Wattpad genres definitions

I was looking for a list of Wattpad genres definitions, but I couldn't find one. So, this is the result of a small research (mainly on Wikipedia) that may be useful for you, too. I also made some graphics for I needed them for a facebook group where we share our Wattpad stories.

Adventure fiction is fiction that usually presents danger, or gives the reader a sense of excitement.
(Wikipedia)

Science fiction – story based on the impact of actual, imagined, or potential science, often set in the future or on other planets.
(Wikipedia)

Fantasy - fiction in an unreal setting that often includes magic, magical creatures, or the supernatural. (Wikipedia)

Paranormal fiction is a genre of fiction whose storylines revolve around the paranormal - purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as beyond normal experience or scientific explanation..
(Wikipedia)

Vampire / Werewolves
(These ones are separated genres on Wattpad, I put them together because they're strictly related.)
Werewolf fiction denotes the portrayal of werewolves and other shapeshifting man/woman-beasts.
Vampire literature covers the spectrum of literary work concerned principally with the subject of vampires.
(Wikipedia)

Horror – fiction in which events evoke a feeling of dread and sometimes fear in both the characters and the reader.
(Wikipedia)

Suspense/thriller – fiction about harm about to befall a person or group and the attempts made to evade the harm.
Mystery – fiction dealing with the solution of a crime or the revealing of secrets.
(Wikipedia)

Action fiction is the literary genre that includes spy novels, adventure stories, tales of terror and intrigue ("cloak and dagger"), and mysteries. This kind of story utilizes suspense, the tension that is built up when the reader wishes to know how the conflict between the protagonist and antagonist is going to be resolved or what the solution to the puzzle of a thriller is.
(Wikipedia)

Humor – usually a fiction full of fun, fancy, and excitement, meant to entertain and sometimes cause intended laughter; but can be contained in all genres.
(Wikipedia)

Chick lit or chick literature is genre fiction, which "consists of heroine-centered narratives that focus on the trials and tribulations of their individual protagonists". The genre often addresses issues of modern womanhood – from romantic relationships to female friendships to matters in the workplace – in humorous and lighthearted ways.
(Wikipedia)

Romance - novels of this type of genre fiction place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending."
(Wikipedia)

Spiritual - books revolving around a belief in a supernatural (beyond the known and observable) realm, personal growth, a quest for an ultimate or sacred meaning, religious experience or an encounter with one's own "inner dimension".

 Poetry - a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language—such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre—to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, the prosaic ostensible meaning.
(Wikipedia)

 

Classic - fiction that has become part of an accepted literary canon, widely taught in schools. (Wikipedia)

General fiction - fiction other than genre fiction. This usually means slice-of-life or literary fiction.
(Quora)

Historical fiction – story with fictional characters and events in a historical setting.
(Wikipedia)

The best definition I could find for teen fiction this was Young adult fiction (YA) - a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate with the age and experience of the protagonist. The genres available in YA are expansive and include most of those found in adult fiction. Common themes related to YA include friendship, first love, relationships, and identity. Stories that focus on the specific challenges of youth are sometimes referred to as problem novels or coming-of-age novels.
(Wikipedia)

Fan fiction or fanfiction (also abbreviated to fan fic, fanfic, fic or ff) is a type of fictional text written by fans of any work of fiction where the author uses established characters, settings, and/or other intellectual properties from an original creator as a basis for their writing. Fan fiction ranges from a couple of sentences to an entire novel, and fans can both keep the creator's characters and settings or add their own. Fan fiction is a form of fan labor.
(Wikipedia)

Non-Fiction includes:
    Biography  – a narrative of a person's life; when the author is also the main subject, this is an autobiography or memoir
    Essay  – a short literary composition that reflects the author's outlook or point
    Owner's manual (also Instruction manual, User's guide)  – an instructional book or booklet that is supplied with consumer products such as vehicles, home appliances, toys and computer peripherals
    Journalism – reporting on news and current events
    Lab report  – a report of an experiment
    Memoir  – factual story that focuses on a significant relationship between the writer and a person, place, or object; reads like a short novel
    Narrative nonfiction/personal narrative  – factual information about a significant event presented in a format that tells a story
    Reference book  – such as a dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, almanac, or atlas
    Self-help book  – information with the intention of instructing readers on solving personal problems
    Speech  – public address or discourse
    Textbook  – authoritative and detailed factual description of a thing
(Wikipedia)

Short story – fiction of great brevity, usually supports no subplots.
(Wikipedia)

Random - any other category can be included here (graphic services, contests, comics...).

Are today's societies more superficial than in the past?

One's own possessions may seem to be considered more than personal virtues in nowadays societies. Advertisement focuses more on the items or services it’s selling, instead that on family and other values as in the middles fifties, for instance. Another example for this revolves around the length of relationships, which appear to be much shorter than before. In addition, a tendency to change partners and friends and to care less about families and elders may be observed. By contrast, other factors should be taken into consideration. Firstly, different cultures promote values that may vary significantly, so no generalisation should be done. For example, Scandinavian countries are known to care much more about collectivity than South European countries do. Secondly, past societies can be recalled to represent individualism and luxury as much as today's world could be. For instance, Europe in 1800 was usually criticised for its superficiality; French aristocrats spent more money than they could afford to buy status symbols many centuries before; even Ancient Romans are agreed to have been very item-oriented rather than virtue-promoting. Thirdly, some virtues such as honesty and honour are promoted by films and music and other important media. Love and heroes are among the most important themes considered in screenplays. Lastly, there are individual differences that should be taken into consideration, because personality traits cannot easily be influenced. In particular, altruism and empathy are scientifically proved to be intrinsically human, even though small categories of people are not able to feel them.

In conclusion, all considered, seeing a growing insensitiity and egoism in humans is not correct.

L'amore esiste?

Scientificamente parlando, l'amore (attaccamento a persone che scatenano in noi produzione di serotonina, dopamina e ossitocina) esiste per chiunque non sia sociopatico sin da quando nasciamo, e non è necessariamente bidirezionale. Per estensione lo proviamo anche da adulti, in forme molteplici.

Romanticamente parlando, l'amore (legame duraturo in una coppia) è esistito per molte coppie: nonni che rimangono insieme per decenni, relazioni che sono rimaste segnate nella storia per la loro forza, coppie di parenti o persone famose che vediamo scambiarsi affetto dopo tanto tempo che stanno insieme. Se esista "per tutti", chi lo sa. Quel che credo è che si dia troppa importanza al fenomeno (sempre in senso relazionale), come se un partner "giusto" potesse essere una cura per qualsiasi problema e quindi è qualcosa a cui dobbiamo ambire. È giusto che non interessi a tutti. Ed è sempre giusto amare se stessi in primo luogo (in modo equilibrato) per poi poter entrare, eventualmente, in relazioni sane - ma questo viene confuso con l'egoismo, e quindi non venduto, bensì quasi nascosto, come un difetto.

Letture di luglio!

"Carol / The price of salt", Patricia Highsmith.

Ho scoperto quest'autrice grazie alla iRead challenge 2019 (facebook), che imponeva di aggiungere alla lista un libro che parlasse di omosessualità. Ho così indagato sulla sua vita e sul genere di opera che scriveva, scoprendo di avere tra le mani un manoscritto importante per la letteratura in generale e per lei. Talvolta mi pareva di entrare nell'intimità di Highsmith, talvolta mi sembrava tutto estremamente cupo e inquietante... il che, forse, è un po' come dire la stessa cosa. Un'atmosfera che non mi ha fatta sentire molto a mio agio con l'opera nel suo complesso. Così, non saprei dire quanto mi sia piaciuta. Direi che ho amato poco i personaggi, perché non mi sono affezionata a loro, anche se la psicologia era molto interessante e Richard mi ha colpita in ogni momento della trama, nel bene e nel male. La storia, invece, mi è piaciuta molto, perché consentiva di trattare il tema sotto molti aspetti e di vedere anche qualcosa in più. Quello che ho maggiormente apprezzato sono state le metafore: elementi della storia che sembravano non avere alcun significato fino a che non realizzavo che invece erano essenziali per far comprendere i pensieri, le paure e le dinamiche fra i suoi attori. Il modo di scrivere mi ha incupita, come dicevo, ma anche rattristata ed elettrizzata insieme ai suoi protagonisti (o meglio, alle sue protagoniste); alla fine ho sentito di aver ben speso il mio tempo impiegandolo nella lettura di questa storia (anche perché in inglese, quindi è stato doppiamente fruttuoso).

"La tua Africa", Luca Goldoni.

Ho scoperto questo libro per caso, fra i vecchi libri dei miei genitori. Non so se lo avrei letto, non fosse stato per l'iRead challenge 2019; in ogni caso, sono felice di averlo fatto.
L'Africa non mi ha mai affascinata particolarmente; anche se negli ultimi anni mi sono interessata di antropologia e zoologia, non credo che visiterei questo Continente. Luca Goldoni, invece, ha sempre desiderato andarci e lo ha visto sotto diversi punti di vista: quello del turista - è stato in alberghi, safari, oasi, villaggi "turistici"; quello del giornalista - era lì per lavorare, e intervistava, indagava su questioni politiche ed economiche; e, attraverso gli occhi che gli prestava il suo mestiere, quello del missionario, della guida, del pilota, del farmer. È grazie a queste esperienze che ci troviamo di fronte a un libro sicuramente pieno di entusiasmo eppure obiettivo, che trasmette le bellezze, le tradizioni, le possibilità, le contraddizioni del Kenia. È un libro molto bello, perché ricco di emozione, di curiosità, di informazioni e consigli per coloro che amano il mondo. Cosa comporta attraversare l'Africa? Chi si verrà a incontrare? Cosa significa visitarla, ma soprattutto cosa significa viverla davvero? Sarebbe possibile viverci, e come? Molto si viene a imparare attraverso questi brevi capitoli ricchi di impressioni scritti da un'ottima penna.
Vorrei tanto sapere con questo stesso sguardo com'è il Kenia, com'è l'Africa, adesso.

"Tao te Ching", Lao Tsu.

Non sapevo si trattasse di un'opera fondamentale per Taoismo e Buddhismo quando l'ho scaricato: semplicemente, cercando letture interessanti sul sito Liberliber (per scaricare libri gratuitamente in modo legale), ne ho visto il titolo e mi sono resa conto di non aver mai letto opere orientali prima (questo avveniva prima che leggessi Kitchen). Sono stata sorpresa di non trovare questo libro nell'elenco dei cento libri più influenti nella storia del mondo stilato dal Guardian.
Una lettura sicuramente illuminante, che mostra pensieri poetici, estremamente saggi, esposti a mo' di preghiere. Mi è venuta voglia di impararne alcuni passi a memoria, per il grande significato che racchiudono. Non lo indicherei come un libro che sia possibile leggere in un giorno (anche se la iRead challenge lo richiede), perché in realtà è un libro che andrebbe letto tutti i giorni, almeno per quanto riguarda alcuni "capitoli". Il "Tao" è infatti la via per la moralità, ma anche per trovare armonia con se stessi e con il mondo, attraverso la calma e la semplicità. Una filosofia che, al pari di quella buddhista (di cui avevo letto qualcosa qui), mi piace molto ed è in linea con il mio modo di essere. Molto bello, anche se talvolta mi sembra lontano dalla realtà.

Sports in school: yes or no?

Physical Education is very discussed as a school subject. In some countries, like in China, it is considered to be less important than academic subjects; in other countries it is held as a relevant part of school life, as in the United States of America.
One of the main arguments against Physical Education being taught is the time it subtracts to other activities, like technical and literary subjects. Furthermore, in such a globalised world there is growing competition, which demands much more academic competencies to our children. However, many studies have provided strong evidence for physical activity as an enhancer of school performances, as the old motto "mens sana in corpore sano" stated. Also, sports are proved to be a very effective way to reduce stress, helping concentration and improving mental health.
Those who support the unimportance of physical activity in school affirm that parents should be responsible of their children exercise. Whereas, facts show that at home children usually are sedentary, above all for what girls are concerned: only ten percent of girls spend more than three hours a week in a physical activity. Furthermore, sometimes youngsters don't even have safe places where to play, whereas schools are generally fenced and controlled.
Another argument against Physical Education is that some children don't like it. Otherwise, others may find their future in physical activity. Besides, games are one of the best ways to learn, and many soft skills and social rules can be learnt while playing sports.
In summary, many people think that Physical Education shouldn't be taught in school or that it should at least be reduced as other subjects are more important for future life. However, exercise not only helps studying but it also teaches some soft skills useful for future life. I personally believe that it is important not to leave sports out of the educational system.