Genre often gets pigeonholed as just a neat label for shelving books in tidy rows, but it’s so much more—it’s a veritable Swiss Army knife for writers. Picture genre not just as a category but as a vibrant palette of styles, themes, and conventions, each with its own colour and texture, ready to paint diverse narratives. This perspective opens up a world where genre becomes a toolkit, offering a range of devices, tropes, and frameworks that can add depth, complexity, and flair to storytelling.