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Humans have a great compulsion to try and categorize their world. Everything must be labeled and placed with those that are similar and kept far from all that is different.

Books are no difference. Everything must have a specific genre, a place where it belongs on the organized shelves of a bookstore. However, in the end a genre is often very subjective and means more to the audience than it does when it comes to describing an actual book.

For example, if you read a mystery book that started: "It was ten o'clock and the room was empty, save for the body of a woman on the bed. In the distance, an infant cried..." you would come to a different conclusion about what was going on in the scene than you would if it was the beginning of an autobiography.

So, to answer the question, I don't believe there is any difference. Something can easily be all of those genres are once, or none, depending on how the reader views it. The text itself will not change, only the perception of it. To say that it really makes any difference would be like saying calling Pluto a "dwarf" rather than a planet actually changes Pluto in any way but in our minds.

Learn more about this author, Victoria Martin.
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