What are the categories of novels?
There are many types of novels, such as: length, creation year, content subject matter, school of thought, expression form, creation progress, etc.
Length
1. Micro-novel (hundreds to thousands of words)
Novel shorter than short stories is completely in line with the busy life of modern society that is constantly changing. People's reading habits, almost every day you can see people giving a new term and definition to this type of novel. For example, very short stories, short novels, ultra-short stories, micro-information novels, one-minute novels, pack-of-cigarette novels, pocket novels, focus novels, pupil novels, thumb novels, mini-novels, etc. There are too many families to prepare them, and even specialized It is difficult for literary researchers to describe its definitions in detail, and it is easier for ordinary people to confuse them, so I will summarize them here. It is generally believed that the length of a short novel should be less than 2,000 words. Because the subject matter is often a fragment of life experience, it can have a beginning but no tail, a tail without a head, or even a head without a tail. The climax is placed at the end, and it ends immediately as soon as the climax comes out, creating a lingering artistic conception. Since it is shorter than a short story, the words and sentences need to be more concise, and it is better for the author to have a subtle understanding of the subject matter. Although an unexpected ending can attract attention, short articles still need to have foreshadowing and echo, and even more emphasis should be placed on whether it can move readers than giving readers surprises.
2. Short stories (thousands to thirty thousand words)
It is generally believed that novels with a length of several thousand to twenty thousand words will be classified as short stories. Among its characteristics are the so-called three unities: one person, one place, one time, which means reducing the number of characters, narrowing the stage, and shortening the time flowing in the story. In addition, although they often use ink as much as gold, it is generally believed that short stories should still meet the original definition of a novel, that is, they should have sufficient description of details, and they should never be an abbreviation or outline of a long story. The foundations of all novels are not long or short in their early stages of development, but vary with the times. Today's short stories mostly require concise writing and are influenced by the Western concept of the Trinity Law of one time, one place, one thing, which makes them more vivid and detailed, but also limits their development.
3. Novels (30,000 to 60,000 words)
It is generally believed that novels are between 30,000 to 60,000 words in length. There are also a few articles with more than 100,000 words that are counted as medium-length articles rather than full-length articles, depending on the richness of the content of the article. Its capacity, length, number of characters, plot complexity, etc. are all between novels and short stories. It usually only intercepts typical events of a period or a certain period of the protagonist's life to create an image. It reflects a certain aspect of social life and has a complete storyline. The clues are relatively simple, the conflicts and struggles are not as complex as in the novel, and there are fewer characters. Therefore, compared with novels, novellas are easier to master and easier to succeed. Because for those who are new to the creative field, writing long stories is easy to fall into the dilemma of being messy and difficult to wrap up due to too many plots, while writing short stories either has too few turns and is monotonous, or has too many turns and seems crowded. At this time, it is a widely recommended suggestion to consider revising the original idea into a novel.
4. Novel (60,000 or more than 100,000 words)
Generally, novels with 60,000 or more than 100,000 words are considered full-length novels, which can also be subdivided into short novels. Long stories (generally 60,000 to 100,000 words), medium-length stories (generally 100,000 to 3.5 million words), super long stories (generally more than a million words). If the author intended to show the complex relationships common in life, he would have to use this large space. Usually even long novels with a light-hearted tone will have an underlying serious theme, otherwise it can easily become disorganized or chaotic. When writing a novel, first-time readers need to pay most attention to the overall response to the theme, the rigor of the structure, and the avoidance of repeated contradictions or omissions.
Note: The length of the article is not explicitly stipulated, but some novels with a large number of words may be classified into a category with a small number of words according to the richness of the plot content. For example, some novels with more than 100,000, 200,000 to 300,000 words will be classified as The content is too short and is classified as a novella, while some novels with only more than 60,000 words that seem too short will be classified as short novels because the content and plot are very compact.
Era of creation
1. Classical novels
Classical novels sprouted in the pre-Qin Dynasty, developed in the Han Dynasty, took shape in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, formed in the Tang Dynasty, and flourished in the It flourished in the Song and Yuan Dynasties and in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It can be roughly divided into the following periods:
(1) Pre-Qin and Han Dynasties: The myths, legends, fables, and historical biographies that appeared in society at that time became the source of classical novel narratives.
Myths and legends already have two basic elements: characters and plots. Fables and allusions scattered in hundreds of books by various scholars provide reference experience. Historical works have relatively complete structures, characters and historical backgrounds.
(2) Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties: novels about strange people and people appeared. Strictly speaking, this is still not a novel, it can only be regarded as the prototype of a novel. "Shishuoxinyu" is also an excellent work of this period, which collects many short and concise stories.
(3) Tang Dynasty: The development of ancient novels matured and formed an independent literary form - legendary novels. As a result, our country's novels broke away from the historical field and became literary creations. The Three Great Love Legends of the Tang Dynasty are iconic works of this period.
(4) Song and Yuan Dynasties: The development of commodity economy and the rise of market culture brought profound soil for novel creation. The storybooks were processed by literati to form many storytellers and romance novels.
(5) Ming and Qing Dynasties: Novels began to embark on the road of independent creation by literati. During this period, novel writers’ subjective consciousness increased. The emergence of "A Dream of Red Mansions" pushed the development of ancient Chinese novels to a peak and achieved unprecedented achievements. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, countless classic works emerged and spread throughout the world. For example, the four great wonders of the Ming Dynasty ("Journey to the West", "Water Margin", "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "The Plum in the Golden Vase") are written in three words and two parts ("Eternal Words to Awaken the World", "Words to Warn the World", "Essays to Tell the World" and "Surprise at the First Carving"). "Surprise at Two Moments") "A Dream of Red Mansions", "The Scholars", "Lao Can's Travels", "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio", etc. of the Qing Dynasty. Dong Qichang of the Ming Dynasty wrote in his "Preface to the Collected Poems of Yuan Boying (Yuan Kelizi)": "In the past twenty years, I have broken the goblet into a circle, indulged in wide-ranging activities, made my son's history empty and mysterious, and caught the barnyard official's novels, all of which have been used by Tie Kuo."
2. Modern novels
The landmark event for the rise of modern and contemporary novels is the New Culture Movement, which was the forerunner of the May Fourth Movement (time from 1915 to 1919) ), can be roughly divided into four periods:
(1) The first period is the Republic of China period, that is, before 1949, which is the multi-renaissance stage of the novel.
During the Republic of China, especially since the May Fourth Movement, China was invaded by foreign powers, various social ideological trends became popular, and imported culture impacted traditional culture. The development of Chinese novels became diversified, and various novel themes emerged, including modern romance. The origin of the novel Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School appeared at this time. The representative characters in the novel include the six famous figures of "Lu, Guo, Mao, Ba and Lao Cao". The rise of newspapers in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China provided a good stage for novel creation. Newspapers used serialized novels to attract popularity, and novelists earned royalties through newspapers. Almost all famous novelists in modern times started by serializing novels in newspapers, from Zhang Henshui of the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School to contemporary Jin Yong.
(2) The second period is from the founding of the People's Republic of China to the end of the Cultural Revolution, that is, before 1976, which is the class struggle stage of the novel.
The mainland novels of this period have obvious political tendencies. At the same time, the mainland literary youth of this period experienced major life changes, the ups and downs of fate, experiences from multiple perspectives, and thinking about values. , paving the way for the glory of the next period (the life transformation of Mo Yan, China's first Nobel Prize winner in literature, took place during this period). In Hong Kong and Taiwan, romance novels and martial arts novels reached their peak during this period, giving rise to the Qiong Yao Era and the Jin Yong Era respectively.
(3) The third period is the period of more than 20 years after the reform and opening up, that is, before 2003, which is the reflection and transformation stage of the novel.
Mainland novels during this period showed strong vitality. The end of the Cultural Revolution, opening up to the outside world, intellectual emancipation, reflection on the past, yearning for the future, and the collision of tradition and the new era made the novel world There is a flourishing vitality. Post-Cultural Revolution writers such as Mo Yan, Jia Pingwa and Chen Zhongshi created many classic works during this period. Mo Yan won China's first Nobel Prize for Literature in 2012 due to the literary works and influence he created during this period. .
(4) The fourth period is the beginning of the 21st century, which is the "representative" online literature stage of novels.
With the popularization of the Internet, the emergence of online literature has subverted the traditional writing and communication model, making the development of novels more diversified. The new force born in the 80s and 90s began to enter the literary world and demonstrated amazing creative abilities. The overall emergence of the author group represented by Qidian and the author group represented by Jinjiang marks that online novels have become another creative subject besides mainstream literature.
Content and theme
Mythological novels
Novel that relies on the expression of myths or uses myths as themes, which originated from the oral creations of primitive ancestors in ancient times At that time, there appeared a large number of ancient myths about "using imagination or the help of imagination to conquer nature, dominate nature, and visualize natural forces." In fact, these are myths and novels created by humans.
2. Martial arts novels
It can also be called martial arts novels, and can be regarded as male romance and inspirational novels. During the Republic of China, especially since the May Fourth Movement, due to the impact of imported culture, the development of Chinese novels became diversified. Representative figures include the six "Lu Guo Mao Ba Lao Cao" and the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School. In 1930, Li Shoumin began to write in Tianjin's "Tianjin". "Wind News" serialized a long martial arts novel "The Legend of Shushan Swordsman" under the pen name of Huanzhu Louzhu. Since then, a martial arts trend has spread in Southeast Asia.
3. Xianxia novels
The prototype and birth of Xianxia can be said to have originated from martial arts, but it is more prosperous than martial arts. As early as before the Republic of China, martial arts were more realistic, and Huanzhu Louzhu introduced the imaginary queen. Later, the author was inspired by it and turned it into half fictitious and half real, thus entering a period of contention among a hundred schools of thought. Although in the later period of martial arts culture, the style became more and more close to that of immortals and knights. This was a tentative creation, but it was not taken seriously by other martial arts authors at that time, so the immortals and knights remained separated until the appearance of "The Legend of Lingxian Xia" Only then did he officially merge with Xianxia.
4. Detective novels
Detective mystery novels refer to stories that contain enough clues in the description process so that readers can deduce the ending, or they can draw conclusions from the novel without any inference. "Detective" to deduce the ending of the novel. In the early stage of development, it was influenced by the West, and "Hawthorne Detective" appeared. The contemporary work that got rid of Western influence was the emergence of "Game Detective Collection", and criminal investigation is strictly not included, because criminal investigation cannot criticize reality and only serves those in power.
5. Adventure novels
It uses various unusual adventure events as the central clue to describe the story. The protagonist often has extraordinary experiences, encounters and setbacks, and the plot is tense and conflicting. Sharp, thrilling scenes and bizarre content. It is more popular in the West, and the emergence of "Traveler's Adventure" and "Searching for the Dragon" in China has also brought some popularity.
6. Historical novels
Historical novels are usually indistinguishable from military novels. Strictly speaking, historical novels are mainly based on historical records and re-narrate historical figures and events. Most of the historical novels that appear on the Internet are time-travel novels that use ancient Chinese history as the background.
7. Romance novels
Including many, such as harem novels, time travel novels, urban novels, youth campus novels, etc., with the theme of describing love feelings. For example, "Tang Bohu doesn't smell the fragrance of autumn", "The most funny first love in history", etc.
8. Science fiction novels
It is a fantasy novel based on existing scientific theories, not fabricated out of thin air.
9. Horror novels
Use plot or language to scare readers.
10. Fantasy novels
There is a big difference between fantasy novels and science fiction novels. Many of them are wild imaginations, and most of them have more oriental characteristics.
School of ism
Classical novels
Satiric novels
Realistic novels
Critical realist novels
Romantic novels
Naturalistic novels
Formalist novels
Expressionist novels
Existentialist novels
Stream of Consciousness Novel
New School of Novel
Magic Realism
Expression Form
Epistolary Novel< /p>
Diary novel
Dialogue novel
Autobiographical novel
Creative progress
Serial novel
Full novel
The above is my sharing, I hope it is useful to you!