The Final Rewrite

15 Formula but Not Formulaic

DOI: 10.4324/9781003161578-16

This chapter considers genre as another significant aspect of audience involvement. Genre creates expectations in an audience. This chapter explores: how to fulfill genre requirements; genre and myth structure as the formula for successful stories; avoiding the formulaic aspect of formula; and how a writer and, eventually, an editor bring out the unique elements of a story while disguising the machinery operating beneath.

Genre

The Oxford English Dictionary calls genre “a category of artistic composition … characterized by similarities in form, style or subject matter.”¹ Genre comes in many flavors and colors, from comedy to horror to action to thrillers. In films, genre relates ...