A few weeks ago I traveled to Chicago for the Chicago North Romance Writers Spring Fling conference, where I had a great time. I saw friends I hadn’t been in the same room with for years! I met lovely new people and attended so many inspiring sessions, one high point being a four-hour masterclass by THEE Sherry Thomas on how to structure a romance.
I was also on a panel called Genre Bending and Blending, which is very on brand for me. The authors who were on the panel with me write everything from historical romance to psychological suspense to cozy mystery, while I have two character-driven speculative thrillers out and am working on a fantasy romance (or is it romantic fantasy? Only the booksellers know for sure).
“Cross-genre” and “genre bending” novels are having a moment. Of course, “cross-genre” can mean anything. Elements from literally any combination of ever-shifting subgenres can be incorporated into one book. From my not-super-rigorous perspective, the way this seems to be playing out in the market is that supernatural and/or speculative elements (magic, monsters, alternate history, dystopian societies, etc.) are finding their way into buzzy romances, thrillers, and literary or commercial fiction. This has been a thing for a while—just look at The Handmaid’s Tale—and we can’t forget that the biggest-selling genre of the last half decade has as its very name a mashup of two different genres.1 But at the conference I just went to, there were multiple presentations and panels in which people talked about spec-fic-plus-whatever-else as a trend.
I’ve never reacted well to being told I had to do or be one thing, so I’m fully on board with this. (I actually get disappointed when the explanation for an intriguing premise turns out to be mundane, as in one recent book I’m glad I spoiled myself about before picking it up.) My two published novels both feature phenomena that, as far as I know, don’t exist in the real world, and the review pull quote I put on my new business cards is “resists categorization,” so I have some experience with writing outside of boxes.
So how does one actually…blend genres?
Some people will say you should have a deep understanding of any area you’re drawing inspiration from. Know the rules before you break them and all. Other writers consciously dive in as naïfs (Dave Eggers famously did very little research on tech companies for The Circle). I think either of these approaches can work, as long as you remain aware there are things you don’t know and refrain from coming off like you think you’re creating a totally new art form of which no one before you has ever conceived.
The saturation of speculative elements will also vary. Do you want a story that’s basically set in the real world with light magical or dystopian vibes? A second world fantasy in which people have somehow developed a religion around David Bowie? Up to you. It’s fine to incorporate something just because it’s cool, though I’m sorry to say you’ll have to think it through as fully as possible if you want readers to accept it. (They’re going to wonder how an LP of Aladdin Sane got to your medieval-inspired village, as well as how the residents managed to listen to it without a record player.) The threshold for suspension of disbelief is both higher and lower: sure, you can explain things with “it’s magic,” but you’re also targeting readers who may not be well versed in all the devices you’re using, or accustomed to the conventions. A trope that’s fresh to one set of readers will be overdone to the point of cliche for another. Thriller aficionados used to snappy pacing may glaze over (and then DNF) at pages of world building.
Speaking of pacing! If you’re writing, say, a horroromance, each of those genres has basic beats you need to hit, and combining them means you have sometimes-difficult decisions to make. Do we introduce the skin-dissolving mist before or after the meet cute? Which has more urgency and gets more page time: the chemistry between your leads or the mortal danger in which they find themselves? Again, up to you. You’re always going to disappoint someone who wants more or less of one thing or another, but every book doesn’t have to be for everyone.2
I think of writing craft elements — from world building and magic system exposition to plot points, characterization, and emotional beats — kind of like channels on a mixing board.
A finished song (or novel) is judged by the effects it creates in the listener (or reader), but there are specific controls and adjustments that modulate those effects. A skilled professional will discover, both intuitively and through study and practice, that the backstory should be less central in the stereo field or the sensuality needs more treble, and how to accomplish this. Each knob and slider (or reaction beat or word choice) will control how much attention something demands in the mix and the timbre it will have. It goes without saying that revision is where you fine-tune the mix, because it’ll most likely be a muddy mess in the first couple of drafts.
For a visual aid, I love a good beat sheet. In revising my WIP, I made a spreadsheet combining elements from Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels by Gwen Hayes and Save the Cat! Writes a Novel and the Save the Cat! Novel Calculator by Jessica Brody. It’s been helpful in keeping track of the balance and timing of genre beats in my novel.
Here’s a clean copy. I have some of the romance beats in the same rows as corresponding plot beats, but placement will vary depending on your story. If you find it useful, let me know!
I’ll be at the SFWA Nebulas conference in June! It’s my first time attending so I may just be doing a book signing (details to come), but I’m excited to meet people and spend more time in Chicagoland!
Reading: How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates by Shailee Thompson. Tons of fun and a textbook cross-genre novel (a Ph.D. candidate studying the cultural intersection of slasher films and rom-coms gets targeted by a serial killer at a speed dating event).
Watching: The Pitt. The main lesson I’ve taken from this show is that unless you are actively dying or fancy spending 12 hours in a waiting room, you should always always always seek out satellite urgent care instead of going to the main ED.
Listening: The second world in my WIP is inspired by Florida’s natural world and mid-to-late twentieth century US culture, so I’ve been listening to Jefferson Airplane beyond Surrealistic Pillow (which was one of my favorite albums in my parents’ record cabinet when I was growing up).
If you enjoy my ramblings, you might like my books!
The Other Me, which PopSugar called a “Black Mirror-esque rabbit hole,” is an inventive page-turner about the choices we make and the ones made for us.
When I’m Her asks the question: How far would you go to get even with the woman who ruined your life?
Yes, it’s romantasy, which seems to attract an unreasonable amount of hostility (this is just the latest weird career-sabotaging crashout about it). Hmm why would a genre largely written by women, that primarily appeals to women and centers women’s sexual pleasure, be so constantly disparaged, even by other women?? It’s a mystery.
That said, it takes a certain amount of skill to set up that two people would take a pause in their battle with an ancient unknowable evil to jump into bed together.
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