Online fiction can be classified by story length, including short stories, novellas, and novels. Flash fiction and nanoism are also popular genres. Traditional genres like romance, thriller, and science fiction exist online, as well as niche genres like dystopia and space westerns. The ease of online publishing has led to a variety of styles and genres.
There are many different types of fiction online and they can be classified in a variety of different ways. The lengths of the various stories available online can be used to classify them as a short story, novel, novella, flash fiction, or even “nanoism.” Additionally, one can find different genres of fiction online, going beyond the familiar genres of romance, thriller, science fiction, fantasy, and drama. Different genres found in online writing can also include post-apocalyptic, steampunk, and space opera. It could be argued that the ease of online publishing has led to this myriad of different styles and genres.
The simplest method of classifying types of fiction online is by story length. There are short stories, novellas, novellas, and novellas online, the same kinds of stories that are also familiar in the world of printed fiction. Short stories are generally considered stories between 1,000 and 7,500 words, novellas between 7,500 and 20,000 words, novellas between 20,000 and 50,000 words, and novels are anything longer. These story types can be used to classify the various types of online fiction.
More Internet-specific fiction genres dictated by length include flash fiction and nanoism, or microfiction. Flash fiction as a type of online fiction is anything between 100 and 1000 words in length. Generally, this lends itself to a succinct narrative and is often published quite easily due to the small amount of space and resources it requires. Nanoism or microfiction is anything less than 100 words. These are really sparse stories, and some are even published in the 140 characters allowed by social networking site Twitter.
Genre is an effective way to classify most fiction and will give readers a clearer idea of what a piece of fiction online will be like. Traditional story genres still survive online, such as romance, mystery, science fiction, thriller, fantasy, and drama. Science fiction, for example, is usually set in the future and can feature different alien races and futuristic technology. Mystery stories usually center around a crime or bizarre event that the story is dedicated to uncovering.
The ease of publishing fiction online has probably led to the evolution of a myriad of various specific genres of fiction. Some online fiction genres include niche genres such as dystopia, steampunk, space opera, and space westerns. Dystopia stories are set in a futuristic and nightmarish world like the one found in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. Space westerns are essentially westerns, like classic movies, but set in space, and therefore have a clear connection to science fiction.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
