Genre Blending, or Fusion Writing, by Neil McGowan

 

After a few months delving into the classics, I’ve now gone back to reading more in the genre I write – when asked, I usually say ‘crime’ as that’s easier than saying, ‘Well, it’s a mix of dark psychological thriller with occasional horror thrown in, plus a bit of action and adventure on the side.’ The truth is, as I suspect for most of us who write, it’s hard to pigeonhole oneself into a specific box.

I write stories; that’s the more honest answer, but give that as an answer and you get a frown, followed by, ‘Well yes, but what sort?’

For me, writing is a way to tell a story. That’s my motivation. It’s a way to explore topics I’m interested in. The genre I write in is secondary to that. I generally choose crime, as I enjoy reading it, and I understand the structure. But another writer may take the same idea and approach it from the opposite direction, with equally valid results. I think the same holds true for the reader – each reader’s life experiences will shape their perception of a story in a way that’s unique to themselves. A good story allows this blending of genres.

Take this (very simplified) example: A solicitor is held captive by a member of the aristocracy, who goes on to commit murder. When the solicitor escapes, he teams up with a bunch of friends to chase down and bring the villain to justice. Sounds like the plot of a classic crime novel, doesn’t it?

Let’s add a little more detail: the murder victim was female, and the villain is now targeting another female (one of the group of protagonists) with the intention of abducting them and forcing them to become their latest bride. So now we’re edging more into psychological thriller territory, with perhaps a (twisted) element of romance.

Let’s look at the structure of this book – it’s not written as a conventional narrative, but rather it makes use of the epistolary format to handle multiple points of view. Does this make it experimental fiction, or perhaps a literary work.

It’s all of the above – the book is, of course, Dracula, by Bram Stoker. Marketed as Gothic horror, but trying to pin it down to that genre is not so easy. The lines get even more blurred when you start looking at the various film adaptations – Bela Lugosi was dark and mysterious, and you rarely saw his fangs; Christopher Lee’s Dracula was far more overt in its horror portrayal – Hammer seemed to relish every opportunity to have the fangs on display, usually with copious amounts of (rather fake-looking, now, but when I was a kid, boy did it look real) blood. Francis Ford Coppola’s version brings the romance element to the fore.

I suppose my point is, when I write, it’s because I have a story I want to tell. Hopefully, it will entertain the reader. Choice of genre is very much second to that. Yes, I choose to write a lot of crime, because it allows me to explore elements of social injustice without the writing getting preachy (I’ve only started a couple of books that I didn’t finish since the start of lockdown and both of them were blatant in pushing a particular viewpoint).

My Young Adult books tend to be less crime oriented. I’m much more interested in exploring character and motivation in these. Having a couple of teenage children, and (vaguely) remembering being a teenager myself, I find the subject fascinating, but to write about it convincingly I’ve chosen a more action-based story with elements of fantasy (or perhaps horror – I always think the lines get blurred here). That allows me to drive the story along at a decent pace and write a decent (I think, anyway) story.

So, this month’s reading has been a mix – police procedural from Katerina Diamond (Truth or Die), Psychological thriller by Elizabeth Day (The Magpie), and currently reading Gothic horror (Craig Russel’s Hyde – a retelling of Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde). All good books, and all bought from the crime section of the bookshop, but all very different.