Genre blending... does it work?

2399 Views 48 Replies 36 Participants Last post by JeffMariotte, Jul 6, 2011

sheakins

Discussion Starter · Jun 26, 2011

Do you enjoy reading books that blend genres in unique ways? I'm not talking about established blends like romantic-comedy which are genres in their own right. I'm talking about new territory, unusual combinations. What have you read and enjoyed? Or, if you're an author, what have you written along these lines that has really worked?

I'm prompted to ask these questions after my agent told me... genre blending rarely works.

Is that true? Or is the answer that it rarely works... but when it does, it's hugely successful.

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NogDog

· #2 · Jun 26, 2011

I think it can "work" in terms of quality, but could be problematic when it comes to sales, as you might tend to lose potential readers from one of the two genres who have no interest in the other genre.

My personal favorite "blender" would be Roger Zelazny, many of whose books toe a precarious balance between fantasy and science fiction; and even those that are more clearly one or the other usually have at least some of the other. For me, in his case that tension between the genres is part of their magic -- along with his phenomenal writing skill.

As there seems to be a large overlap between readers of fantasy and sci-fi (and is probably the reason they tend to be lumped together in many book stores), this is probably one of the more fertile areas of genre cross-pollination.

sheakins

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jun 26, 2011

but could be problematic when it comes to sales, as you might tend to lose potential readers from one of the two genres who have no interest in the other genre.

Definitely bad news...

Then, of course, there is genre bending vs. blending. But when you look at the bestseller lists, it seems that the books we love to read the most are squarely within genre. Blending obviously works well in movies... horror + sci-fi = Alien... there are many examples.

But novels are trickier.

navythriller

· #4 · Jun 26, 2011

I'm partial to sci-fi detective novels. Some of them work really well, and several authors have had major success with books of this type. But I have to agree that cross-genre novels generally have a tough time getting a foothold.

Geoffrey

· #5 · Jun 26, 2011

I think a lot of it does come down to marketing. Two disparate genres in different corners of a store will mean having to choose if it's a thriller or a cookbook (to pick two genres at random). Sci-Fi and fantasy is an obvious exemption from this restriction as many bookstores market them as a single genre .....

James Everington

· #6 · Jun 26, 2011

I can't see any reason why it doesn't work artistically... commercially maybe not in general, but surely for you personally the best thing commercially is to write the best book you can even if it is a sci-fi mystery romance... in sonnet form.

I'd be as likely to buy a genre blending novel as otherwise, but half the writers I like seem to die in crippling poverty so you might not want to pay any attention...!

MLPMom

· #7 · Jun 26, 2011

I actually just recently read a book that bordered on paranormal, fantasy, christian fiction. It was from an Indie author and even though it may sound strange, it really worked.
I work a review on my blog about it, http://myguiltyobsession.blogspot.com/
It was a great story and right now on Goodreads it is still free for the next few days.

Dr. Laurence Brown

· #8 · Jun 26, 2011

I agree that it can definitely be a bit tricky to pull off well, but I'm sure it can be done. In terms of sales however I can see your agent's concerns.

Jeff Rivera

· #9 · Jun 26, 2011

I feel like this could be considered a challenge to write a genre blending book, and do it well. Off the top of my head I can't think of any odd cross genre books I've read recently, but now that you've mentioned it I'll be looking out for one.

Robert Clear

· #10 · Jun 27, 2011

It's easy to get genre-blending wrong, but I'm inclined to agree that when it works, it works very well. I try to mix humour and thriller in my writing, though wether or not it's done well isn't really for me to say!

I think The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov combines humour and tragedy very well, though right now that's the only example I can think of off the top of my head.

Colin Taber

· #11 · Jun 27, 2011

I don't want to discourage, but it's hard enough to build an audience for something that has a well established market. Genre blending is a cute idea, but you'll have to do a lot of extra promotional work. Hell, it could take off, but I suspect getting the whole thing moving will require more grunt than the average genre novel. Nonetheless, good luck with it!

Anne Maven

· #12 · Jun 27, 2011

sheakins said:
Do you enjoy reading books that blend genres in unique ways? I'm not talking about established blends like romantic-comedy which are genres in their own right. I'm talking about new territory, unusual combinations. What have you read and enjoyed? Or, if you're an author, what have you written along these lines that has really worked?

I'm prompted to ask these questions after my agent told me... genre blending rarely works.

Is that true? Or is the answer that it rarely works... but when it does, it's hugely successful.

I had a question yesterday about blending romance with other sub genres. Bob Mayer had a good explanation for it. Basically, anything plot driven is good. A paranormal romance would require a strong paranormal genre plot with romance as the undercurrent/subgenre. Of course, I had always thought differently!
I would definitely read genre blended novels - paranormal adventure, comedic suspense etc.
I prefer to write romances, but do have the characters living other lives too. There are usually other aspects, whether work place challenges, an adventure, a spiritual quest etc.
Aldous Huxley has different threads in a story, Ayn Rand - all philosophy related to basic issues, Jennifer Crusie -always a plot spiced up with romance, Paulo Coelho too - metaphysical with a plot line although emphasis is rarely 50-50 with him.

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Harry Shannon

· #13 · Jun 27, 2011

If it's a great story well told, it should work perfectly well as a novel or short story. Marketing it is the difficult part.

Sean Cunningham

· #14 · Jun 27, 2011

sheakins said:
I'm not talking about established blends like romantic-comedy which are genres in their own right.

Yesterday's experiment is today's new genre. Paranormal romance came about when romance co-opted fantasy and horror elements. Well, as a non paranormal romance reader I assume that's how it came to be. I'm curious now to know how it worked its way into the market.

navythriller said:
I'm partial to sci-fi detective novels.

Didn't Isaac Asimov write Caves of Steel because someone told him you couldn't combine those two genres?

davidhburton

· #15 · Jun 27, 2011

My agent had an issue selling my first novel, in part because of this problem. In the end, she couldn't sell it. Depending on how it's pitched, etc, it can be a very tough sell - even to readers.

ashel

· #16 · Jun 27, 2011

It's odd, because genres don't really have consistent definitions. Scifi and Fantasy, for example, are really settings, not types of stories. (Ditto dystopian.) You can tell any type of story in a SF/F setting, and it magically* becomes SF/F + whatever. Other genres are more defined by plot characteristics -- Romance (where the relationship is the plot, and external events both mirror and influence the development of that relationship, if it's done well), Suspense (structurally often really similar to Romance, I think?), Mystery, Adventure -- can be transplanted into any given setting, and whoops, you have blended genres. Other genres are more about tone and narrative perspective -- humor, for example -- but again, that can be applied to any setting, and any kind of story.

I think it can work as long as you don't pick genres that conflict on any of those major axes. So, like, one of each, maybe?

Genre(Setting) + Genre(Plot type) + Genre(Tone) = workable genre blend**

Although, now that I'm thinking about it, you can definitely mix tones, too -- horror and comedy go together well, for example. But that might be advanced genre alchemy?

I think this is done pretty much all the time, honestly, so I think in terms of writing the story it's not that big a deal. In terms of marketing, however...who knows. The best marketing is a great book, right? You can get away with pretty much anything if you've written a great book?

*Oof. Sorry. Totally unintentional.
**You're annoyed I broke out equations, right? I seriously almost started to define a partition of the genre space. I am showing sooooo much restraint. My inner geek is kind of freaking out.

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ashel

· #17 · Jun 27, 2011

Geoffrey said:
Two disparate genres in different corners of a store will mean having to choose if it's a thriller or a cookbook (to pick two genres at random).

I want to read this very badly.

ashel

· #18 · Jun 27, 2011

genevieveaclark said:
The best marketing is a great book, right? You can get away with pretty much anything if you've written a great book?

Oops. I meant with readers, not with agents or publishers. Which, if you want an agent or a publisher, is perhaps kind of a problem? I see that now. It does seem like not many people in the industry are going to be in a position to take anything that could be construed as a risk, and new, untested things are...risks? The tagline could help. Remember the tagline for Alien? "In space no one can hear you scream." AWESOME. Both genres, right there. BOOM.

NogDog

· #19 · Jun 27, 2011

genevieveaclark said:
It's odd, because genres don't really have consistent definitions. Scifi and Fantasy, for example, are really settings, not types of stories. (Ditto dystopian.) You can tell any type of story in a SF/F setting, and it magically* becomes SF/F + whatever. Other genres are more defined by plot characteristics -- Romance (where the relationship is the plot, and external events both mirror and influence the development of that relationship, if it's done well), Suspense (structurally often really similar to Romance, I think?), Mystery, Adventure -- can be transplanted into any given setting, and whoops, you have blended genres. Other genres are more about tone and narrative perspective -- humor, for example -- but again, that can be applied to any setting, and any kind of story....

This mostly mirrors what I was thinking earlier, but didn't get around to posting. Pretty much any SF novel you read is, as Genevieveaclark said, also some other genre. If you get a bunch of SF fans together, you'll likely find some prefer Space Operas (basically western "horse operas" re-cast in the future), some like military action/thriller SF, some want psycho-drama type stories, and so forth (even romance!). While there are some great SF books that are essentially concerned primarily with the science and future technology, I would guess that most these days are a blend with some other genre.

NogDog

· #20 · Jun 27, 2011

genevieveaclark said:
[quote author=geoffrey]Two disparate genres in different corners of a store will mean having to choose if it's a thriller or a cookbook (to pick two genres at random). Sci-Fi and fantasy is an obvious exemption from this restriction as many bookstores market them as a single genre .....

I want to read this very badly.
[/quote]

Steven Brust almost had a fantasy/cookbook blend: each chapter of Dzur (Vlad Taltos) begins with a detailed, loving description of one course during an extravagant meal at the narrator's favorite restaurant.

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