This article is by Selah Janel.
There are a lot of reasons to write cross-genre books. While many stories thrive on rigid classification, many authors find that their potential readership increases by incorporating different genre elements.
Cross-genre fiction is a way to stretch boundaries and challenge yourself. In a world where these plots are embraced in television and movies, where titles like the Sookie Stackhouse books, Sandman, and American Vampire get shelf space with more traditional horror and fantasy, producing interesting cross-genre worlds is not only possible and acceptable, but a lot of fun.
Whether it’s something more traditional like paranormal romance or urban fantasy or a new combination, the beauty of cross-genre fiction is that there is the potential to create some fabulous places to play. Whether you’re combining two genres or twenty, it’s simply not enough to throw different elements together. That’s not building a world, that’s making a random collage of different stuff. To form cohesive, believable worlds and write immersive cross-genre fiction, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Know Why You’re Crossing Genres
There are many reasons to blend different genres together. You may want to add some darkness to a society in your fantasy series by embracing horror elements. Maybe you’re interested in the potential of technology in a historical setting so you incorporate sci-fi with the politics or fashion of a certain period. Maybe your characters defy the expectations of a conventional chick lit series and lean toward the classic hero elements of epic fantasy.
Whatever your choices, it is important to have concrete reasons. Your decisions should enhance the world you’re building and the characters that inhabit it. Choosing elements out of a hat because they’re selling well or because you hope a weird combination will catch attention quickly aren’t good reasons. The story and characters must play an important role in the genres you focus on, or else the plot will be reduced down to a gimmick. That can work in some cases, but unless you’re really into writing a pulp novel or a short story that depends on a gimmick, put in the time to figure out why you really want to go this route.
Know Your Story and Your Characters
You may not have your entire plot mapped out or every character profiled, but it helps to think on the basic plot and main cast. Where do these characters need to live? What themes do you want to explore with them? What are the main points in your story? Where are you coming from and where are you going?
When you begin to get an idea of what you need or want to accomplish, you can play with what you need. It may take a few attempts to really hit on what works.
When developing my series The Kingdom City Chronicles, I knew from the start that I wanted to incorporate fantasy creatures, fairy tale elements, and technology. I loved the idea of trolls using laptops and worrying about their credit card bills, but also dealing with more traditional fantasy problems. For a good part of my first draft I thought I was writing a fantasy conspiracy novel, because I thought things would only work if there weren’t any magical elements.
As things developed, though, I had trouble explaining why there would be things considered Fae with no powers. In some ways the action ramped to a certain degree, then fizzled out. It was when I hit on the idea of using magic, but incorporating elements of Lovecraft-style horror that I hit upon the background of Kingdom City and why it has the traditions it does. I had to do a lot of re-hauling, but everything began to fall into place after that.
Know Your Genres and Choose Them Wisely
Whether you’re using a main and a secondary genre or blending many things together, you should go with what you know. If you’re not entirely familiar with a genre but want to incorporate it, read and research what makes it up. I really love fairy tales from around the world. I not only grew up devouring them, but studying their subtext and symbolism through nonfiction, as well. I also love horror and the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. I ended up playing on my love of the paranormal and urban fantasy to a certain extent, as well. I stepped away from a fantasy conspiracy book because I wasn’t sure what made a good traditional conspiracy thriller. There’s something of a hero journey in the book, but I’ve never written epic fantasy and didn’t want to attempt to go there.
I chose things I could incorporate well: I knew how they read, I knew the pacing, I knew the symbolism, the dress, the themes, all of that. Then I turned it all on its head. Fairy tale objects are used as swear words, traditional fairy tale dress is modernized. Dark, urban-fantasy/horror magic is leaked into that non-magic fairy tale world. A lot of what’s in the series is fun and irreverent, but I only attempted to get away with it because I’ve lived and breathed those core elements.
It’s not enough to like a genre or read it here and there. You have to know it so well that you can choose elements that aren’t typically played with. Think of what most people generally know about Greek or Norse myths. I love Neil Gaiman’s American Gods because it combines not just those myths, but mythos from around the world and blends them with Midwest life so you appreciate when you figure out which gods are which. American Vampire not only knows its vampire folklore enough to really expand and develop it, but it also uses American History to accent the story in specific, detailed ways.
The Elements Must Make Sense in Your Plot and World
There are a lot of little things that make up a world. A certain amount of detail is going to add to the cross genre elements. Think of how the shading in an excellent drawing makes it look realistic. It’s good to understand the little things that make a world believable. Pop culture is something that people instantly identify with and I wanted to incorporate it into my concept of a modernized fantasy world. For example, in Kingdom City princesses go on dating sites because princes have started to prefer doctors or CEOs. There are horror franchises like Rumplestiltskin and The Tithe. The Magic Mirror brand is best in electronics and there’s a fast food chain called the Magic Porridge Pot. Some subcultures really like black magic metal music. None of that stuff exists as is in our world, but we understand the types of lifestyles characters who like those things might lead. Same with the type of government, education system, or anything else.
For bigger elements, it’s important to figure out what they’re supposed to accomplish. Since Kingdom City doesn’t believe in magic, it doesn’t make sense for it to be nice and happy when it’s discovered. I developed an eldergod-type mythos, but slanted it for a folklore-based world. In the Sookie books, a lot of different creatures are incorporated, but they all feel right in the world and fit together in some shape or form. You don’t see alien unicorn people who happen to look like the Old West beamed in from another plane into the plot, because that wouldn’t fit.
Find the elements that you want in your world and put them through the genre filter you want to use.
Find the Common Link
One of the easiest ways to blend genres is to find what they have in common. Mystery tropes play well in paranormal series because both genres have themes of attempting to discover the unknown. Dark fantasy works because it embraces aspects of horror while fully admitting that not everything in a fantasy setting is going to be happy, lending a realistic element to how characters react to challenges.
When writing Olde School, I went to a lot of international versions of Cinderella stories. Many of these tales had things like people talking to sentient trees, animals giving advice or requesting that they be killed and their corpse used for magic purposes, even parts of the environment morphed at will. It amazed me that so many of these tropes could fit right at home with Lovecraft-style horror, urban fantasy, and paranormal genres. When I used those specific folklore elements, I gave them that specific slant. This affected the entire concept of magic in Kingdom City and gave the city a much deeper background than I’d originally conceived.
Whether you’re looking for broad ways genres overlap or very specific trends, pay attention to where lines blur and make use of those places.
Characters Drive Everything Forward
At the end of the day, readers will love your world but will latch onto your characters. Characters are very much part of your world and need to be treated as such. They are your ambassadors for their world. They show what it’s been like to live in that specific area, in some cases for their whole lives. They should be believable and not a vehicle for your world. Readers must care about them or react to them. How your characters react will drive your story forward and inspire how you shape the world around them.
At the end of the day, build up your world, but the stories come down to those who inhabit them.
Consistency
Whether it’s your geography, a hierarchy, a government, or anything else, it needs to stay consistent once it’s developed. Even if you shake things up later on, those changes need to be believable within the systems you’ve already developed. You may have the best plot twist in the world in mind, but if you execute it without expressly showing how it works with or wrecks your current structure, it ends up looking sloppy.
There comes a point where certain things can’t be changed too much without risking the structure of the world you’ve worked so hard on.
Break and Twist Expectations
Finally, be a bit of a deviant!
Sure, genre limitations are around for a reason, but if you can back up your choices, try them out! Why does fantasy hero have to be human? Why can’t the pretty human girl or boy be one of the antagonists? How would that play out? What if someone who was traditionally a sidekick carried a story? What if a confrontation with the ultimate evil is only the middle of the book? Who would the lead face afterward? What if the rules we’ve depended on when dealing with the supernatural are complete falsehoods?
It’s important to ask yourself why you’re falling back on these tropes, if they’re beneficial to the story, or if there’s reason to change things around. Be bold or take risks, as long as these risks make sense in your developed world.
Crossing genres can add so much to a story and to a world, especially when the individual elements are treated well and blended together to make sense. It’s fun, it’s a great way to let your creative juices flood the streets, and it can give you a unique sense of freedom.
For Further Thought
What are some of the most convincing worlds you’ve seen in cross genre fiction?
What are your favorite blends of genres?
Have you read a uniquely constructed world that didn’t work for you? What was missing?
About the Author:
Selah Janel is the author of Olde School, Lost in the Shadows, and many others. You can catch up with her meanderings on her blog and connect with her on her Facebook page.
The thing I like about cross-genres is that it allows explicit expression of issues in reality. I find it easier to picture and comprehend issues like hegemony in the form of characteristic creatures and mystical forces of governance.
Hi Selah
Great post, lots of good stuff to think about. I particularly liked your point about putting everything through the genre filter. Your elements in Kingdom City sound fun!
For myself, I love blending superheroes into fantasy worlds. I’ve grown up reading plenty of fantasy and comics, and the two compliment one another well.
I think my favourite genre blending world is that of the comics, Fables. The combination of folk stories and fairy tales with the modern day just works so well.
cheers
Mike
Love this! I find myself gravitating more toward cross-genre fiction (or mash-ups). I think they can deliver a bit of this-and-that from genres we enjoy and love, while creating a unique take on things.
Thanks so much! And I agree. There’s something really freeing and fun in cross genre writing. It can produce some really original pieces of fiction, and it really gives you an appreciation for how well different genres fit together!
I’m reminded of the graphic novel turned movie – Cowboys & Aliens. A Sci-Fi/Western? Surprisingly entertaining!
I actually was really impressed by the comic. I felt the movie lost a little bit in translation, but yeah! Definitely a lot of fun!
Very good points. Writing cross-fiction can be tricky. I think the writer really need to know both genres inside and out before taking the leap.
It’s definitely not something to take lightly, or to do simply because you think it will be easy or get you noticed. There are as many unsatisfying cross genre works for me as there are works that really follow through and do what they’re supposed to.
I’m a big fan of crossing the fantasy and horror genres. I’m taking that approach with two of my current works in progress.
I love that combination, as well! Fantasy and horror really do meld well together, and can produce some really fantastic (and freaky) results!