Most Popular Storybook Genres • Young Writers Society

BrumalHunter · 2016-07-03T13:15:56Z

Most Popular Storybook Genres Welcome, users of the Storybook Forum! Have you ever felt like there doesn't seem to be a demand for your kind of storybook or like there aren't enough of a certain kind of storybook? Have you wondered how you could see whether others feel the same way and perhaps even do something about it? Then look no further, for this poll's sole purpose is to determine the popularity of a genre. As you can see, there are ten options in the poll. You may vote for three of these, but choose carefully - once your votes have been cast, they can't be changed. This means you'll have to wait a month for the poll to be reset before you can vote again. If you'd like to see more of a particular genre but don't see it here, feel free to suggest it by posting in this thread. If somebody agrees with your suggestion, they must also post. Once your suggested genre receives more votes than one that's already in the poll, it will replace that genre when the poll is reset. If it doesn't receive enough votes to replace any genre, you can always try again, but you'll have to make another post, since all suggestions will be deleted after each reset to keep the thread nice and tidy. Every genre that has ever featured in the poll has a description in the spoiler below. If the genre you're nominating doesn't have a description, please include one in your post to avoid any confusion about what it may entail. If your nomination makes it onto the poll, its description will naturally be added. Adolescent - Otherwise known as "teen fiction", this genre's only prerequisite is that most or all of the main characters are between the ages thirteen and twenty-one. The setting is usually a school or camp and personal growth often plays an important role. Adventure - This refers less to the plot of a storybook and more to the means by which the plot is progressed. The varied collection of heroes, anti-heroes and/or villains that typically make up the cast are usually required to complete a certain mission or achieve a particular goal - in short, they must go on an adventure. Comedy - Laughter and smiling are good for the soul, good for your health, and good for keeping participants of storybooks engaged and writing. Although Comedy doesn't readily lend itself to being a storybook's sole genre (in contrast with films, for example), it works well when used in a combination. Drama - Storybooks of this genre rely heavily on characterisation and use events as a means to further character interaction, rather than focusing on the events themselves. The time period is frequently (but not limited to) the late twentieth or early twenty-first century. Fanfiction - As the name explains, this genre is defined solely by being based off a pre-existing universe, whether the medium is a novel, game, film, or the like. Therefore, the characters, setting, and plot are usually restricted by the limits present in the original universe. Fantasy - Perhaps the broadest of all genres, fantasy has many notable features, although the presence of magic, various races and monsters, and a large pantheon of gods is the norm. Nevertheless, there are essentially no limits to what it can encompass, which is probably why it's so popular. Horror - Horror is obviously one of two genres which aim to scare the reader, but it is differentiated from suspense in that the cause of one's fear is impossible in real life, which causes overlap with genres like paranormal and sci-fi. The setting and characters vary, as the external (and sometimes internal) conflicts are more important. Medieval - This is actually self-explanatory; the only determining factor about this genre is that the setting has to be the Medieval age, though I suppose it can also extend to the Gunpowder, Renaissance and Enlightenment ages. Despite the lack of technology, it offers quite a lot of freedom in terms of plot and characters. Mystery - Whether it be murder, theft, murder, arson, murder, kidnapping, or murder (so mostly murder), a crime has been committed and it is up to the cast to solve it. Since crime, and especially murder, has been around for almost as long as mankind itself, the story can be set in any era of human existence. Paranormal - If a storybook includes anything that strays from our standard reality, such as extraterrestrial beings or urban legends, and has an overall ominous atmosphere, it falls under this category. To avoid overlap with other genres, magic is usually limited to psychic abilities or dark rituals. Post-Apocalyptic - Whether it's owing to a plague, the emergence of zombies, an alien invasion, or simply a thermo-nuclear war, this kind of storybook is defined by its cataclysmic setting and the events causing it to be that way. The characters are usually hardened survivors, murderous cutthroats, or just, you know, lucky. Romance - Romantic relationships are universal and therefore feature in practically all other genres, but in this genre, romance is the sole focus. It is usually tedious, dull, and clichéd, but it is nevertheless possible to make it interesting, especially when the characters are well developed. Sandbox - Paradoxically, sandbox storybooks are defined by the lack of defining features. There really isn't all that much one can say about this, since most, but not necessarily all, of the plot and lore has not been predetermined and needs to be created by the cast as the storybook progresses. Sci-Fi - Short for science fiction, this genre is most broadly described as "the improbably made possible". It typically features technology more advanced than what we currently have, artificial super intelligences, or extraterrestrial life forms, with a potential cast and plot as diverse as the universe is large. Supernatural - The name of this genre confuses people sometimes, but it's quite simple and entails everything that cannot be explained by science or the laws of nature. To distinguish between this and other genres like fantasy and paranormal, spectral and/or infernal entities are commonly featured, but magic is excluded. Tagbook - Ah, the wackiest of storybooks, in which you are your own character, you tag as many people as you like in order to recruit more participants, and in which anything really can happen. The plot varies from complex to entirely absent, and the setting is, quite naturally, the boundless YWS itself. One last thing! The poll is reset with each new release of the Storybook Newsletter, since the month's statistics will be displayed in it. However, the statistics will also be posted here, so you can compare the tendencies month after month. Just remember to come back and vote every month, otherwise the results won't be as accurate as it could have been. Note: The poll has been retired. If there is sufficient interest, it may be revived, but until then, this thread will serve as an archive for the two years during which the poll ran.

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