzle or a crime. The protagonist is unusually challenged by the protagonist such as in the classic Sherlock Holmes Detective series.
Mysteries can also be thrillers when a ticking clock is added to create suspense. The protagonist faces many close calls and must overcome challenging obstacles before she can save the day.
Cozy Novels
These are novels tend to become old friends. They are not page turners or thrillers, but they are compelling reads. You can read a chapter, then turn the light off and go to sleep. Cozies can be written in any genre and may cut across many genres. They have satisfactory, if not, uplifting happy endings. Cozies generally do not contain gory details, explicit or graphic sex, violence, or torture situations.
However, this does not mean that serious topics are not dealt with in the genre of cozy. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is an excellent example of a cozy novel that dealt with the reality of living under a Nazi regime during WWII. The No. 1 Ladies Detective series is another example of a cozy novel series that deals with the reality of living in Southern Africa.
Historical Fiction Novels
Historical fiction are stories that take place in time at least three generations (roughly 50 to 75 years) ago. They need to be accurate as far as technology, dress, habits, historical events, and mores of the time and place in which the stories are situated. Because of the construct of a historical novel, writers should ensure that their stories ring of authenticity by doing research so that their readers will not stumble upon misconstruencies, which will bring any historical fiction to a screeching halt in the readers’ minds. Stories may take place anywhere from Prehistoric times to the 1940s. Historical fiction does not have any elements of fantasy, time travel or sci-fi. Authors of historical fiction use the time period as an interesting backdrop to their plots and characters.
Philippa Gregory’s novels about Tudors are exemplary examples of historical fiction.
Romantic Fiction
CBR follows the Romance Writers of America description of this genre. The basis of romantic fiction is that it contains a central love story, has an optimistic ending, and is emotionally satisfying. There are many categories in this genre from sweet romantic cozy stories to shameless erotica. The romance genre occupies the largest share of the U.S. consumer fiction market. Its sales double any other category of fiction.
To learn more about this category, visit this link: http://www.rwa.org/cs/the_romance_genre
YA or Young Adult Fiction
The Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyers is what springs to mind when discussing this genre. This genre explores the world from a young person’s point of view. Young persons are defined as older than twelve years and into their early twenties. However, many adults enjoy reading this genre. There are many sub-categories to this genre.
