Fiction Writing Site
	Elsa Neal BellaOnline's Fiction Writing Editor

Is your story Science Fiction or Fantasy?
The Science Fiction and Fantasy genres are very often blurred, and, if you don´t set out with the intention of deliberately writing one or the other genre, it can be difficult to categorise a story that has elements of both genres.

Setting goals for your writing career
Before you start contacting agents and publishers, and ideally before you even take the plunge with that first book, it's worth taking some time to think about what you want from your writing career. Are you going to stick with the same genre, or are you a multi-genre writer?

Writing Fantasy
The Fantasy genre is pure escapism. Very often the author creates an entirely new universe or world, unique to their story, in which they make the rules and determine the mechanics of existence, behaviour, and interaction.

Writing for escapism
While some writers like to stick to realism, others prefer a fiction world that bears little resemblance to real life. The most straightforward themes and concepts, like love, hope, fear, and friendship, have new territory to cover when they are explored in a world with different rules to ours.

Writing Horror
The Horror genre provides us with a safe and controlled way in which to face our fears and Halloween is a great time to think about writing some horror stories, even if it's not the genre you usually work in.

Writing Mysteries
The appeal of mystery stories lies in their ability to make the reader feel both clever and baffled by the story. This also makes it a tricky genre to write, because the reader must be satisfied that there was sufficient information for him to solve the mystery, but still be surprised.

Writing Romance
Romance is a very popular genre with a large readership base eagerly on the look out for new books, both by established and new authors. In addition, romance often forms a sub-plot for very many stories regardless of their genre.