BOOTCAMP LESSON 20: Cross-Genre

Welcome back!

This latest edition of Bootcamp will be an exercise in Cross-Genre, the mixing of multiple literary genres into one story, and how it can be applied to your work. The purpose of this writing prompt is to help us experiment with different genre combinations, and how those pairings can affect a story’s setting and characters.

Lesson 20: Crossing literary genres

The basics of a story is a plotline which follows the exploits of the main characters as they attempt to resolve a conflict while making their way to their intended goal. A genre is a label that characterizes artistic composition of a literary work by analyzing different elements like form, style, or subject matter.

As opposed to the conservatism of most single genre fiction, cross-genre writing offers opportunities for different approaches to telling a story, which can be both fun and a challenge. In the following exercise, you will have to create a synopsis of a story that has two different genres.

So, here are today's guidelines!

• Below is a list of seven literary genres, pick two to work with.
• Following the basics of a storyline, create a short summary which must include;
• A protagonist
• A sidekick
• An antagonist
• An obstacle
• A goal
• Demonstrate how your story is inspired from the two different genres you had selected.
• The summary must be five hundred words or less.

Genres

1. Action & Adventure: Story where a protagonist is placed in a desperate situation while facing seemingly insurmountable odds while trying to accomplish a specific goal.
2. Comedy: Story where the events are told in a funny or comical manner. Comedy is versatile and can easily be merged with other genres.
3. Fantasy: Story based on magic or supernatural elements, relating to outworldly characters and settings. Good examples would be Fairy Tales, Fables and Legends.
4. Historical: Story which focuses on a real person or event. Often used in non fictional literature like biographies.
5. Horror / Thriller: Story where harm and misfortune risk affecting the protagonist(s), told to deliberately evoke a feeling of dread and fear, through suspense, violence or shock.  The protagonist is often pitted against an unbeatable force;  common examples are ghosts, monsters or a merciless psychopath.
6. Romance: Story involving a character's relationships or love interest. This genre is commonly seen combined with other genres.
7. Science fiction: Story based on the impacts of actual, imagined or potential science (be it realistic or not). Common elements are futuristic settings or alien beings. Most notable space themed storylines are those set in the Star Trek and Star Wars universes.

For those who aren’t afraid to share their entries, feel free to submit your backstories as a reply to this post. Remember, this is a game, so no posting bad comments about other people's entries.

Now go! Create! And I hope you have fun giving this exercise a try.

Until next time!

Cheers,

Patrick Osborne