Genres

What sets historical fiction apart from other genres is that real historical events and figures get woven together with invented additions; telling which detail came from a real source and which one you made up gets harder over time. A writing tool's real job in this genre is keeping fact and fiction in the same place without letting them blur together.

In mystery and thriller writing, consistency revolves around who was where and when, when each clue gets revealed, and how suspects relate to one another. A reader who rereads will notice alibi contradictions and timeline errors; that's the genre's biggest craft risk.

What sets fantasy apart from other genres is usually a large cast, multiple POV characters, a magic or power system with its own rules, and consistency that has to hold across a multi-book series. A writing tool's real job in this genre is keeping you from losing that consistency.

In science fiction, consistency usually revolves around technology rules, distances between planets or ships, political/social systems, and a timeline (sometimes set in the future, sometimes across parallel timelines). The genre's craft challenge is making sure the rules you invent don't contradict themselves.