101 Themes, Subgenres, and Story Conventions

101 Themes, Subgenres, and Story Conventions

This expansive list contains 101 themes, subgenres, and story conventions that writers can explore in short stories and novels. The list ranges from broad categories like “coming-of-age” and “animal transformation” to subtypes or subgenres like “addiction recovery” and “campus novel.” These varied labels offer a glimpse into the endless possibilities for fictional narratives. For writers unsure where their tale may lead, perusing a list like this could spark inspiration on potential directions. Even for authors with a clear trajectory planned, reading through these creative conventions can still prove worthwhile to appreciate the diversity of creative forms. Whatever one’s familiarity with fiction writing, this compilation has something to offer every reader. These 101 ideas showcase the boundless breadth of storytelling traditions, and with any luck, they may kindle promising new narrative concepts. Most importantly, may these themes ignite your imagination and love of writing.

1. Addiction/recovery arc – The protagonist journeys from substance addiction to sobriety and maturity.
2. Afterlife journey – A protagonist experiences revelations about life through a metaphorical afterlife voyage.
3. Afterlife story – A glimpse of the afterlife profoundly changes the protagonist’s view of life.
4. Animal transformation – The protagonist metaphorically develops by magically transforming into an animal that represents their inner state.
5. Apprenticeship novel – The protagonist learns a trade or occupation through hands-on work experience and a mentor-mentee relationship.
6. Awakening story – The protagonist gains greater awareness about life, society, or themselves.
7. Biopunk story – Experimental biological or genetic modifications impact the protagonist.
8. Boarding school novel – Stories exploring socialization, competition, friendship, bullying, authority, rules, and adolescence within boarding school settings.
9. Breaking away story – The protagonist rebels against traditions and expectations to seek freedom.
10. Cautionary tale – The protagonist’s flaws and poor choices lead to a moral downfall, acting as a warning.
11. Campus novel – Stories taking place at university settings where college life signifies the protagonist’s transition to adulthood.
12. Catharsis story – The protagonist achieves psychological release and restoration through an intense experience.
13. Changeling story – The protagonist discovers they were secretly switched at birth and must adapt.
14. Chosen one story – An unlikely protagonist discovers they have a special destiny or chosen fate to fulfill.
15. Coming of technology story – New technology radically disrupts and changes the protagonist’s world.
16. Coming-of-age – Stories about a young person’s transition into adulthood. May depict psychological, moral, and social maturation.
17. Corruption story – An innocent protagonist loses naivete through exposure to harsh realities.
18. Counterculture story – The protagonist rejects mainstream values and conventions on their personal journey.
19. Descent into madness story – The protagonist’s mental state deteriorates into psychosis or insanity.
20. Disillusionment story – The protagonist loses naive idealism and optimism through experience.
21. Ecofiction – Speculative stories exploring environmental collapse, climate change, and human impact.
22. Education novel – Stories in which the protagonist’s formal schooling features prominently in their personal growth and maturation.
23. Emancipation stories – The protagonist gains independence, often through coming of age, overcoming adversity, or escaping constraint.
24. Empowerment story – The protagonist gains agency, strength, confidence, or freedom.
25. Entwicklungsroman – A German term also referring to coming-of-age stories focused on the development of the protagonist.
26. Epiphany story – The protagonist achieves a sudden insight or realization that changes their worldview.
27. Erziehungsroman – A German term for novels of education focused on the systematic schooling and formal education of the protagonist.
28. Escape story – The protagonist breaks free of an oppressive or confining situation through determination.
29. Failure story – The protagonist fails to attain social success but gains inner wisdom.
30. Fall from grace story – The respected protagonist falls into disgrace through moral lapses.
31. Fall from innocence – A tragic event or trauma ends the protagonist’s naive youthful outlook.
32. Family saga – The protagonist’s development unfolds over generations through a family history narrative.
33. Fallen hero story – A respected hero falls into disgrace or corruption.
34. Feminine maturity story – The female protagonist actualizes her identity and potential as a woman.
35. Fish out of water – An ingénu protagonist is thrust into an unfamiliar social environment, gaining worldliness.
36. First contact story – The protagonist encounters alien life, changing their worldview.
37. Forced maturity story – Harsh circumstances force the child protagonist to grow up quickly.
38. Gap year novel – Stories in which the protagonist takes a year off between high school and college to travel abroad, volunteer, work, or find themselves.
39. Ghost story – Supernatural entities return from the dead to haunt the living.
40. Gymnasium novel – Stories set in boarding schools and focused on adolescence and school experiences shaping the protagonist’s coming-of-age.
41. Haunting story – The protagonist is menaced by a supernatural or psychological haunting presence.
42. Healing story – The protagonist overcomes psychological, spiritual or physical brokenness and becomes whole.
43. Immigrant experience – The protagonist adapts to a new culture and comes of age as they find their place in a new homeland.
44. Initiation story – Stories chronicling a childhood event that signifies a loss of innocence and first step toward adulthood.
45. Initiation through nature – The protagonist achieves maturation through challenging encounters and rites of passage in nature settings.
46. Künstlerroman – A German term for narratives about an artist’s growth to maturity and mastery of their artform.
47. Learning by teaching story – A mentor imparts wisdom to a pupil, but learns themselves in the process.
48. Loss of innocence – Stories that depict formative experiences that shatter the protagonist’s naiveté and ignorance of the adult world.
49. Magical realism – Realistic fiction subtly infused with hints of fantasy, myth, and magic.
50. Masculine maturity story – The male protagonist proves his manhood by overcoming challenges.
51. Metamorphosis story – The protagonist undergoes a profound physical or mental change.
52. Mind swap story – The protagonist switches bodies/minds with someone and gains new perspective.
53. Monster transformation – A monster or beast transforms into human form after moral growth.
54. Overcoming disability – The protagonist transcends limitations of a disability through perseverance and inner strength.
55. Portrait of the artist – Stories highlighting the intellectual, aesthetic, and emotional development of a young artist or writer.
56. Psychological thriller – The protagonist’s precarious mental state heightens the tension and stakes.
57. Puberty novel – Stories emphasizing puberty as the primary symbolic marker of adolescence and growing up.
58. Quest for identity – The protagonist seeks to discover their authentic self, origins, purpose.
59. Quest novel – Coming-of-age stories structured around the protagonist’s search for identity, meaning, and purpose in life.
60. Quarterlife crisis novel – Stories about 20-somethings going through identity struggles in early adulthood and their late 20s.
61. Rags to riches – The protagonist transcends poverty and low social status through hard work or luck.
62. Rebirth story – Through a symbolic death and rebirth, the protagonist starts life anew.
63. Recovery story – The protagonist overcomes addiction or illness through inner strength.
64. Redemption story – A morally flawed protagonist atones for mistakes and is redeemed.
65. Regression story – The protagonist becomes more childlike in response to trauma.
66. Reluctant hero story – An ordinary protagonist who lacks heroic qualities is forced to rise to an occasion.
67. Revenge story – The protagonist seeks vengeance for a past wrong, achieving a symbolic victory.
68. Revelation story – The protagonist achieves a sudden spiritual, philosophical or personal revelation that changes their outlook.
69. Reverse monster transformation – A human transforms into a monster as a result of moral decline.
70. Riches to rags – The wealthy protagonist loses status and wealth but gains wisdom.
71. Riddle – A question poem posing a puzzle or conundrum to be solved. Riddles frequently have metaphorical language.
72. Rite of passage – The protagonist undergoes a significant ritual event that marks their transition to adulthood.
73. Robinsonade – The resourceful protagonist survives alone in nature against the odds.
74. Sacrifice story – The protagonist gives up something important to achieve a greater purpose or benefit others.
75. Secret origin story – The protagonist discovers secrets that explain their own forgotten origins.
76. Self-actualization – Stories highlighting the protagonist’s journey to fully realize and fulfill their potential.
77. Self-discovery – Coming-of-age stories emphasizing the protagonist’s inner journey of self-realization and actualization.
78. Self-discovery in nature – The protagonist achieves insights and maturity through encounters in natural settings.
79. Shapeshifter story – The protagonist transforms between human and animal form.
80. Slice of life – Impressionistic glimpses into everyday events, characters, and settings.
81. Social justice story – The protagonist finds their voice and purpose through fighting inequality.
82. Social transition – Stories underscoring social advancement, often through education and class mobility, as part of the maturation process.
83. Societal integration – Stories highlighting the protagonist finding their place in society through rites of passage into adulthood.
84. Southern gothic – Dark stories of the American South featuring eccentric, grotesque, or flawed characters.
85. Sports story – The protagonist accomplishes a symbolic “win” through sports achievement parallel to their psychological growth.
86. Stories of nostalgia – The protagonist reflects wistfully on idealized childhood experiences before coming of age.
87. Stories of vocation – The protagonist searches for and sometimes finds their calling in a particular career, trade, or creative passion.
88. Success story – The protagonist achieves outward conventional success through determination.
89. Superhero origin story – The protagonist gains superpowers and decides to use them for good or ill.
90. Survival story – The protagonist is forced to tap into inner strength and maturity to survive an ordeal.
91. Temptation story – The protagonist is led astray by temptation but ultimately resists through inner strength.
92. Tested faith story – Protagonist’s beliefs are challenged but ultimately reaffirmed.
93. Time travel story – The protagonist travels to the past or future and returns transformed.
94. Tragedy – The protagonist experiences a catastrophic downfall through their own flaws and mistakes.
95. Transformation story – The protagonist experiences a radical inner change in personality, outlook, or way of being.
96. Travel story – The protagonist gains worldliness and growth through journeys to unfamiliar places.
97. Trials of conscience story – The protagonist faces a moral dilemma that tests their conscience.
98. Underdog story – A disadvantaged protagonist beats the odds and finds success through perseverance.
99. Voyage and return – The protagonist journeys to an unfamiliar realm and returns home matured by the odyssey.
100. War and trauma – Warfront events force the protagonist to confront mature themes like mortality, violence, despair.
101. Youth culture – Stories exploring the peer socialization, conventions, and dynamics of youth culture.

It is my sincere hope that this extensive compilation of literary traditions proves valuable for writers in some way. Perhaps it will spark a promising direction for your work, offer insights into developing your craft, or simply provide an engaging read about the art of storytelling.

This list represents a trove of creative possibilities. Whatever your current project or process, immersing yourself in these diverse narrative forms may unveil unexpected connections or innovations to explore. Even just reading for pleasure, many find these conventions interesting windows into the literary imagination.

I welcome any feedback on this resource in the comments below. Please share if you found these genres and themes helpful, thought-provoking, or inspiring in some way. Knowing what resonates most with readers enables me to better serve the writing community. My aim is to facilitate your storytelling journey however I can.

Above all, I hope these narrative traditions ignite your passion for the written word. May they galvanize you to cultivate your own creative voice and contribute it to this living literary lineage. If so, I will consider this endeavor a success. Please do share your thoughts and let me know if this list sparks your imagination. Wishing you the best in your writing! We also have a lot more writing tips on our site.