Fiction

FICTION
MODERN
LITERACY
GENRE
BY: JE-ANN J. MARGAHA
FICTION: MODERN, LITERACY, GENRE
A word about the word: Fiction, as you may have been
taught in the past, is originally defined as literature in the form of
prose-that is, writing without metrical and rhythmic structure
(as opposed to lines of poetry) that describes imaginary or
made-up events and people (as opposed to a report of real-life
events and persons), exemplified by novels and short stories.
Note: The relative closeness of novels and short stories is tied to
their history as you will see shortly how the short story genre
(established around the 18th century) came out of the novel
(established in the 17th century) tradition.
Today, thanks to modern technology and the
evolving human consciousness, you can now express
fiction-modern fiction, that is-in various formats
including short writing (like the sketches and
vignettes and incomplete narrative works that you
have been writing as exercises so far), blogs
(established in the late 1990s), live performances,
electronica media, recreational play, among others.
Whereas traditionally, fiction includes novels, short
stories, fables, legends, myths, fairy tales, plays, and
narrative poems only, modern fiction now also
encompasses comics books, operas, films, video games,
radio programs, television programs, dances, spoken
narratives, and so on. Thus unless you use the word fiction
in a narrow sense to mean a particular literary form,
fiction is generally understood as a classification or
category rather than a specific mode or genre.
You may have heard of the labels literary
and genre fiction. Well, if you can, for a
moment distinguish ideas from emotions or
art from commerce, those are the keys to
understanding these two classifications.
LITERARY FICTION
a.k.a. serious fiction, is the fiction of ideas,
the primary purpose of which is to provoke
thought. As “literary,” it is supposed to be more
concerned with the writer’s personal style and
self-expression, and some well-constructed
stylistic writing that stresses character
development and good descriptions.
GENRE FICTION
a.k.a. popular fiction, a.k.a. commercial fiction, on
the other hand, is the fiction of emotions, the
primary purpose of which is to entertain the
readers, as “popular,” it is more concerned with
great dialogues, fast-paced plots, and characters with
whom readers can easily identify, and perhaps rightly
so, because this form of fiction is expected to rake
in huge profits for the publishers.
GENRE FICTION
Genre fiction is sometimes called category
fiction, too, because as marketing tool, it is used
to categorize subgenres as, among others,
romance, science fiction, fantasy, mystery,
historical, crime/detective, Western,
suspense/thriller, gothic, and horror, which are
further supposed to have some basic formula
for writing.
VOCABULARIES FOR SUBGENRES OF FICTION
Formula fiction is easily characterized by its special

vocabulary that matches the genre or subgenre. The best
way to learn these subgenres and vocabularies is to read and
sample them yourself. (Professional advice: please do not
venture into writing a detective story if you haven’t even
read one or have never watch police procedural TV shows
and movies. Remember subgenres of fiction have very loyal
fan readers that know their stuff to the core. You don’t want
your readers to be smarter than you are in this case.)
Based on the given sample vocabularies,

can you recognize which subgenre fiction is
represented? Identify into which genre the
group of words belong: adventure, horror,
historical, Sci-fi, espionage, romance, fantasy,
or mystery stories.
• operative, headquarters, special operations,

hidden camera, mole, debriefing, secret agent,
behind enemy lines, counter-intelligence,
encryption, defection, clandestine, infiltration,
false identity, mission, deep cover, secret
service, surveillance, double agent, transmitting
device
• Clone, teleport, root, extraterrestrial, android,

galactical, starship, alien, space station,
humanoid, portal, hyperspace, UFO, cyborg,
DNA, force field, outer space, Earth-like
• Amulet, omen, magic, enchantment, immortality,

wizard, unicorn, dragon, sorceress, druid,
labyrinth, potion, kingdom, mermaid, warlock,
centaur, goblin, fairy, invisibility, witchcraft, elixir,
spell, oracle, dungeon, realm, dwarf, gorgon
• Corpse, haunted mansion, tomb, supernatural,

nightmare, afterlife, ghoul, ghost, phantom,
graveyard, cemetery, zombie, poltergeist,
paranormal, crypt, curse, living dead, beyond
the grave, macabre, trance, gore, eerie,
apparition
• Heist, witness, forgery, mastermind, motive,

forensics, evidence, incriminate, crime scene,
inspector, thief, prime suspect, manhunt, proof,
clue, accomplice, hunch, profiling ,fingerprint
analysis, alibi, private eye, deduction, confession,
perpetrator
• Quest, villain, gold, gun, fight, greed, legend, fight,

attack, treasure, island, fortune, amp, sabotage,
loot, escapade, horizon, hostile, escape, bandit,
pirate, revenge, action, danger, jewels, weapons,
embark, outcast, sword, daring, discover
• Sunset, roe, sigh, soul, gallant, fascinate, kiss,

fickle, secret, nervous, stare, glimmer, glimpse,
imagine, headstrong, pretty, radiate, torn, feisty,
kind, demure, hidden, scheme, heart, sincere,
sweet, lonely, pout, electrify, lucky, fury,
embrace, cherish
• Gunpowder, cobbler, parasol, galleon, lantern,

frontier, plague, cloak, stagecoach, chariot, inn,
cannon, apothecary, tavern, gown, goblet,
gallows, breeches, petticoat, quill pen, bonnet,
imperial court, lance, robe, telegraph,
candlelight, merchant, parchment

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FICTION

Formula fiction is easily characterized by its special

Based on the given sample vocabularies,

• operative, headquarters, special operations,

• Clone, teleport, root, extraterrestrial, android,

• Amulet, omen, magic, enchantment, immortality,

• Corpse, haunted mansion, tomb, supernatural,

• Heist, witness, forgery, mastermind, motive,

• Quest, villain, gold, gun, fight, greed, legend, fight,

• Sunset, roe, sigh, soul, gallant, fascinate, kiss,

• Gunpowder, cobbler, parasol, galleon, lantern,

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