What are the different types of genres? What even is a genre and why are they necessary?

Genres help writers to know what conventions to put into their story but even more important is they help the readers define what books they enjoy reading. Me personally, I love the thrill I get never knowing what could happen next; the secrets; the lies; the twisted minds of the characters involved, playing a game... Because I know I like these conventions I can narrow my reading down to.... Thrillers! And Mystery's! The same genre's I am writing in. There are many other genres than just Thriller and Mystery.

1) Romance, this genre is all about love and the coming together of two people. Usually two people fall in love, then just as everything seems to be going perfectly they are broken apart by something and then in the end they are brought back together. The plot revolves around one or two characters search for love.

2) Action/Adventure, this is a story for those of you who like reading about journeys through different cities and countries. It's also a genre for readers who love fight scenes. The main character is off on a journey or a quest to find something or someone and to achieve their goal they must search far and wide and use their fighting skills continuously along the way.

3) Science Fiction, this is genre that bases itself many years into the future. The setting is always based far into the future where we humans live in space ships or on mars or somewhere that seems impossible now. Usually this genres involves a lot of technology and we see how far technology has advanced but it doesn't have to. It just has to be set far into the future... And if you were raised by scientists like I was you might have also been told something about this genre... The science isn't accurate.

4) Fantasy, if you love your wizards, hobbits and make believe worlds where anything could happen and any kind of creature could exist... That is what fantasy is all about. Fantasy takes you away into the impossible. The author's imagination gets to run wild and the reader is able to search through all the impossibilities that have suddenly become possible.

5) Thriller, This genre is the king of cliffhangers, secrets, murders, twisted thinking and it tends to dark themes. Thrillers make you question what is about to happen to next, it makes you think the 'bad guy' is about to grab the protagonist by the throat but at the very last minute... Something even worse happens.

6) New Adult, this genre confuses me a little as I believe it falls under the category of romance yet it is it's own genre. This genre does tend to be more erotic than regular romance though. It is classified as new adult as it revolves around themes like leaving home for the first time, having sex for the first time, it has a lot to do with first times. It also falls into the genre Erotica.

7) Horror, the land of jump scars and being terrified to discover what's been lurking around the corner. This genre is scary and will leave you with nightmares. Stephen King is the King of this genre (do you like my pun?). These books are filled with murder, murderer's and death.

8) Mystery, Who dunnit? Where is it? All the questions will be answered at the end of the book after you the reader has untangled the fact from the fiction and discovered what really happened on that fateful night. Mystery's are full of secrets and lies. The reader plays a game as they read the story to see if they can guess who did the criminal act (usually a murder but it doesn't have to be) before the end of the book.

9) Crime, this is all about police and the law. Someone crosses the law and they must be trialed and taken to court. In the end the baddy is either jailed or killed... Generally. I'm not so familiar with crime as it's not a genre I read often. Crime is a genre that is focussing on the police or lawyers and how they do their job.

10) Historical, this genre is all about what happened years and years ago. Let's say 1900's or even 1800's. To be classified as a historical fiction it must be set in a time before the book is written. Many historical fiction novels are set around war but they don't have to.

11) Literary, this genre focuses more on the prose and the message the author is trying to send to the reader. These books also tend to be warnings for the future from the author but they are not so worried about story. This is not a genre you snuggle up on the couch and a hot chocolate with, this isn't a story as much beautiful words sown together on the page that sometimes say something very powerful and sometimes say nothing at all.

Many authors mix and match which genre's the write in, some common examples are Historical Romance; Sci-fi/Fantasy and mine two genres: Mystery/Thriller. Go crazy with picking genres, don't box yourself in with only one genre and not letting any others seep into your novel. It's okay to mix and match. One word of warning though it is hard to keep readers if you are constantly switching genres each time you write a book so pick as many genres as you want to write within a book but when it comes to multiple books and building your brand...Consistency is key.