Genre

  Defining "genre" is a feat in its own right, try it for your self. Everyone seems to have an understanding and this understanding varies with everything, some by agreement share the definition and others do not.
 A general definition is: 

• a kind of literary or artistic work
• writing style: a style of expressing yourself in writing
• having a characteristic form or technique 

What I'm apllying to "genre" is the differnt flavours of stories, Horror, comedy, folk, historical, religious the list goes on. The use and frequency of these is determined by many factors, fashion, taste, time of year, location.

Has I write this, horror, vampires, zombies and steam punk are fashionable in the western hemisphere. replacing fantasy and wizardry from the last few years. seemingly to be replaced soon by scifi, 3d and post apocalyptic revival. Avatar standing strong at the box office with no origional story while "the road" and "book of Eli" provide the new stories. These are the stories being told in film,while in the book shops, "pride and prejudice", queen Victoria and a host of others get the Zombie treatment and Vampire,vampyr,wampyr or how ever, whatever author wants to spell it are selling strong.

So genre is important in a story, what mood you are in can dictate your choice of story or how well you receive the tale being told or unfolding in what ever medium you choose.