16 July 2022

Mixing Genres


 

A  bit of background, first, before I get to the topic today . . .

This past week I was fortunate enough to speak via Zoom to the Southeast Chapter of MWA about--what else?--short stories. (Thanks once again to Roger Johns and Lynn Willis for inviting me.) I had a great time, and I thought we had a good Q&A. Well, at least a lot of good questions--I can't say whether they were good answers.

Some of those questions won't surprise you. Here are a few that I recall:


Are you a plotter or a pantser?

Do you write the story first and then look for a market, or vice versa?

What do places like AHMM, EQMM, etc., look for in a story?

How long are most of the stories you write?

Where do you get your ideas?

Where do you look for reprint markets?

What's your favorite of all your stories?

What mystery markets pay the most?

What do you think about simultaneous submissions?

How long do you wait before inquiring about a submission?

How much time do you spend on openings, endings, etc.?


And so on.

What did surprise me was the number of questions about mixed-genre (or cross-genre) stories. Among other things, some of the attendees wondered just how much mixing you should do, in stories for mystery markets. Is it okay to write and submit a Western mystery? A mystery/fantasy? A science-fiction mystery? The answer, of course, depends on the particular market--and we're obviously focusing more on magazines here than on anthologies. 


As I explained in the session, some of the leading mystery magazines are more receptive to mixed-genre stories than others are. If you're talking SF/fantasy mysteries, the short answer is that EQMM, The Strand, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, and Woman's World usually prefer no otherworldly or supernatural elements at all in their mystery submissions, while AHMM, Black Cat Weekly, and Mystery Magazine are more open in that regard. At least in my experience. The guidelines of some publications make this clear and some don't; either way, it always helps to read a few issues and study the stories. It's worth pointing out, too, that Black Cat Weekly doesn't publish mysteries exclusively. It also publishes undiluted science fiction stories. Same goes for Woman's World: they publish one mystery story a week, but also one romance story a week.

As for Western mysteries, I've occasionally sold those to almost all the major mystery markets. (One's coming up in the next issue of AHMM.) And I think that makes sense--after all, Westerns can be categorized as historical fiction, which is something all mystery magazines seem to like, and I can also think of very few Westerns that don't involve a crime of some kind.

On that note, remember that most mystery editors seem to believe, as Otto Penzler does, that if a crime is a part of the story, that story qualifies as a mystery. It does not have to be a whodunit. In the episodes of the old TV show Columbo the viewers always knew the identity of the murderer before the detective did--those were howcatchems instead of whodunits--but it was still called a mystery series. AHMM editor Linda Landrigan even pointed out, in a recent YouTube interview with Jane Cleland, that the mere implication of a crime is acceptable.

I have a bit of recent experience with mixed-genre stories: my short story "From Ten to Two" appears in the current issue of Black Cat Weekly. It's sort of a mystery/fantasy/romance/SF story--though if I had to pick a single genre, it's probably more of a time-travel tale than anything else. I can tell you, that story was great fun to write. Mixed-genre stories usually are, for me.

How do you feel about stories that combine one or more genres? Do you like reading them? Have you tried writing them? Are most of them primarily mysteries? Have you sold any mixed-genre/cross-genre stories to mystery publications? Or do you prefer your coffee black and your crime stories undiluted? Do you think most readers do? Have you ever sold a mixed-genre story to another kind of publication, like an SF or a Western market? Let me know.

Meanwhile, I'm keeping my mixer handy.


I'll be back in two weeks.




34 comments:

  1. I've had three cross-genre stories published in magazines. "A Year Without Santa Claus" appeared in AHMM (but was rejected from EQMM). It's what I call a magical realism story. The sleuth (it's a whodunit) is a fairy with magical powers. Santa is real in the story and other stuff like that. But the sleuth can't use her magical powers to essentially snap her fingers and find the killer. She has to sleuth.

    Another cross-genre story I sold was "Crazy Cat Lady" to Black Cat Mystery Magazine. It appeared in the first issue, and they solicited a story from me. I know they don't want cross-genre stories (they've made that clear in their submission guidelines), but this story could be fantastical or it could be not. It's up to the reader to decide. Because it could not be magical, they took it, but I know there was discussion about it beforehand.

    Finally, last year I had "Wishful Thinking" published in Black Cat Weekly. This is a fantasy/crime story set largely in a haunted house. The publisher ran it in October. It was a good fit for that month, which I think of as perfect for spooky stories.

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    1. Barb, I'm not surprised that the Santa Claus story got into AHMM but not EQMM. I've had the same kind of thing happen. As stated, AH is just more receptive to any kind of otherworldly elements. (As long as there's a crime in there.)

      I remember "Crazy Cat Lady"--Good story! I too had a story in that first issue of Black Cat MM. I like the fact that you left it up to the reader to decide if it was woo-woo or not.

      Interesting!--Thanks for the thoughts.

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  2. Good post, John, as always.

    I've only tried mixing genres a few times, but I've always liked the results. I published two stories in Occult Detective some time ago, supernatural stories that involved a crime, and I'm experimenting with more of those. My first published novel had people arguing whether it was a romance or a mystery (now I guess the term would be "romantic suspense"), and I didn't even care. I liked the characters and where they led me.

    I'm trying to try more cross genre because it makes me look at plots from a different angle, which is never a bad thing.

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    1. Steve, it's fun, isn't it? (I think I tried Occult Detective but got rejected.) I too really enjoy putting some of those supernatural touches into a story now and then. And I find myself doing it more often now than I used to.

      Yep, I think romantic suspense is now the term for crime-romance stories. And yes--as you said--what does it matter what it's called??

      I believe anything you can do to make a story more fun to write will result in a story that's more fun to read. Thank you as always for the insights!

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  3. Mixing genres is tricky, but sometimes the seemingly dissimilar can successfully cross-pollinate each other. The June 2020 Mystery Magazine published my story "The Calculus of Karma," a sci-fi/murder mystery on the mining asteroid Psyche. I've never had so much fun researching and writing a story.

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    1. HA! Glad to hear you had a good time, and I'm not surprised. That kind of research can be a blast. Anytime you can create a separate and unique "world" like that, it makes writing even more fun than it usually is.

      Congrats on the MM story, and keep it up!

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    2. This is John (Blogger has suddenly decided to make me "Anonymous"). Will try to get this fixed. Meanwhile, I guess this blog has become comedy and SF along with mystery . . .)

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    3. John, however you want to describe your blog, it's a "go-to" site for me.

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    4. Good to hear that, Mike. Thank you so much!

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  4. I haven't tried writing a cross-genre story but I enjoy reading them--something a little different to tickle the imagination. Good post.

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    1. Again, I'm not anonymous. I'm Susan Oleksiw.

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    2. Susan, you should definitely give it a try sometime. You'd like it, and--as has been said here today by me and others--you'll be able to find a market that will like it as well.

      Thank you as always for stopping in (anonymously or not).

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    3. Well, dammit, now my comments are going in as "Anonymous" too. This is John--I'll try to get this fixed. Man, I love Blogger more and more every day.

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    4. Have you tried WordPress? Works for me.

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    5. Mike, I've heard good things about WordPress, for sure.

      I think my current problem today (I often have several problems per day) is with Safari. When I open a different browser, Like Firefox, and sign into Blogger there, it allows me to enter a SleuthSayers comment as myself and not Anonymous. But it's still a pain.

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  5. Great post as always John. I actually am a big fan of mixed-genre or cross-genre stories, though they can be hard to sell. I've a recent sci-fi mystery that EQMM and AHMM both said was very good but too "out there" for them. I think Black Cat Weekly with its deliberate mix of genres may be an excellent market for those of us who like to dabble these sort of stores. Occult Detective too. I like detective stories in the Night Stalker / X Files vein (I wanted to be Kolchak as a kid!) but theyre a hard sell. Too weird for mystery magazines but usually not extreme enough for the science fiction mags.

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    1. Hey Bill. Yep, finding markets for the mixed-genre stories can be tricky. Do remember that Mystery Magazine occasionally takes mysteries that have other genres thrown in--seven of the eighteen stories I've sold to MM have been mixed-genre (Westerns, fantasy, SF, etc., along the the crime element). And ralan.com always has some good suggestions, since it's primarily a resource for otherworldly stories.

      Also, certain crime anthologies don't seem to mind if you include a woo-woo factor. So far I've not written a cross-genre story that I couldn't eventually place somewhere. Like you and me, I think editors and readers in general like those kinds of stories.

      Thanks for the comment!

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  6. To put it simply, I love mixed-genre stories - when they're well done.

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    1. Me too, Eve. I'm beginning to think most writers (and readers) do.

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  7. Hi, John, and thanks for another goodie. If memory serves, I have sold two crime/fantasy stories, one each to EQMM ("iMurder," about an iPhone app that kills people) and AHMM ("Pisan Zapra," which may—or may not—be about a vengeful Malaysian spirit), and two crime/sf stories to anthologies. All four of them were fun to write, but I don't think I'd make a habit of crossing genres into either fantasy or science fiction....

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    1. Josh, I sit corrected--I doubted that EQMM would publish a crime/fantasy story. Glad to hear you had success with that one. Also pleased that you found homes for those two crime/SF stories in anthologies. (That's where most of my mixed-genre stories have landed.)

      Keep selling those EQMM stories--I want to hear from you when they reach 100!

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  8. I love to read urban fantasy and cross-genre mystery/urban fantasy. I consider Charlaine Harris the #1 exemplar. I write a series of short stories about Jewish country artist/ shapeshifter Emerald Love (born Amy Greenstein). The first, a novelette called “Shifting is for the Goyim,” was originally published by Untreed Reads and is currently available for Kindle. One story appeared in a SinC Guppies anthology, one in Mystery Weekly (now Mystery Magazine), and one is due in August from Black Cat Weekly. I’m in the process of revising a new one. I’ve also written a couple of spinoff stories set in the 1950s about a high school girl, also a Jewish shapeshifter, who is actually Emerald’s mother. One appeared in Spinetingler, the other in Kings River Life. The challenge is definitely finding places to submit. I include crime because I don’t know how to write a story without a crime in it and make it interesting, even though I often have the situation and the characters and then struggle to come up with the crime. Sound crazy? What can I say?

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    1. No explanation needed, Liz--sounds like you know exactly what you're doing! And yes, I'm sure that was/is a challenge, finding markets for stories about Jewish shapeshifters. But you've found them! Keep writing those great stories.

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  9. Wonderful, John! We both grew up watching (we grew up? :) ) the original "Twilight Zone," which mixed genres, most frequently doing fantasy of sci-fi westerns. I'm barely a pro but I would recommend anybody who has one sending any sci-fi mystery to "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction" which (from what I've heard) doesn't get nearly enough sci-fi.

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    1. Yes, Jeff, you and I watched shows like TZ but I'm not sure either of us ever *grew up*. And I'm glad we haven't. BTW, the best spooky Western I ever saw on Twilight Zone was "The Grave." Lee Marvin, I think, and Lee Van Cleef and others.

      I agree that the Mag. of F&SF would be a great place to send a cross-genre science fiction story. I've submitted stories to them several times but alas, no cigar. (But it won't stop me from trying again.)

      Thanks for the post. And stay in touch!

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    2. Oh Lord! "The Grave" is one of the best! It scared the bejabbers out of me when I was watching the reruns at age 10, and we saw it recently and it still chills! I'd pair it up with the "Night Gallery" with Buddy Ebsen: "The Waiting Room."

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    3. J. F. Benedetto18 July, 2022 00:53

      You know, I had not actually thought about it until now, but I have gotten more cross-genre stories published than I have straight crime-mysteries. I just did the count, and it looks like I've sold 11 traditional crime stories, versus 14 mixed-genre ones. I've done Steampunk tales, Historical stories, Adventure yarns, and Science Fiction narratives that all centered around a mystery. To be honest, it never struck me as that unusual, really, writing mystery stories in all those different genres. As a matter of fact, I am at this moment writing an Historical noir/mystery story set in the 19th Century ... for me, all of the genres are places to put a good mystery plot. I enjoy writing them, and really enjoy reading them as well.

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    4. Jeff, I too watched "The Grave" again not long ago--as I think I told you, I bought a set of all the TZ episodes on DVD, and I love 'em. I've been debating whether to buy the Night Gallery series also, because I recall a lot of good stories there too. I do NOT remember "The Waiting Room"--but I'll find it! Thanks.

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    5. Joseph -- Good to hear from you!

      I'm not at all surprised to hear that most of your mystery stories have been cross-genre. I think most of mine are also, at least in recent years. And I've found that the fun of writing a story often translates into the fun of reading it. In other words, if you found the story interesting to write, others will find it interesting to read. (I'm sure that's not always true, but I think it often is.) And introducing additional genres is usually interesting.

      Keep up the good work!

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    6. John, I will recommend the Night Gallery DVDs. The show (at its best) is worth it, even if you get a used copy! The tv reruns are unnecessarily hacked-up, and not only are these episodes whole and remastered but the set includes one they had to reconstruct (the one with Will Geer having some gleeful fun!) It also has the original tv movie and an Easter Egg of Serling in the Gallery mugging for the camera!

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    7. You sold me, Jeff. I'll order them via Amazon.

      Thanks!

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    8. Jeff, I ordered the whole Night Gallery series on DVD a few minutes ago. It'll be here later this week. Much obliged for the recommendation.

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    9. No problem! You seriously won't regret it!

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