Sunday, February 12, 2023

Genre Integration

My newest (non-titled) novel is a mashup of sci-fi and fantasy, and one of the biggest problems I've run into is how to successfully integrate those genres, and I don't just mean the subject matter and plot.  A rather large challenge has been which writing style to adopt.

Anyone who's read either genre knows that the writing styles are vastly different for each.  Sci-fi can be techy and much like an opera at times, while fantasy tends towards epic and grandiose.  They flow differently, and while each is exciting, switching back and forth between the styles might leave the reader feeling a but like they've ridden through turbulence.

I'm not going into hardcore sci-fi for that part of the story for a few reasons, the main one being I'm not a hardcore science/techy writer.  Not only can I not write it well, I don't enjoy that kind of sci-fi myself.  So rather than force it into a story where it doesn't belong, I'm gong to avoid it altogether.  Full on epic isn't really my style either since it's a bit too esoteric for my liking.

What I'm trying is to make the flip subtle enough where it's not jarring for the reader, but where they can definitely tell that the genre point of view has changed.  There will be more sciencey stuff in the sci-fi portions where the off-world visitors from Earth are traveling across space and using medicine or pulse rifles, and it will be a bit more magicky during the fantasy portion where the Braelish Regent has to employ his dragon corps or the pirate mages need to use magically produced wind to escape.

I haven't tried this before, so it's a challenge, and that's where I'll need input from my beta-readers when and if I ever have enough again to give to them(and they haven't written me off since it's been more than a year since they've gotten anything).  And as it can be jarring to the reader, imagine what it's like for me as the author.  I've often spoken about how the first 50-100 words is rough when starting the writing day because of the need to break the inertia; well, this is sorta like that every time I switch POVs.

If it works, it'll be my most epic story.  If it doesn't, it'll be years of wasted time...

No comments:

Post a Comment