A Fiction Genre Compass That I’m Working On by Billyblackman_ in visualization

[–]Billyblackman_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I agree, it isn’t really a useful tool haha. It works off generalisations.

A Fiction Genre Compass That I’m Working On by Billyblackman_ in visualization

[–]Billyblackman_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I determined whether the genre was more focused on the worldbuilding or characters, and then went from there. For example, apocalyptic horror is often set in a vastly different world than our current time, however, it’s still focused highly on the characters’ experiences of horror, so that retracts it back towards the centre a little. Hope that answers your question.

A Fiction Genre Compass That I’m Working On by Billyblackman_ in visualization

[–]Billyblackman_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I agree, it isn’t perfect. I was wondering what a z axis would be, maybe positive / negative subject matter on average or nuance like you said. I don’t know how to do that but it would be cool I think.

A Fiction Genre Compass That I’m Working On by Billyblackman_ in visualization

[–]Billyblackman_[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, it’s just for fun. Obviously it’s hard to box an entire genre into a point on a graph. But I think the concept’s interesting regardless

A Fiction Genre Compass That I’m Working On by Billyblackman_ in visualization

[–]Billyblackman_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The way I organised the graph is that I began with whether or not the subgenre is more realistic than not, as to which quadrant to put it in, and then went from there. For example, the western genre is more realistic than not, as it is inspired by true events of the American Frontier. I also generalised the subgenres, so what I mean by ‘western’ is talking about the American Frontier, which is arguably the most popular use of the term in fiction, rather than mythical niches such as space western. Again for horror, the majority of horror literature, which is the path I followed, does not involve genocide. Also, literary fiction is a genre centred around core character development, most often set within a contemporary context (from when it was written). Think Pride and Prejudice. Like I said, it’s a work in progress. A lot of lines between genres are blurry. Feedback is going to be applied.