What are genre conventions in writing

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What are Genre Conventions?

Genre conventions are specific requirements for the story&#;s ALTERNATE WORLD, AVATARS, and catalysts that create conflict and enable solutions. Without specific genre conventions, the reader will be confused, unsettled, or bored and quit reading.

Genre Conventions set up genre audience expectations and create the potential for specific change in the OBLIGATORY MOMENTS of a story. Genre conventions help us focus and filter problems and solutions through two broad categories of constraints: selective constraints and enabling constraints. 

What are Selective Constraints?

Selective constraints are elements of the setting, or arena, that help define the problem in a story and put the core need at stake. In the POP (PROPOSITION OF POSSIBILITY) analysis, this is also called the CONTEXT. We call conventions related to the context selective because they narrow the field of potential big-picture problems addressed in our stories.

Location

Every context has the potential for external and internal conflict, but the reach and characteristics of the location impact the scope of the problems explored in a story. For example, an expansive landscape with multiple locations sets up a wider range of external conflict. A less varied setting tends to support multiple layers of similar conflicts. When the story is set in a single location, we can explore the internal landscape of the AVATARS more extensively. 

• In ACTION stories, the setting must be a disturbed, unbalanced physical and social environment that gives rise to a threat to life.
• HORROR stories unfold within conventional or mundane settings with fantastical elements and a literal or metaphorical labyrinth. 
• SOCIETY and WAR stories are set against a big canvas with either a widescope external setting or internal landscape.
• WESTERN/EASTERN stories take place in a harsh hostile, wide-open

As a fiction writer, understanding the various elements that contribute to the success of your story within its specific genre is crucial. Two key elements are genre conventions and obligatory scenes. While they may appear similar at first glance, these components have distinct roles in shaping your narrative and meeting reader expectations. This article delves into the differences between genre conventions and obligatory scenes, providing a clear understanding of their roles and how to use them effectively in your fiction writing.

Genre conventions

Genre conventions are the recurring themes, tropes, and elements that readers expect to find in a specific genre. They establish the framework and atmosphere of your story, allowing readers to quickly identify its genre and understand its context. By fulfilling the expectations associated with a particular genre, genre conventions create a sense of familiarity and comfort for readers.

Conventions include:

1. Characters that we expect to meet – like a best friend, a sidekick, a detective, a super spy, a monster, or a murder victim.
2. Settings that we expect the story to play out in – like a gothic castle, a small picturesque country town, a space ship, an alien landscape, or an elven forest.
3. Particular, and expected, ways of moving the plot forward – like the presence of red herrings in a crime novel, a twist in a thriller, or an emotionally satisfying ending to a romance.

Obligatory scenes

Obligatory scenes are specific moments or events that must occur within a particular genre to meet reader expectations and deliver a satisfying narrative. These scenes are essential to the genre, and their absence or alteration may disappoint or confuse readers. Obligatory scenes often serve as turning points or climactic moments within the narrative, propelling the story forward and providing a sense of resolution.

Examples of obligatory scenes include:

1. Mystery: The discovery of the crime or mystery, the gatheri

Genre conventions are established rules, traits, characteristics, and elements that are commonly associated with and accepted within a particular genre of art, literature, film, or other forms of media.

A simple definition comes from Christine Nord ():

&#;Genre conventions are the result of the standardization of communication practices. As certain kinds of text are used repeatedly in certain situations with more or less the same function or functions, these texts acquire conventional forms.&#; (Nord, )

These conventions help both creators and audiences identify and categorize a work within its specific genre. Conventions might include specific themes, styles, structures, or motifs that are often repeated within works of the same genre.

10 Elements of Genre Conventions

There are many elements of a genre that combine to create conventional forms and tropes within cultural texts. These can include theme, setting, character, iconography, tone, and so on.

Below are just a few of the many elements of genre:

1. Themes and Topics: This refers to the central ideas or subjects that are recurrent within a specific genre. For example, redemption is a common theme in Western films, the overwhelming power of love is recurrent in romances, and moral dilemmas are common in science fiction films.
2. Setting: This refers to the time and place in which the story occurs. Fantasy genres often employ a medieval Europe setting, and science fiction films often take place in space.
3. Characters: This refers to the specific types and archetypes of protagonists, antagonists, and supporting roles commonly found in a particular genre. For instance, detective noir films often have a hard-boiled private investigator, while fairy tales might have a damsel in distress and a gallant knight.
4. Plot Structure: This pertains to the way the narrative is constructed and unfolds. Mystery genres often have complex plots with unexpected twists, while hero&#;s journey narratives are stru

When you sit down with a book, are you hoping for a particular type of story experience? This is a common desire, since readers—know it or not—are drawn towards specific genres and genre conventions. What is a genre convention? Let's take a look and see how they work specifically in suspense. 

What is a genre convention?

A genre convention is any element, including character, plot point, setting, archetypes, and other device that define a reading (or viewing) category. If you've ever searched for a &#;comedy&#; on your streaming service, you were depending on the genre conventions to help you find a show to make you laugh. Books work the same way. In stories, genre tells you what to expect as a reader.

From a writer’s perspective, knowing these genre &#;flavors&#; and how to create them to satisfy reader expectations is key to writing stories that will keep readers coming back.

In addition, understanding the genre conventions and obligatory scenes helps you push yourself farther and reach higher to innovate and twist what’s been done before, astonishing readers . . . and even yourself!

How to Write for Suspense Genres

Something amazing has happened to me in my writing so many times that I’ve come to expect it rather than be surprised by it. It’s this:

I’ve planned, plotted, and written most of my story and I’m nearing the finish line. I have a pretty solid idea about how the story is going to end, but I let my mind wander a bit and a new twist for the finale leaps into view. Usually, all it requires is a few tweaks in the previously written parts to set it up, and I’ve added a whole dimension to the story.

Thriller readers expect an extra twist like this before the story’s conclusion. A false ending is one of the genre’s obligatory scenes. If I leave the false ending out of my thriller, I leave readers unsatisfied at the end of my book and they may not even realize why.

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