#genre mashing

[gywo]

Mash two seemingly opposing genres together in one story

[skuggspel17]

This... This is amazing

[the960writers]

The Joy Of Genre Mashing: 5 Tips For Writing Cross Genre

The Joy Of Genre Mashing: 5 Tips For Writing Cross Genre

By Alan Baxter:

[...] So how do we genre-mash without our stories becoming a mess? Here are 5 tips that I like to keep in mind:

(1) Write the stories you want to read

The reason I like to mash genres together is because they’re the kind of stories I like to read. And you should always write, first and foremost, what you want to read. That’s where your particular passion lies.

The beauty of a genre mash is that you surprise your readers. If they go into a story thinking, Ah, this is a police procedural! but they come out of it thinking, I was not expecting a monster and sword-wielding Gregorian monk to appear! then you’ve really done your job well. (Note to self: Write a police procedural that’s solved by a sword-wielding Gregorian monk.) So don’t think about what genres you want to mash. Instead think about what crazy stories you’d like to read and then use whatever genres are required.

(2) Don’t mash for the sake of it

Any time we do something for the sake of doing it – in this case, cramming in tropes because we want to genre mash – it comes off hackneyed and try hard. That’s a terrible way to tell a story. But if you start by deciding what kind of story you want tell and then make sure you’re not averse to any strange occurrence coming along, you open yourself to all kinds of possibilities. [...]

[levynite]

*finally gets around to watching Animatrix*

Oh dude, digisteampunk detective noir, niiiiiiiice~!