What Genre Should I Write Quiz
Questions: 20 · 10 minutes
1. What reaction would you most like a dark story to leave behind?
Recognition of a difficult but familiar human problem
A lingering question about something that was never fully explained
Unease about what could be hiding beneath ordinary life
A powerful mixture of fear and fascination that alters how the story's central idea feels
2. Which source of tension would most inspire you to build a story around it?
A public mistake that threatens a character's ambitions
A familiar place that carries a subtly wrong atmosphere
A presence that may be supernatural or a sign of a mind under strain
An escalating force that violates the characters' understanding of bodies, homes, or reality
3. Which scene would you most look forward to drafting?
The protagonist proving a skill under pressure
Two allies noticing a flicker of attraction before returning to the task
A vulnerable conversation that changes what two people believe about each other
A charged turning point where desire, fear, and commitment collide
4. A publisher asks for a story about social change. Which premise would you be most eager to develop?
A present-day workplace adapting to a new leader
A city adjusting to a believable change a few years from now
A new technology altering memory, work, or relationships
A scientific breakthrough reshaping civilization and humanity's future
5. Which conversation would you most like your novel to spark among readers?
Whether two people truly understood each other
Whether the fictional society resembles something already happening
Whether the central invention could plausibly work
How a scientific possibility could transform humanity over generations
6. Two compelling characters meet in chapter one. How central would you want their relationship to become?
Their connection would remain secondary to separate personal goals
Attraction would add tension without determining the main plot
Their changing relationship would share the spotlight with another major conflict
Their path toward or away from partnership would be the story's central arc
7. A character hears footsteps in an empty house. Which direction would you most enjoy taking?
Reveal that a family member has arrived with difficult news
Let the sound expose a secret connected to the house's past
Delay the explanation while increasingly personal signs appear
Make every investigation deepen the threat and undermine the character's sense of safety
8. You realize the clues in your draft appear in a confusing order. What revision task sounds most satisfying?
Shift attention toward the characters' emotional lives
Keep the secret but let intuition carry most of the reveal
List each clue and decide when the reader should encounter it
Reconstruct the full solution so every clue, suspect, and reversal forms a fair chain
9. Your plot depends on an unfamiliar technology. How much research and logical testing would feel enjoyable?
I would rather shift the plot toward nontechnical human conflict
I would use familiar technology and keep the mechanics in the background
I would read accessible sources and establish a few credible limits
I would test assumptions, constraints, failures, and effects across the whole society
10. Halfway through a draft, your protagonist walks through a magical door. What would you most enjoy doing next?
Replace the door with a difficult but realistic human decision
Keep the door unexplained and use it mainly as a symbol
Explore the personal cost of crossing it without expanding the world much
Develop its rules, history, guardians, and consequences for the wider world
11. When a new story idea arrives, which version would most tempt you to open a blank document?
A realistic conflict that could happen in my own community
A grounded story colored by folklore that may or may not be true
An ordinary person discovering one genuinely impossible ability
An invented realm whose magic changes culture, power, and daily life
12. You have a free weekend to prepare for a novel. Which activity sounds most absorbing?
Refining dialogue drawn from contemporary life
Collecting legends that could add atmosphere to a familiar setting
Sketching the customs and rivalries of an imagined culture
Connecting maps, magic, religions, creatures, and political histories
13. Early readers say your frightening scene loses tension too quickly. Which revision sounds most interesting?
Refocus the chapter on the conflict between the characters
Add a strange detail that lingers after the immediate event
Control what is revealed so the threat remains uncertain for longer
Reshape pacing, sensory detail, and consequences to sustain dread beyond the scene
14. Which scene would you be happiest to spend an afternoon writing?
A quiet conversation that reveals incompatible values
A tense gathering where everyone avoids mentioning a shared secret
An interview in which a small contradiction changes the investigation
A confrontation where several plausible explanations compete before a new clue lands
15. During revision, you notice that your fictional invention can solve almost any problem. Which response appeals to you?
Treat it as a metaphor rather than explain how it operates
Reduce its role so the story does not depend heavily on its logic
Give it a clear limitation that complicates the protagonist's goal
Rebuild the plot around a consistent chain of technical and social consequences
16. After finishing your book, what would you most like readers to keep thinking about?
A believable choice made under everyday pressure
A faint sense that old stories might contain truth
A wondrous creature, power, or impossible encounter
An entire world that seems to continue beyond the final page
17. What promise would you most want the ending to fulfill?
The protagonist gains insight, regardless of relationship status
The attraction matters even if the future remains unresolved
The characters make a meaningful choice about being together
The central love arc reaches a clear and emotionally earned hopeful commitment
18. What kind of ending feels most rewarding for you to create?
An emotionally truthful ending that leaves the practical questions open
The disclosure of a secret that changes how two characters relate
A clear solution connecting the central event to clues seen earlier
A surprising solution that makes the entire sequence look different in retrospect
19. At the midpoint, the potential couple wants different futures. What would you most enjoy exploring?
How each person independently pursues a larger external goal
How the disagreement complicates their work or shared mission
How their histories shape what each expects from closeness
How they must transform or choose in order for a lasting relationship to become possible
20. Which opening problem would make you most curious to plan the next ten chapters?
Two relatives openly disagree about a shared responsibility
A character hides a personal secret that strains a friendship
A disappearance creates a central question that must be investigated
An apparently impossible crime leaves a trail of conflicting clues