There are so many decisions you must make regarding your novel. What is your character’s name? Who are their friends and enemies? How are they going to get through the plot in one piece? The most important decision you will need to make about your novel, though, is deciding what fiction genre it is going to be in.

Dictionary.com defines genre as “a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique, or the like.” In the case of fiction writing, genre is the category your novel falls in, e.g. romance, science fiction, or horror. Each category focuses on a particular theme and requires a certain type of content to fit that theme and fulfill the expectations of the reader.