Research Index — Writing Genres, Styles & Emerging Techniques
Created: April 2026 (first pass) Role: Working palette for novel development. When Mick brings an idea, this folder should let us quickly say: “This lives in X subgenre, conventions are Y, moves Z are over-used; here’s a contrarian angle.”
Files in This Folder
Market & Genre Overviews
| File | Topic | Status | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
market-overview-2026.md | Adult fiction market health, revenue share, publishing pipeline shifts, saturation vs green-light map | ✅ Complete | Industry data through 2025–2026; genre rankings with trend arrows |
romance-romantasy.md | Romance as core genre + romantasy as dominant subgenre; horror-romance hybrids | ✅ Complete | Sales data ($610M), subgenre breakdown, structural conventions, saturation signals |
thriller-crime-mystery.md | Psychological thriller dominance 2025; crime procedural; mystery vs thriller distinction | ✅ Complete | 2025 standout titles + themes; agent wishlists; social-critique-through-thriller trend |
horror-2026.md | Horror resurgence; subgenres (psychological, cosmic, folk, cozy, fem-gore); horromance | ✅ Complete | Reader psychology (safe fear/dopamine), key voices, upcoming 2026 titles |
scifi-fantasy-overview.md | Core fantasy + sci-fi subgenres; space opera revival; hard vs soft sf | ✅ Complete | Non-romantasy fantasy breakdown; cli-fi bridge; collector edition culture |
eco-climate-fiction.md | Climate fiction spectrum: thriller → solarpunk → eco-horror → literary eco-fiction | ✅ Complete | NYPL 2025 list, solarpunk community, under-served angles (humor+climate, romance+cli-fi) |
historical-fiction.md | Period hot/cold map; hidden history trend; WWII saturation warning | ✅ Complete | 18th/19th century hot; 1930–2010 tough sell; structural conventions |
ya-middle-grade.md | YA market (28.9B by 2034); age bracket shifts; genre-blending dominance | ✅ Complete | Netflix pipeline driver, mental health narratives, saturation risks |
lgbtq-fiction.md | Queer fiction across all genres; fanfic pipeline influence; joy vs trauma-first | ✅ Complete | Market growth drivers, structural notes for authentic queer interiority |
Styles & Techniques
| File | Topic | Status | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
prose-styles-and-craft.md | POV systems (close 3rd, 1st, 2nd, omniscient); prose density styles (sparse/lyrical/dense/journalistic); dialogue density patterns; pacing patterns | ✅ Complete | Annotated examples per style; pitfall warnings; genre-fit mapping |
experimental-narrative-forms.md | Serialization revival (Substack), mixed-media novels, AI-aware narratives, post-irony/tonal hybridization, identity-first narratives, antinovel tradition | ✅ Complete | Substack data (5.5M MAU); key experimental works; practical techniques usable in plain text |
What We Know Well (First Pass)
- Genre market landscape through 2026 — revenue share, growth rates, what’s hot/saturated/under-served
- Romantasy as the dominant commercial force — mechanics, reader psychology, subgenre shifts, indie-vs-trad dynamics
- Thriller/crime/mystery conventions and current social-critique direction — 2025 standouts + agent wishlists
- Horror resurgence and subgenre map — fem-gore, cozy horror, horromance, folk horror
- POV systems with annotated examples — when to use close 3rd vs 1st vs omniscient
- Prose density styles — sparse/minimalist, lyrical/poetic, dense/maximalist, journalistic
- Serialization revival — Substack as the new Dickens platform; format strengths/weaknesses
- Post-irony and tonal hybridization — current mood in Gen Z/Millennial fiction; post-post-irony shift toward sincerity
- Climate/ecofiction spectrum — from thriller to solarpunk to eco-horror
What Needs Deeper Research (Next Passes)
Priority 1 — Genre Deep Dives We’ve Gleaned Thin
- Literary Fiction / Upmarket — we have market data but no deep analysis of what constitutes “literary” quality, prize circuit trends, or the upmarket fiction space (genre mechanics + literary prose). Action: dedicated file mapping literary fiction craft standards and current prize winners.
- Non-Fictionadjacent Forms — autofiction, creative nonfiction bleeding into fiction territory, essay-fiction hybrids (Sven Birkerts, Heidi Julavits model). Action: research autofiction boom 2024–2026.
- Asian/Translated Fiction Wave — “healing fiction” from Japan/Korea; what’s structurally distinctive about these narratives? Action: deep dive into translated fiction trends and structural analysis.
Priority 2 — Technique Deep Dives
- Dialogue Craft — we have density patterns but not actual technique (subtext, rhythm in conversation, regional dialect handling, silence as dialogue). Action: dedicated dialogue craft file with examples from top writers.
- Worldbuilding Methodologies — for speculative fiction, how do successful authors embed worldbuilding without info-dumps? Action: research specific techniques (showing through action, environmental storytelling, etc.).
- Character Voice Development — systematic approach to creating distinct character voices beyond “the witty one” and “the quiet one.” Action: voice differentiation techniques file.
Priority 3 — Emerging Areas
- AI-Assisted Writing Ethics & Reader Reception — how are readers responding? Are there “AI-written” bestsellers that succeeded despite origin? What’s the disclosure landscape?
- Interactive Fiction Renaissance — Twine, Choice of Games, AI-powered interactive stories. Not our primary domain but worth tracking for structural innovation.
- Short Story/Anthology Market — are short fiction collections selling? Are they building author platforms? How does serial短篇小说 differ from novel serialization?
Priority 4 — Comparative Analysis
- “Moves That Are Over-Used” catalog — across all genres, what narrative devices have become cliché? (e.g., unreliable narrator with hidden twin, chosen one prophecy, trauma-dump first chapter)
- Contrarian Angle Generator — for each major genre, what’s the opposite of convention that would actually work? (e.g., horror without a threat, romance without attraction, thriller without suspense)
How to Use This Folder
- Mick brings an idea → identify primary genre + hybrid elements
- Check the relevant genre file for conventions, reader expectations, saturation risks
- Check prose-styles-and-craft.md for voice/POV/density options that serve the story
- Check experimental-narrative-forms.md if the idea benefits from structural innovation
- Synthesize: “This lives in X subgenre, conventions are Y, moves Z are over-used; contrarian angle could be W”
Next session targets: Literary fiction deep dive + autofiction analysis + dialogue craft techniques. Then: translated fiction wave + worldbuilding methodologies + “over-used moves” catalog.