With the launch of The Feral Pages http://www.theferalpages.com/ I have been thinking about cross genre stories. Now I enjoy blurring genre lines when I'm writing but they tend to put a crimp in the number of markets I can submit the work to. But I wonder if that's going to change. Why? you ask. Because with the wondering about this new trend I ran across several links related to this type of writing that I thought I'd share.
First up is Bev Vincents essay, "Genre Bender" http://storytellersunplugged.com/bevvincent/2009/10/17/genre-bender/
The next I found over at the Clockwork Storybook blog and from this link you'll find several others if you care to read on about this subject. http://clockworkstorybook.blogspot.com/2009/10/crossbreeding-genres.html
The last is an essay by Jeff VanderMeer who's new book "Finch" may have set off this abundance of links. Mr. VanderMeer has crossed his newest fantasy book with the tropes of mystery noir. No, I haven't read the book but I expect that if it does well you'll be seeing a lot more of this crossbreeding of genres. Http://crimespree.blogspot.com/2009/10/long-time-mystery-reader-first-time.html
The Fall issue of MystericalE hit the virtual streets this weekend with stories from familiar names like JR Lindermuth, Stephen D. Rogers, and JE Seymour among the roster of authors. And if you're going to jump on the genre bending train, MystericalE is a market that's open to this type of story.
And last, but certainly not least, The Women of Mystery blog has posted links to several writing contests if you'd like to toss your writing hat in the ring. http://www.womenofmystery.net/2009/10/few-more-writing-contests.html
Oh yes, Gemini Magazine has announced the winners of their flash fiction contest. They had over 400 entries, and the winner was Beverly Akerman for her excellent story "Pie" You can read her story and the honorable mentions here http://www.gemini-magazine.com/
And in the comments feel free to discuss the crossing of genres. Do you like your genres mixed and shaken or do you prefer them straight up?
12 comments:
Finch is a fantastic book -- I recommend it highly.
I read it quite a few months ago. I had submitted a blurb for it, though I don't know if they chose to use it or not for the final copy.
My blurb and others can be found here: http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2009/05/30/finch-news-limited-etc/
And I wrote a review for Crimespree's November issue.
Ray Banks also reviewed it recently over at his site.
I caught Ray Banks review, Brian, and I must say the book sounds great. I'll have to put it on Christmas list.
Sandra, at the Williamette Writers Conference most of the agents and editors agreed that cross genre is hot now, but also here to stay. Which is good news for me as I usually do just that (I love mysteries most and inject a mystery in almost everything.)
I just wrote a ghost/murder story. I'm not sure it counts but now I'm trying one about an angel. It is liberating.
I think mystery/crime moves most stories, Conda. It gives stories a conflict that moves them along even if it's just shoplifting.
And yes, writing ghost stories is certainly crossing genre lines, either into fantasy or horror depending on your ghost, Patti.
I've written many cross-genre short stories, but I don't ever refer to them that way during the submission process.
Often one genre dominates the story so I first submit to publications that primarily publish the dominant half of the cross.
That's great advice, Michael. One question though. Do you find this type of story harder to place in a mystry/crime market? I find that crime markets unless they're more cozy oriented want their stories based in some kind of "real" world. Something that could actually happen. And we don't have too many werewolves or vampires out there solving crimes in the real world. With that in mind you're pretty much limited to the fantasy or spec-fiction markets, aren't you?
Good question. I think when we talk about cross genre many people get confused with character vs. writing element. Mystery/crime may like plots grounded in the plausible but you don't have to have a vampire to make something horror. I always use Harris when I talk about crime/horror because so much of what he does is a magnificent blend. The creature... the other if you will is a powerful horror element. How can something as inhuman as a cannibal be as human as Lecter? So when we start to look at genre crossover we have to think in the big picture not just characters but things as minute as timing and tension building.
As for marketing cross genre pieces, Michael makes a very good point. I do the same in general. I have found the cross genre writing has left me with many more markets to try than the opposite.
The same may not be true for novels yet but even zombie novels have won literary awards in recent history.
Sandra,
Many of my cross-genre stories are crime fiction crossed with something else, and most of them sell to magazines that publish the other half of the cross.
For example, I wrote a who-dunnit involving four soldiers posted to a lonely planet in the far future. One of them is killed and one of the other three is the killer (a locked-planet mystery, perhaps?). I sold it to a science fiction magazine.
I've sold several stories to confession magazines that involve crimes but the emphasis is on the confessional nature of the story.
I've written several non-supernatural horror stories. They're also sometimes referred to as dark crime stories. I've placed those in both horror and mystery publications.
I'v also written erotic mysteries (and erotic horror, erotic science fiction, and so on) but those aren't so much cross-genre as straight genre stories that fail to close the bedroom door.
I blanch at the idea that cross genre works are something new. But the ins and outs of why are probably too inside baseball and fanboy bitchy. So instead I'll say that I'm glad readers and writers are finally catching on to the potential greatness that can be tapped by mixing things up.
I do think that SF/F/H are all more comfortable with cross/mixed genre work then the mystery/crime genre though there have been inroads.
I also think that there are more facets to cross genre writing then most people are aware. I would venture that the two most dominant strains are:
1) Digesting all different types of stories as part of a steady reading diet then seeing what bubbles to the surface. The sort of story that has elements of different things but the lines are very blurry.
2) Making a more overt effort to mix and match genres. These are what I call the bolt on's. A PI that's a vampire. That sort of thing, where the two genre's are fairly distinct. The potential trap here is that sometimes the results feel forced, like one of the elements was just tacked on.
#1 is the harder of the two to pull off. Think books like The Resurectionist by Jack O'Connell; Last Call and Declare both by Tim Powers. [Last Call is an all-time favorite]. And books by Tom Piccirilli like The Nobody and Headstone City.
#2 represents baby-steps in that direction. Think Harry Dresden and Joe Pitt
Then there are off-shoots. Like books that play it coy and refuse to commit. You know, the psycho who sees things...or does he. Or the authors who employ a style endemic to genre A to genre B, like Joe Schreiber (drawing a blank on his debut at the moment) and Norman Partridge (Dark Harvest) who both infuse their horror stories with a hardboiled style.
But any attempt at describing cross-genre fiction becomes shaggy dog at best, so I’m just going to stop here.
Instead I'll say go read (off the top of my head):
Gun, With Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem
When Gravity Fails, A Fire in the Sun and The Exile Kiss by George Alec Effinger
The Man Who Turned Into Himself by David Ambrose
Dead in the West by Joe Lansdale
Last Call and Declare by Tim Powers
The Impossible Bird by Patrick O'Leary
9 Tail Fox by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan
Crimson Orgy by Austin Williams
Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow
There are tons more!
Thanks for the input guys! And Brian, I don't think cross genre stories are anything new. It seems that in past ten years or so publishers want everything in neat little pigeonholes so they can sell them easier and the writers have gone along with this to keep their publishing contracts. When someone blurs the lines agents, publishers and booksellers don't know what to do with it. They basically tie the writers hands.
Belated thanks, Sandra, for mentioning my post about the contests! I appreciate it!
Interesting post about genre-crossing!
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