Do You Like Hybrid Genres?
@eclecticsteve (253)
United States
August 7, 2010 10:53pm CST
I've always like hybrid Genres. A good example would be Jackie Chan films where they can appeal to martial arts fans and comedy fans. If you are a fan of one genre, such as mystery or horror or the Western, etc., do you prefer that a story stick to just one genre, or welcome another genre into the mix? Or does it depend on which two genres are combined?
3 responses
@Catana (735)
• United States
8 Aug 10
Except for avoiding genres I really don't like, such as romance and westerns, I don't always pay attention to the genre when I'm choosing a book to read. But I do think that mixing it up makes things more interesting. I've been writing a lot of fiction in the last year, and when I start thinking about getting published, I realize that my stories don't really fit in any one genre. That's good for the readers, but it also makes it harder to find a publisher. I think that's why so many writers are going independent and publishing their work as ebooks or print on demand (POD).
@eclecticsteve (253)
• United States
8 Aug 10
I ended up self-publishing my novella, Sword of the Undead, as a POD, for several reasons other than the combination genre I used, but the hybrid nature has reared its head in the marketing of it. Although it is categorized as horror because it is Dracula, by Bram Stoker, re-written, but with a Japanese lord as the vampire and a historical samurai as one of the vampire's enemy, I think it is just as much a pulp samurai fiction. I basically took the formula for Japanese samurai drama of teh 1960's through the 1980's, and the old-school melodrama of pre-1960s horror movies, and combined it into a the Dracula storyline.
I guess because I love both genres, I loved writing the story, but I'm wondering if the book is turning off some readers because it is not a true vampire story, nor is a true samurai/swordplay story.
My best wishes to you and your writing.
@Catana (735)
• United States
8 Aug 10
Wow, even though your book doesn't sound like something I'd normally read, that's a great riff on the Dracula theme. It's been done so many different ways, but never as a Samurai novel, as far as I know. Where did you publish it? Is it still available? I do like good vampire fiction, and have a kind of thing about samurai movies. Not supposed to like them because they're a "guy" thing, but I don't stick to genres when it comes to gender, either.
@sunnyp1 (60)
• Ireland
8 Aug 10
Great question! I think hybrid genres are a good way for authors to follow a formula that is familiar to their readers, and yet for them to do someting creative and new with them as well. And if some hybrids are really successful they will probably become genres in their own right.
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@eclecticsteve (253)
• United States
8 Aug 10
Thank you for your response. My novella, Sword of the Undead, is a hybrid horror/samurai genre. Sometimes, I wonder if this turns off some potential readers because it is not truly a horror book, and it is not truly a samurai sword-fighting book. I agree with you that adding a second genre to the mix adds a freshness to the primary genre used, and has the potential to be the basis of a new genre.
