Friday, July 28, 2006

Lesson: Exercise 2 - Genre and Setting

Do you consider genre and setting to be distinct?

If so, what is the difference between them?

If not, what might make something more comfortably described as genre or as setting?

In either case which is more like setting or more like genre, or is it distinct from both?

- All characters speak in poetry

- In any combat, someone must die

- A world where all love is unrequited

- A world in perpetual daylight

- A world in perpetual storm

- During a great war between two nations

- In a warzone

Now that you've thought about genre and setting, think about whether either or both are included under system? Why or why not?

1 comment:

jhkim said...

A genre is a collection of artistic works which have similarities. The points which are the same between the works are the conventions of the genre. These may be things which are within the setting -- but they may also be things which are outside the setting, such as what the title of the work is, the use of language in the story (i.e. always starts with "Once Upon a Time"), when the story ends, and so forth.

The setting is the world within the fiction.

Things can be true within the genre without being true in the setting. For example, a particular subgenre of horror might always be set at night. This doesn't correspond to anything in the setting -- i.e. it's not a world of perpetual darkness, it's just that the stories are set at night.

Genre conventions can specify things about any part of the story: character, situation, setting, or other parts. In a role-playing game, rules can specify genre conventions and/or aspects of setting.