Genre Explanations (Unofficial)

Moonpearl

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After various complaints from authors that the Genres used by Scribble Hub are hard to understand, I decided to create a guide to them. As this guide is the work of one singular user and is not made in association with Tony, it's unofficial.

The following explanations were written using Novel Update's official genre definitions (on which Scribble Hub's genres are based), further research into the nature of several more elusive genres, and my own personal experience of using these genres prior to Scribble Hub.

Action:
Focuses on physical danger and conflict. Typically this means characters getting into a lot of physical fights, but it can also extend to fighting to escape dangerous situations (e.g. running away as a boulder chases you down a narrow path), so long as the need to escape is immediate. Action tends to be fast-paced and high-stakes.


Adult:
R18, essentially. This is a novel that is only suitable for adult audiences. This usually infers a lot of graphic sexual scenes, but can also mean a lot of graphic violence.


Adventure:
Focuses primarily on characters adventuring. This means exploring new places and environments, and is usually associated with very long journeys (crossing a whole country or even further) where characters encounter amazing situations along the way.


Boys Love:
A genre that focuses on love (sexual or romantic) between men. To qualify for this genre, a novel’s primary romance must be between men and must be significantly present within the work.

Things that do not count include (but are not limited to): relationships between men who are not the main character; one-night-stands or sparse sexual encounters; a male main character having a husband or boyfriend who barely ever appears; or a male main character having a side romance with a man while his main romance is with a woman.

For everything related to sexual/romantic relationships between men that do not qualify for the Boys Love genre, there is a “Boys Love subplot” tag that you can use for your novel instead.


Comedy:
A novel whose aim is to make the reader laugh as they read it. The situations the novel contains are usually presented in a humorous way, rather than intending the reader to take them seriously, and there are sometimes very absurd situations included. Traditionally, these stories have a happy ending, but this isn’t required.


Drama:
A novel that aims to create very strong emotions in the reader (particularly sadness or tension) through grandiose events and conflict. There are usually two types, although works can and often do merge the two.

Type 1 focuses on conflict within interpersonal relationships. These employ misunderstandings or conflict of interest between lovers, friends, family, or other people, sometimes to melodramatic degrees. (Think of soap operas, K Dramas, and the way that arguments and messy feelings within friend groups are often referred to as “drama”.)

Type 2 focuses on conflict on a grander scale. These can be revolutions, war, political intrigue, etc.
Regardless of the method used, the conflict employed by a novel must be sufficiently strong enough to evoke strong emotions in a reader in order to qualify as drama.


Ecchi:
Sexual fanservice usually aimed at heterosexual men. Novels falling into this genre cannot be pornographic or include sex scenes, but nonetheless go to great lengths to place (almost always female) characters in sexual situations. A good way to describe it is “borderline porn”. Examples of ecchi scenes include men falling and accidentally landing with their faces in women’s breasts, walking in on women while nude, and women’s clothes getting conveniently torn off in fights.


Fanfiction:
A fan work that makes direct use of someone else’s characters or setting. Stories that are inspired by or make use of a story that’s diffused into a cultural phenomenon generally aren’t considered fanfiction. (e.g. A story with Dracula isn’t fanfiction of Bram Stoker’s novel unless it deliberately uses Bram Stroker’s characters and/or exact setting. A new reimagining of the Little Mermaid isn’t fanfiction. Making use of the King Arthur legend wouldn’t be fanfiction.)


Fantasy:
A broad genre in which fiction involves magic and/or another world and races. Traditionally, a fantasy novel would be set on a fictional world inspired by ideas of Medieval Europe, with other fictional races of people such as elves, dwarves, fairies, etc. However, it’s possible to have other influences for a fantasy world, to attach a fantasy setting to a version of the real world, or to have a fantasy novel that takes place within a fantasy version of the real world. To achieve the latter two, the novel must involve either magic or fantasy races (such as elves, dwarves, fairies, etc.).

Fantasy is usually distinct from sci-fi in that it doesn’t revolve around science or pseudo-science, has a tendency to treat its wondrous elements and people as stemming from nature or magic, and it doesn’t require justification for its wonderous elements beyond keeping the rules it sets out within the work consistent. (E.g. A fantasy novel doesn’t have to explain why magic exists but, if it states that magic users can only cast 4 spells a day, it will have to explain why one magic user was able to cast 6 in one scene.)

Examples include fairytales, “The Lord of the Rings” by J. R. R. Tolkien, “Good Omens” by Neil Gaiman, and “Howl’s Moving Castle” by Diana Wynne Jones.


Gender Bender:
A genre that focuses on exploring and challenging gender, usually by putting a character in a situation where they are perceived by society as a gender that they do not identify as.

Mainstream gender bender is transformative, meaning that men who identify as men and have bodies that society traditionally views as belonging to men (no breasts or vagina, has a penis) are given a body that society traditionally views as belonging to women (breasts, vagina, clitoris, no penis), or vice versa. They are then forced to live and be viewed as the gender society assumes they are based on their new body (i.e. men “become” women although they don’t identify as women, or women “become” men although they don’t identify as men).

This can be played for laughs or as a serious examination of the distress that occurs when you’re forced to live as a gender you’re not and in a body that you’re not comfortable with.

Other types of gender bender do exist, such as people being changed into sexless bodies or people disguising themselves as another gender for various reasons.

Please note that Gender Bender requires that the situation isn’t normal for the characters in it, or that the situation is abnormal overall. Transgender characters, for whom the mismatch is the default, do not make a novel part of the Gender Bender genre. (There exists a “Transgender” tag to reflect that your story has transgender characters, however.)

Where the Gender Bender genre and the “Transgender” tag are combined, this typically indicates a novel that uses the traditional transformation element to provide a character with a body whose socially-ascribed gender matches their true gender, regardless of whether they know it at the time that they receive it. For example: Through magical or unrealistically scientific means, a trans woman’s body is changed into the body of a typical cis woman.

Examples of Gender Bender include (but are not limited to), Ranma ½, Kämpfer, Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl, “½ Prince” by Yu Wo, “The Villains Need to Save the World”, and Scribble Hub’s very own “Kammi Ketu” by QuietValerie.


Girls Love:
A genre that focuses on love (sexual or romantic) between women. To qualify for this genre, a novel’s primary romance must be between women and must be significantly present within the work.

Things that do not count include (but are not limited to): relationships between women who are not the main character; one-night-stands or sparse sexual encounters; a female main character having a wife or girlfriend who barely ever appears; or a female main character having a side romance with a woman while her main romance is with a man.

For everything related to sexual/romantic relationships between women that do not qualify for the Girls Love genre, there is a “Girls Love subplot” tag that you can use for your novel instead.


Harem:
A novel in which the main character has multiple romantic relationships at the same time. Alternatively, the character has multiple love interests that the story teases as being equally valid until the end. The former usually implies consensual non-monogamy rather than cheating. Traditionally, all lovers/love interests are only interested in the main character and do not have other relationships of their own.


Historical:
Fiction set in a real-world time and place in history, potentially but not necessarily using real people as characters. The setting must be in a past time – setting the novel last week doesn’t count. Examples include war-time romances and period dramas.


Horror:
A novel whose aim is to scare the audience, or which deals with traditionally horrific elements. Examples include ghost stories and almost every Stephen King novel.


Isekai:
Novels in which the main character is someone from Earth who is transported into another world, becomes stuck there, and must adapt to their new setting. Very traditional isekai uses a standard fantasy setting.


Josei:
Novels whose target audience is adult women. Traditionally this means women aged 18-30.


LitRPG:
Novels set in a game or a game-like world where games and game-like challenges are encountered frequently and are essential to the story, and stats and other RPG elements are present and depicted for the reader as part of the reading experience. Stats must be a significant part of the reading experience to qualify as a LitRPG. Typically, this means providing tables to show them frequently.


Martial Arts:
Novels with a heavy focus on characters fighting using martial arts. Possible martial arts include but are not limited to aikido, karate, judo, tae kwon do, fencing, and kendo.


Mature:
Intended for a mature audience, i.e. not young teenagers. Novels marked Mature involve darker subjects that may not be suitable for younger audiences (such as gore, sex or violence) but are not strictly for an adult audience like the Adult genre. This can be considered to be synonymous with R15.


Mecha:
Novels with a heavy focus on people fighting using giant humanoid robots/machines. Think of Gundam or Pacific Rim.


Mystery:
Novels with a heavy focus on investigating and/or slowly revealing the truth behind an unknown or unclear event or past. The element of the unknown must be strong for the reader, making them extremely curious about what really happened. Murder mysteries are a typical example, where how and why a person died, and who killed them, are the primary focus.


Psychological:
Seeks to examine and challenge the state of the human mind. Generally, this involves trauma, darker and distressing storylines, and mind games and/or potential surrealism. The characters undergo psychological distress and/or changes as a result of what they experience throughout the story. Examples of media in this genre are Revolutionary Girl Utena, Death Note, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Ghost in the Shell.


Romance:
The primary focus or one of the very main focuses of this story is the romantic relationship(s) of the main character. The development of the relationship(s) is given a lot of attention.


School Life:
A large proportion of the story follows the characters as they spend time in school. This specifically refers to school (i.e. high school and below), and not to university or college.


Sci-fi:
A broad genre which revolves around science, technology and/or space. Unlike fantasy, this cannot involve magic – anything that happens in sci-fi that cannot happen in real life must be attributed to science and/or technology, even though that science may be inaccurate or the technology fictional.

Fictional races of people may appear, but they are either portrayed as aliens or their existence must be explained via science. Exploring, living or battling in space are common themes, and other worlds may be explored – but they’re accessed via technology and science and viewed through the lens of science as well.

(Note that Star Wars is actually a fusion of sci-fi and fantasy, resulting in it being a fantasy wearing a sci-fi skin.)


Seinen:
Novels whose target audience is adult men. Traditionally this means men aged 18-30.


Slice of Life:
Novels without a focused plot, which generally follow the characters as they go about normal day-to-day life. Some other themes (such as romance) and mini-arcs of genuine plot may be included, but the large focus is day-to-day living. “The Snow Country Hunting Life of the Northern Nobleman and the Raptor Wife” is a good example.


Smut:
Erotic fiction. According to the official Novel Updates definition, this is a genre largely aimed at women and which includes a heavy focus on love/relationships between the characters having sex. The usage throughout Scribble Hub may be wider and simply used to denote erotica.


Sports:
Novels with a heavy focus on a particular sport. Examples of sport-themed media are “Free! Iwatobi Swim Club”, “Yuri on Ice”, and “Kuroko’s Basketball”.


Supernatural:
Novels with a heavy focus on powers, beings or events that go beyond the understanding of science (and possibly the laws of nature). These supernatural elements may include beings such as ghosts, werewolves and demons, or people possessing powers such as telekinesis or telepathy. Supernatural fiction is distinct from broader fantasy in that it takes place in settings where the supernatural elements are not supposed to belong, it focuses on the mystery of those supernatural elements, and it is generally moodier and focused on suspense and mystery, rather than on action and adventure.

Examples of supernatural novels include “The Woman in Black” by Susan Hill, “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer, and “Interview with a Vampire” by Anne Rice.


Tragedy:
Focuses on misfortune and painful loss, typically with the aim of making readers cry or feel sad. To qualify as a tragedy, a novel must either focus continuously on painful events or culminate into an ending that is emotionally painful for the reader (e.g. a story that focuses on a loving couple but has one partner die and the other living to grieve them at the end qualifies as a tragedy).
 
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LordAstrea

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Always wondered about the LitRPG one since I do have some stats that are mentioned and do contribute to the story, but they are used very sparingly and I don't present tables pretty much at all. I suppose since I have some stats that contribute to the plot in some way and affect the character I should add the tag.
I appreciate this post. I was sort of influenced by other sites and just assumed my story was Gamelit (which refers to worlds with game elements but not focused on stats with tables), but the tag doesn't exist here. Guess it depends where the story is sometimes. I know some people really have that itch for numbers.
 

Moonpearl

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Always wondered about the LitRPG one since I do have some stats that are mentioned and do contribute to the story, but they are used very sparingly and I don't present tables pretty much at all. I suppose since I have some stats that contribute to the plot in some way and affect the character I should add the tag.
I appreciate this post. I was sort of influenced by other sites and just assumed my story was Gamelit (which refers to worlds with game elements but not focused on stats with tables), but the tag doesn't exist here. Guess it depends where the story is sometimes. I know some people really have that itch for numbers.
LitRPG is a confusing genre to me, too.

There's a Wikipedia article that I used to help build my definition of it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LitRPG

It does say that visible stats have to be a significant part of the reading experience. I might update the definition to better reflect that.
 

Moonpearl

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(LitRPG has now been updated to reflect the genre more accurately)
 
D

Deleted member 29316

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Thanks for the effort!

Tags are even more bloody than genres. Some series get the wrong tags for the obvious reasons (pulling readers).
 

Moonpearl

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Thanks for the effort!

Tags are even more bloody than genres. Some series get the wrong tags for the obvious reasons (pulling readers).
I'm working on categorising the tags for easier browsing, but I don't think even I can provide a definition for them all.

Most of Scribble Hub's tags are shared by Novel Updates, however, and a full list with definitions is available here: https://www.novelupdates.com/list-tags/

If you hover over each entry, it will give you the official definition.
 
D

Deleted member 29316

Guest
I'm working on categorising the tags for easier browsing, but I don't think even I can provide a definition for them all.

Most of Scribble Hub's tags are shared by Novel Updates, however, and a full list with definitions is available here: https://www.novelupdates.com/list-tags/

If you hover over each entry, it will give you the official definition.
It's fine, I know my story tags. It's just that, some series have the wrong tags in their settings (prolly an honest mistake, or a deliberate attempt to lure in readers).
 
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@Moonpearl
:love::love::love:
Haha... I have spent the last few days waffling. and wondering if I should start a thread about genres or not

I made and deleted several rants about how some authors have no idea what genres are, and have been putting 9 genres on their novels when some of those genres should have been tags... :blob_hmph:

Ultimately, what I really wanted is for scribble hub novels to only have one or two main genres, so I don't have to see all the inaccurate genres classifications that authors have been using.

THEN... when I checked the "Create" page, lo and behold there it IS a "main genre"... had that always been there? :blob_dizzy::blob_dizzy:



Sooooo....

Since the authors have to choose a "main genre"... I am now wondering if is there a way for the readers to see what the main genre is? Or even better, is there a way to block the other genres from view and only show the main genre from now on? :blob_melt:

PS
I won't drone on about genre theories and how I yet to see LitRPG as a genre, but only as a tag. Tho thru my journeys, I found some interesting things about the genre classification on online sites. And don't ask me what point I was trying to make that I gathered that info! I just did.

They are now just interesting things to know.

Case study 1: There Was No Secret Evil-Fighting Organization (srsly?!), So I Made One MYSELF!
NU it is categorized as
Genre

Action Comedy Fantasy Sci-fi Seinen Slice of Life Supernatural
Tag:
Aliens Awkward Protagonist Beautiful Female Lead Betrayal Boss-Subordinate Relationship Buddhism Chuunibyou Determined Protagonist Elves Evil Organizations Hard-Working Protagonist Harsh Training Hiding True Abilities Hiding True Identity Interdimensional Travel Loyal Subordinates Male Protagonist Manipulative Characters Modern Day Overpowered Protagonist Parody Pets Psychic Powers Quirky Characters Schemes And Conspiracies Secret Organizations Special Abilities Time Skip Timid Protagonist Wealthy Characters

The J-novel club, the official translator of the book
As a whole, the site do not use "genre" at all and only Tags
Tags:
OP protagonist, superpowers, esper, chuuni, comedy, action, sci-fi, slice of life, secret organization.

On Amazon
Teen & Young Adult Light Novels

On Goodreads
Light novel

On the original site syosetu where the author posted the novel
Genre
is:
ローファンタジー〔ファンタジー〕/ Low fantasy (fantasy)
keywords:
伝奇 (Chuanqi: a type of fantasy) 念力 (psychokinesis) 超能力 (Super powers) マッチポンプ(match pomp: a type of comedy where a person is both the hero and the villain) サイキック (Psychic) 訓練 (Training) 最強 (OP/strongest) 秘密結社 (Secret organization)

Case Study 2: Coiling Dragon
NU it is categorized as
Genre:

Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Martial Arts, Xuanhuan
Tags:
Academy Adapted to Manhua Alchemy Angels Artifacts Beast Companions Beautiful Female Lead Betrayal Bloodlines Body Tempering Calm Protagonist Cautious Protagonist Character Growth Clan Building Cold Protagonist Cultivation Dao Comprehension Death of Loved Ones Devoted Love Interests Dragons Elemental Magic Evil Religions Fast Cultivation Genius Protagonist Godly Powers Gods Hard-Working Protagonist Kingdom Building Late Romance Legends Lucky Protagonist Magic Male Protagonist Marriage Monsters Multiple Realms Mysterious Past Mythical Beasts Politics Protagonist with Multiple Bodies Revenge Sculptors Souls Spirit Advisor Sword Wielder Time Skip Transformation Ability Wars Weak to Strong World Travel

On Amazon
Science Fiction & Fantasy

On Wuxiaworld
Action, Fantasy

On Goodreads
Fantasy

On baidu (kinda Chinese Wikipedia)
Western Fantasy

On Qidan the original publisher
Main Genre: 奇幻 (Fantasy)
Sub Genre: 劍與魔法 (Sword and magic)
Author designated Tag: 熱血 (Hot blooded: thrilling, melodramatic, exciting, hight tension)


Some side curios
Goodreads use a crowdsource genre system
Goodreads determines a book's genre by crowd-sourcing user shelves. If a number of users shelve a book as "science," for example, then that genre is assigned to the book in our algorithm. We recognize that this isn't a perfect system, as sometimes users might shelve something as "science" when it's actually "science fiction," and so on. A good way to encourage correct shelving of your book is to raise awareness about it, for example, using your author blog or in your author description.

Website: syosetu uses 5 main genres: Romance, Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Others. And has 20 Sub-genres and is supplemented my keywords
  1. Romance - Another world (fantasy, magical etc)
  2. Romance - Actual Real World
  3. Fantasy - Low Fantasy
  4. Fantasy - High Fantasy
  5. Fiction - Belles-lettres
  6. Fiction - Human Drama
  7. Fiction - Historical
  8. Fiction - Detective/Mystery
  9. Fiction - Horror
  10. Fiction - Action
  11. Fiction - Comedy
  12. Science Fiction - VRgame
  13. Science Fiction - Space
  14. Science Fiction - Science Fantasy (pseudo-science / Soft sci-fi)
  15. Science Fiction - Disaster
  16. Others - Fairy tales
  17. Others - Poems
  18. Others - Essays
  19. Others - Replay (Second-chance stories, Reincarnation, transmigration)
  20. Others - other

Website Qidian uses 14 main genres: Eastern Fantasy, Western Fantasy, City, Martial Arts Heroes, Immortal Heroes, Real life, Science Fiction, Games, History, Military, Sport, Mystery, Light novel, Short stories. And around 70 to 80 Subgenre... :sweating_profusely: Even if I am not totally accurate with by translation, it's still crazy pedantic....

Qidian further divide their site to "male" and "female" demographics :sweating_profusely::sweating_profusely::sweating_profusely:

Eastern Fantasy -
Eastern/Chinese Fantasy, Otherworldly Continent, Kingdom/Imperial Conquests, High Martial Arts World (Fantasy world/country that rules with martial arts powers and "strong" rules regardless of... anything)

Western Fantasy -
Modern Magic, Sword and Magic, Medieval fantasy, Grimdark, Historic Mythos, Other Fantasies.

Martial Arts Heroes -
Traditional Wuxia, Martial Arts Fantasy, Chinese Martial Arts, Return of Ancient Martial arts, (Regain pass memories, or strong guy wakes up from "sleep"), Martial Art Fanfic/self-insert/ retellings

Immortal Heroes -
Cultivation based society, Immortal fantasies, Modern cultivations, Mythical/legends / Fable cultivations, Traditional Immortal heroes stories

City
City life, Special powers in the modern-day city, Superpowers, Youth and school life, Celebrity life, Merchant and business

Real Life
Local daily life (country life?). Modern Lifestyle, Arts/artists, Success stories, Youth/ come of age, Love and marriage, Realistic drama

MIlitary
Military Career, Wars, Fantasy wars, Resistance / Rebels, Spies

History
Otherworld history, three kingdoms, Pre Qin dynasty, Historical stories, Tang dynasty, Ten kingdoms, Song Dynasty, Qing dynasty, History of other counties, Local legends and folklores

Games
Competitive gaming, VRMMO, Game-like otherworld, Game system (Lit RPG?), Game broadcaster/streamer

Sports
Basketball, Sports competitions, Soccer

Sci-fi
Mechas, Futuristic, Galactic civilisation, Advance technology, Time travel, Evolution/mutation, Apocalypse

Mystery
Thriller mystery, mysterious world, Detective, Explorer/adventure, Ancient mystery

Light novels
Original fantasy, Youthful slice of life, Comedy, Fanfic,

Short forms
Poems, Biographies (Fictional ones I presume), Screenplays, Essays, Life reflections, Word games/play on words. Short stories
 

Moonpearl

The Yuri Empress
Joined
Dec 25, 2018
Messages
764
Points
133
@Moonpearl
:love::love::love:
Haha... I have spent the last few days waffling. and wondering if I should start a thread about genres or not

I made and deleted several rants about how some authors have no idea what genres are, and have been putting 9 genres on their novels when some of those genres should have been tags... :blob_hmph:

Ultimately, what I really wanted is for scribble hub novels to only have one or two main genres, so I don't have to see all the inaccurate genres classifications that authors have been using.

THEN... when I checked the "Create" page, lo and behold there it IS a "main genre"... had that always been there? :blob_dizzy::blob_dizzy:



Sooooo....

Since the authors have to choose a "main genre"... I am now wondering if is there a way for the readers to see what the main genre is? Or even better, is there a way to block the other genres from view and only show the main genre from now on? :blob_melt:

PS
I won't drone on about genre theories and how I yet to see LitRPG as a genre, but only as a tag. Tho thru my journeys, I found some interesting things about the genre classification on online sites. And don't ask me what point I was trying to make that I gathered that info! I just did.

They are now just interesting things to know.

Case study 1: There Was No Secret Evil-Fighting Organization (srsly?!), So I Made One MYSELF!
NU it is categorized as
Genre

Action Comedy Fantasy Sci-fi Seinen Slice of Life Supernatural
Tag:
Aliens Awkward Protagonist Beautiful Female Lead Betrayal Boss-Subordinate Relationship Buddhism Chuunibyou Determined Protagonist Elves Evil Organizations Hard-Working Protagonist Harsh Training Hiding True Abilities Hiding True Identity Interdimensional Travel Loyal Subordinates Male Protagonist Manipulative Characters Modern Day Overpowered Protagonist Parody Pets Psychic Powers Quirky Characters Schemes And Conspiracies Secret Organizations Special Abilities Time Skip Timid Protagonist Wealthy Characters

The J-novel club, the official translator of the book
As a whole, the site do not use "genre" at all and only Tags
Tags:
OP protagonist, superpowers, esper, chuuni, comedy, action, sci-fi, slice of life, secret organization.

On Amazon
Teen & Young Adult Light Novels

On Goodreads
Light novel

On the original site syosetu where the author posted the novel
Genre
is:
ローファンタジー〔ファンタジー〕/ Low fantasy (fantasy)
keywords:
伝奇 (Chuanqi: a type of fantasy) 念力 (psychokinesis) 超能力 (Super powers) マッチポンプ(match pomp: a type of comedy where a person is both the hero and the villain) サイキック (Psychic) 訓練 (Training) 最強 (OP/strongest) 秘密結社 (Secret organization)

Case Study 2: Coiling Dragon
NU it is categorized as
Genre:

Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Martial Arts, Xuanhuan
Tags:
Academy Adapted to Manhua Alchemy Angels Artifacts Beast Companions Beautiful Female Lead Betrayal Bloodlines Body Tempering Calm Protagonist Cautious Protagonist Character Growth Clan Building Cold Protagonist Cultivation Dao Comprehension Death of Loved Ones Devoted Love Interests Dragons Elemental Magic Evil Religions Fast Cultivation Genius Protagonist Godly Powers Gods Hard-Working Protagonist Kingdom Building Late Romance Legends Lucky Protagonist Magic Male Protagonist Marriage Monsters Multiple Realms Mysterious Past Mythical Beasts Politics Protagonist with Multiple Bodies Revenge Sculptors Souls Spirit Advisor Sword Wielder Time Skip Transformation Ability Wars Weak to Strong World Travel

On Amazon
Science Fiction & Fantasy

On Wuxiaworld
Action, Fantasy

On Goodreads
Fantasy

On baidu (kinda Chinese Wikipedia)
Western Fantasy

On Qidan the original publisher
Main Genre: 奇幻 (Fantasy)
Sub Genre: 劍與魔法 (Sword and magic)
Author designated Tag: 熱血 (Hot blooded: thrilling, melodramatic, exciting, hight tension)


Some side curios
Goodreads use a crowdsource genre system


Website: syosetu uses 5 main genres: Romance, Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Others. And has 20 Sub-genres and is supplemented my keywords
  1. Romance - Another world (fantasy, magical etc)
  2. Romance - Actual Real World
  3. Fantasy - Low Fantasy
  4. Fantasy - High Fantasy
  5. Fiction - Belles-lettres
  6. Fiction - Human Drama
  7. Fiction - Historical
  8. Fiction - Detective/Mystery
  9. Fiction - Horror
  10. Fiction - Action
  11. Fiction - Comedy
  12. Science Fiction - VRgame
  13. Science Fiction - Space
  14. Science Fiction - Science Fantasy (pseudo-science / Soft sci-fi)
  15. Science Fiction - Disaster
  16. Others - Fairy tales
  17. Others - Poems
  18. Others - Essays
  19. Others - Replay (Second-chance stories, Reincarnation, transmigration)
  20. Others - other

Website Qidian uses 14 main genres: Eastern Fantasy, Western Fantasy, City, Martial Arts Heroes, Immortal Heroes, Real life, Science Fiction, Games, History, Military, Sport, Mystery, Light novel, Short stories. And around 70 to 80 Subgenre... :sweating_profusely: Even if I am not totally accurate with by translation, it's still crazy pedantic....

Qidian further divide their site to "male" and "female" demographics :sweating_profusely::sweating_profusely::sweating_profusely:

Eastern Fantasy -
Eastern/Chinese Fantasy, Otherworldly Continent, Kingdom/Imperial Conquests, High Martial Arts World (Fantasy world/country that rules with martial arts powers and "strong" rules regardless of... anything)

Western Fantasy -
Modern Magic, Sword and Magic, Medieval fantasy, Grimdark, Historic Mythos, Other Fantasies.

Martial Arts Heroes -
Traditional Wuxia, Martial Arts Fantasy, Chinese Martial Arts, Return of Ancient Martial arts, (Regain pass memories, or strong guy wakes up from "sleep"), Martial Art Fanfic/self-insert/ retellings

Immortal Heroes -
Cultivation based society, Immortal fantasies, Modern cultivations, Mythical/legends / Fable cultivations, Traditional Immortal heroes stories

City
City life, Special powers in the modern-day city, Superpowers, Youth and school life, Celebrity life, Merchant and business

Real Life
Local daily life (country life?). Modern Lifestyle, Arts/artists, Success stories, Youth/ come of age, Love and marriage, Realistic drama

MIlitary
Military Career, Wars, Fantasy wars, Resistance / Rebels, Spies

History
Otherworld history, three kingdoms, Pre Qin dynasty, Historical stories, Tang dynasty, Ten kingdoms, Song Dynasty, Qing dynasty, History of other counties, Local legends and folklores

Games
Competitive gaming, VRMMO, Game-like otherworld, Game system (Lit RPG?), Game broadcaster/streamer

Sports
Basketball, Sports competitions, Soccer

Sci-fi
Mechas, Futuristic, Galactic civilisation, Advance technology, Time travel, Evolution/mutation, Apocalypse

Mystery
Thriller mystery, mysterious world, Detective, Explorer/adventure, Ancient mystery

Light novels
Original fantasy, Youthful slice of life, Comedy, Fanfic,

Short forms
Poems, Biographies (Fictional ones I presume), Screenplays, Essays, Life reflections, Word games/play on words. Short stories
As of now, there's no way for us to interact with an author's main genre - although there have been numerous requests to be able to search by them.

I'm not sure what Tony plans to do with it in the future, or what it currently helps with.
 

OneRanter

Southern Unorthodox MaskMaker
Joined
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Messages
161
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Sexual fanservice aimed at heterosexual men.
I don't think ecchi is exclusive for heterosexual men. You can have ecchi in novels of BL, GL, Trans, etc. Which aim for a different audience. It just happens that the use of ecchi is extremely widespread in shounens thinly disguised as "comedy".

On the flipside, both free and yuri on ice have plenty of sexual fanservice disguised as "sports". None of them focus on heterosexual men as their main audience or aim to
place female characters in sexual situations
exclusively.

You can also take a look at this part taken from something as extreme as prison school, where you have a bunch of naked, straight men in a sexual missunderstanding. Note that in the whole segment not a single female character is involved.
 

Moonpearl

The Yuri Empress
Joined
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Messages
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I don't think ecchi is exclusive for heterosexual men. You can have ecchi in novels of BL, GL, Trans, etc. Which aim for a different audience. It just happens that the use of ecchi is extremely widespread in shounens thinly disguised as "comedy".

On the flipside, both free and yuri on ice have plenty of sexual fanservice disguised as "sports". None of them focus on heterosexual men as their main audience or aim to

exclusively.

You can also take a look at this part taken from something as extreme as prison school, where you have a bunch of naked, straight men in a sexual missunderstanding. Note that in the whole segment not a single female character is involved.
Ecchi isn't just sexual fanservice, though - it's a very specific genre aimed usually at teenage boys.

BL with fanservice is just fanservice, as far as I know. But I can change it to "typically", just in case.
 

OneRanter

Southern Unorthodox MaskMaker
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161
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Joined
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Martial Arts:
Novels with a heavy focus on characters fighting using martial arts. Possible martial arts include but are not limited to aikido, karate, judo, tae kwon do, fencing, and kendo.
So, in this case, it is different from the genre known as Wuxia(Martial art heroes) that used conventions such as teacher and disciple relationships, learning and training of martial arts, travelling heroes with a code of conduct, and world-building concept of "Jianghu"/"wulin". a sub-society where martial artists, schools and sects interact in a way that is parallel to mainstream society with its own laws and traditions.

Tho as I am typing this my mind started to go categorise it...

Fantasy fiction > Action-adventure> Wuxia> Martial arts
Fantasy fiction > Sci-ficiton> War/militarty> Martial arts
Fiction> Slice of life > School life> Sport > Marital arts
Fantasy Ficiton > Romance > BL > Action-Adventure> Marital arts
Fiction > Drama > marital arts

In terms of the taxonomy and the number of conventions... "Martial Arts" without elements of "Wuxia" feels too slim of elements to be classified a genre, unless the label contains a really strong focus on learning training of martial arts. Even then it can potentially it could end up in every story that has physical combat in it...


:blob_hmm_two::blob_hmm_two::blob_hmm_two::blob_hmm_two:

Still, I wonder... are there more unique tropes and defining features that can make "marital arts" stand on its own as a genre and not a tag.


:sweating_profusely: this is just banter, I am aware, you are just trying to define what is already there.
 

Moonpearl

The Yuri Empress
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Messages
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So, in this case, it is different from the genre known as Wuxia(Martial art heroes) that used conventions such as teacher and disciple relationships, learning and training of martial arts, travelling heroes with a code of conduct, and world-building concept of "Jianghu"/"wulin". a sub-society where martial artists, schools and sects interact in a way that is parallel to mainstream society with its own laws and traditions.

Tho as I am typing this my mind started to go categorise it...

Fantasy fiction > Action-adventure> Wuxia> Martial arts
Fantasy fiction > Sci-ficiton> War/militarty> Martial arts
Fiction> Slice of life > School life> Sport > Marital arts
Fantasy Ficiton > Romance > BL > Action-Adventure> Marital arts
Fiction > Drama > marital arts

In terms of the taxonomy and the number of conventions... "Martial Arts" without elements of "Wuxia" feels too slim of elements to be classified a genre, unless the label contains a really strong focus on learning training of martial arts. Even then it can potentially it could end up in every story that has physical combat in it...


:blob_hmm_two::blob_hmm_two::blob_hmm_two::blob_hmm_two:

Still, I wonder... are there more unique tropes and defining features that can make "marital arts" stand on its own as a genre and not a tag.


:sweating_profusely: this is just banter, I am aware, you are just trying to define what is already there.
Martial Arts is a genre that exists on both Novel Updates and Scribble Hub, but the genres Wuxia, Xianxia, and Xuanhuan only exist on Novel Updates.

Shounen and Shoujo also weren't carried over for some reason, even though Josei and Seinen were.

(And LitRPG only exists on Scribble Hub, which is why I had no guide except the wider internet to help me.)

So I think anything inspired by the Chinese genres would need to be filed under "Martial Arts", or else be confined to using the associated Cultivation tags to identify themselves. Not sure which route Tony intended.
 

Queenfisher

Bird?
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Messages
333
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Thank you! Though I agree with Generic.Archdemon that the coolest question is why some of these even exist... (Like what is School Life doing in the Genre department?? How is that a separate genre? :blob_hmm: )

I also wonder if there will ever be a way to separate demographic genres (Josei, Seinen) from actual genres, because it's honestly just confusing when they stand on equal ground with other genres, when the story being just a Seinen or just a Josei will tell you essentially nothing about it.

Fantasy fiction > Sci-ficiton> War/militarty> Martial arts
Fiction> Slice of life > School life> Sport > Marital arts
Fantasy Ficiton > Romance > BL > Action-Adventure> Marital arts
Fiction > Drama > marital arts


:blob_hmm_two::blob_hmm_two::blob_hmm_two::blob_hmm_two:

Still, I wonder... are there more unique tropes and defining features that can make "marital arts" stand on its own as a genre and not a tag.
Sorry -- couldn't help myself. Marital arts sounds cool, I want it to be its own genre now ^^.
 
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