Genres, categories, and formats are probably different than you may realize.
Genres are divided into Fiction and Non Fiction. Let's talk about fiction first. Fiction is divided into realistic fiction and fantasy fiction, which is pretty self explanatory. From there, realistic fiction is divided into modern/contemporary vs historical fiction. Fantasy is divided into modern fantasy vs traditional fantasy fiction. When we talk about traditional fantasy, we are talking about folktales, ballads, fairtytales, fables, etc. With modern fantasy, we are talking about hard and soft science fiction, high and low fantasy.
On the other hand, we have non fiction, which is informational. These informational non fictions are divided into three categories- biography, narrative, and expository. Biographies can be autobiographies or memoirs. Narrative non fiction is written more like a story, and reads like a traditional novel. Lastly, expository non fiction is written with facts and not written like a novel.
Categories are completely different from the above genres. Examples of categories are chick lit, horror, sports, guy reads, etc. These are not genres of writing but more of another way to categorize stories.
Lastly, formats are just that- the format of writing that the book is written in. Examples are poetry, novels, chapter books, short stories, picture books, and graphic novels, to name a few.
Understanding genres, categories/subjects, and formats is so important as I pursue a career as a librarian. It allows me to correctly organize my library, appropriately guide my users to the correct books, and correctly identify these books based on their genres. Since getting clarification on this, I've been trying to "label" the books that I read based on this information. It's great practice!
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