Every genre,
at a glance.
A way to name exactly what you're writing — or find exactly what you're in the mood to read. For every genre: its icon, a one-sentence definition, and ten touchstone works. Click any card to explore the scenes published within it.
Explore the genresNarrative formats
3 genresInteractive fiction / Choose your own adventure
The reader chooses the story's outcome through branching paths.
Theatre / screenplay
Pure dialogue format, no narration — like a scene being performed.
Fanfiction / crossover
Characters from two different universes openly meet — the Bond mechanic named as its own genre.
Everyday life / society
5 genresSlice of life / Contemporary
Everyday life, without major dramatic stakes, valued for its own sake.
Satire / Social comedy
A critique of society through humor and exaggeration.
Found family / Fanfiction-adjacent
A group with no blood ties that becomes a real family.
Coming-of-age
The passage into adulthood, the loss of innocence, the shaping of identity.
Family saga
A story unfolding across several generations of the same family.
Non-fiction / knowledge
7 genresPopular science
A guide-narrator explains — podcast format, fictional YouTube channel, impromptu lesson.
Narrative history / documentary
Real historical figures told in story form — distinct from historical fiction, which is fictionalized.
Encyclopedia / bestiary / lore
Entries on the creatures, places, or characters of a universe — especially relevant on LATRAME.
Educational / teaching tale
Moral tales, popularized for a young audience — distinct from YA fantasy, which is a genre, not a teaching tone.
Biography / memoir
Autobiography, life journal, memoir — the characters are real people.
Real true crime / reportage
The nonfiction counterpart to epistolary true crime, which is explicitly fictional.
Literary Essay
A personal, argued reflection on an idea, a work, or society — no characters, no plot.
Historical / Adventure
8 genresHistorical fiction
A story set in a real period of the past, with or without historical figures.
Western
The American frontier, cowboys, law and disorder.
Adventure / Survival
Characters facing a hostile environment, with physical survival at the heart of the story.
Steampunk
Victorian aesthetics blended with anachronistic steam-powered technology.
Magical realism
The supernatural slips into everyday life without characters ever questioning it.
Gothic
A dark atmosphere, crumbling settings, family secrets, and latent supernatural dread.
Superhero / Comics-style
Characters with extraordinary powers, following comic-book conventions.
Military fiction
War and military life at the center of the story, camaraderie and tactical stakes.
Science fiction
5 genresCyberpunk / Dystopian sci-fi
A high-tech, low-life urban future, all-powerful corporations, technology that corrupts as much as it liberates.
Space opera
Large-scale adventure in space, galactic empires, epic stakes.
Dystopia / Post-apocalyptic
A collapsed or oppressive society, survival or resistance at the heart of the plot.
Time travel
A character travels into the past or future, with consequences that ripple into the present.
Hard sci-fi
Rigorous science fiction, grounded in plausible scientific extrapolation.
Horror / Comedy
2 genresHorror
Fear as the narrative's end goal, with no central romantic subplot — distinct from Romance-horror.
Comedy / Humor
Humor for its own sake, without social critique as the main goal — distinct from Satire/Social comedy.
Mystery / Thriller / Crime
5 genresPsychological thriller / Mystery
Mental tension, manipulation, a truth that keeps slipping away.
Fictional true crime / Epistolary
Fictional crime stories told through documents — letters, reports, articles.
Cozy mystery
A light investigation, a warm setting, violence kept off-page, often a small community.
Noir
A dark urban mood, a cynical protagonist, murky morality.
Political / espionage thriller
Power struggles, secret agents, betrayals on a grand scale.
Fantasy / Romantasy
15 genresClassic / epic fantasy
A fully-realized secondary world, an epic-scale quest, and stakes that outgrow any single character.
Romantasy
Fantasy and romance fused together — the love story matters as much as the worldbuilding.
Dark romance
Romance with intense power dynamics, morally ambiguous characters, and a darker tone.
Monster romance
The love interest is a non-human being — creature, monster — embraced as exactly that.
Femgore
Horror/fantasy centered on female rage and revenge, with explicit violence embraced outright.
Romance-horror
Romance that fully absorbs horror elements — not just a gothic backdrop.
Cozy fantasy
Low-stakes, comforting fantasy, often centered on a craft or a peaceful everyday life.
LitRPG / Progression fantasy
An explicit game system — levels, stats, quests — built directly into the narrative.
Urban fantasy
The supernatural coexists with the real modern world, often in a city.
Portal fantasy / Isekai
A character crosses from one world — often ours — into another.
Fairy tale retelling
A classic fairy tale retold from a new angle.
Mythology retelling
A myth — Greek, Norse, or otherwise — retold from a modern or offbeat point of view.
Paranormal romance
Romance with supernatural beings — vampires, werewolves, angels — at the heart of the love story.
Grimdark
Dark, cynical fantasy in shades of moral grey, with raw violence — no easy heroism.
YA fantasy
Fantasy for a young audience, a teenage protagonist learning to master their power or identity.
Romance (non-fantasy)
4 genresContemporary romance
A love story set in the present day, with no supernatural element.
Sports romance
Romance set in the world of sports, with an athlete as the love interest.
Enemies-to-lovers / trope-driven romance
Declared rivals or enemies who fall in love.
Erotica
Romance centered on the explicit exploration of desire, with sexuality at the heart of the story.