astercontrol:

the-bar-sinister:

It’s fascinating as an adult to realize that fantasy isn’t my favorite genre at all.

My favorite genres are

• crime
• mystery
• horror
• romance

and I really only like fantasy as a setting/backdrop.

I’ve thought about this before– how there is a distinct difference between “genre” in terms of plot and “genre” in terms of setting–

and fantasy and science fiction are very setting-focused “genres.” If not in terms of how the actual world looks and feels, then in terms of what kinds of things are treated as possible within the world the story’s set in

And any plot-focused genre – mystery, horror, crime, romance, for example – can occur within a sci-fi or fantasy world, with their own elements very much influenced by the rules of that world

but these are two wholly different types of genre, overlapping and coexisting because they serve different purposes for the narrative