A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century.

Further definition of the genre is historically difficult. The construction of the narrative, the plot, the way reality is created in the works of fiction, the fascination of the character study, and the use of language are usually discussed to show a novel's artistic merits. Most of these requirements were introduced in the 16th and 17th centuries, in order to give fiction a justification outside the field of factual history.

The fictional narrative, the novel's distinct "literary" prose, specific media requirements (the use of paper and print), a characteristic subject matter that creates both intimacy and a typical epic depth can be seen as features that developed with the Western (and modern) market of fiction. The separation of a field of histories from a field of literary fiction fueled the evolution of these features in the last 400 years.

Fredric Joseph “Rik” Cordero was born and raised in Queens, New York and is known for applying unusual, non-traditional shooting methods in his work. He was nominated for Video Director Of The Year at the 2009 BET Awards and was the recipient of the Best Film Award for his feature film, “Inside A Change” which made its world premiere at the 2009 HBO New York International Latino Film Festival. In 2010, Cordero was seen in Sprite’s print and television ads for their “Spark” campaign. The ads featured him as a Hollywood director discovering inspiration in very unlikely ways. He recently wrapped his latest feature “Starla”, a thriller executive produced by Chris Robinson and “The World Is Watching”, a documentary about the culture of New York City high school basketball produced by Nike and narrated by Spike Lee. Cordero was also a featured director for SHOOT Magazine’s 9th Annual New Director’s Showcase held at the DGA Theater on May 10, 2011. He is currently the executive producer of Channel Three/21, a YouTube partner channel with over 50 million views worldwide.