Writing a book that covers multiple genres can be a really fun but relatively challenging task because of just how much goes into a single genre of literature. However, multi-genre books provide readers with some great experiences with fresh and engaging plot lines that combine all the best things about genres that everyone loves so much. Writing a proper book that combines multiple genres will require some balancing in order to make it effective. So, for today’s post, I’ll be talking about how to write a multi-genre book and how to make sure it’s great!
Pick Your Genres
Before you even get into the details, you want to pick your genres first and oftentimes, writers will choose to pick two but you can pick more than that so long as you can ensure that you’ll be able to balance all of these different genre elements together.
Some of the most popular multi-genre combinations are things like sci-fantasy (science fiction with fantasy), romantasy (romance with fantasy), horror western (horror with western), and more.
I personally wrote a multi-genre series myself, which is called The Fallen Age Saga. It’s a grimdark sci-fantasy series. It’s very much a combination of many genres and subgenres and I understand that writing across these different styles can get confusing sometimes.
Understand the Genres
Once you’ve picked your genres, it’s important to actually understand what the genres you will be writing are, as if you understand them, you’ll be able to properly combine them, Each genre has its own style, tropes, reader expectations, and more, so you’ll need to be pretty strategic when combining them.
The way to do this is to basically conduct some research on the genres and if you want to learn how to do research, then check out this post on my top research tips and tricks!
Furthermore, one of the best ways to actually research a literary genre is to actually go out and find books in that genre, read those books, and try to note what elements are in-common across all of these books.
Fantasy is a genre that I personally love and write in often and it often includes elements like world building and complex magic systems. Romance on the other hand focuses on things like character relationships and emotional arcs built around romance. Thrillers focus on the intrigue and mystery of the story while including high-stakes action. Horror focuses on building dread and terrifying the reader.
As you can see each genre effectively has its own things that make it stand out against others and that’s important to remember when you combine multiple genres to make a story.
Pick Your Main Genre
Even if you are writing in a multi-genre setting, you still need to have some sort of emphasis put on one of the genres the most and this is basically what will be the backbone of your story. It will be what you want to structure your story around since different genres have different story structures.
For example, if you want to write fantasy and what to combine it with romance, you have two options:
If you want to learn more about the difference between the two, check out this post.
By identifying what your primary genre is supposed to be, you basically give yourself a chance to understand where you should be focusing your story more and how you should structure it, as well as what the most important details and elements are to the plot. So, for example, with romantasy, romance takes precedence over the world building in most stories because a romance story ultimately is structured around a relationship and not really a world.
Identify Where Your Genres Meet
When you are blending genres, one thing that can help you figure out how to make your story written more effectively is to find the elements in the genres where they sort of align or meet. This could be stuff like common themes, story structures, world building elements and more.
For example, if you’re writing a horror western, you might find that a lot of westerns have that sort of eerie, empty west feel that would align perfectly with horror stories that rely on dread and intrigue.
You want these overlaps to be highlighted so that you can ensure that your story’s narrative flows well, even if there are many genres at play.
Create a Compelling Plot
With a multi-genre book, you will probably need a plot that is more flexible and accommodating for the many genres out there so that you can effectively include the genres and their styles into the story without feeling like you are pushed too far in one direction over the other. However, the standard plot format that I always recommend is the three-act structure. Unless you feel comfortable branching out, the three-act structure is a great system to use when you aren’t sure what your plot is supposed to be structured as.
Create Interesting, Memorable Characters
As with any other story out there that focuses on characters, you want to ensure that the characters are interesting, memorable, and complex and that their role in the story fits in well with your multi-genre story.
For instance, if your story is supposed to be a horror western, maybe your main character is a cowboy who is forced to solve a sort of mystery of strange paranormal sightings in his small, creepy town.
In this case, your character will need to be fleshed out well and it has to be clear why he cares about solving this mystery in the first place. Maybe these paranormal creatures are the reason why someone he cares about has gone missing or they are leading people to run away from the town, making him further isolated than before.
You want to focus on characters that will contribute to your narrative and that will be engaging and interesting. If you want to learn more about how to write memorable characters, then check out this post!
Maintain Consistent Style
Another thing you need to ensure is that you have a consistent style and that your multi-genre book, even if it’s multi-genre, has a consistent style and tone in delivery. You want to ensure that you are actually blending the elements of the two genres and that things are not confusing or muddled. Furthermore, you want to mix the elements in a way where they actually enhance each other rather than detract from each other.
Check Your Pacing
This is more of a general tip, but it’s also important to check your pacing in your multi-genre book. Different genres often require different styles of writing, but if you’re combining genres, you’re going to have to be careful about this. For instance, a thriller novel is supposed to have a fast-paced and intense feel mixed with moments of suspense while romance requires slow, emotional connection and sometimes tension. When combining the two, it can get easy to force the romance or detract from the action, but you have to be careful of this to ensure that the story is being paced out properly.
The best way to do this is to plan your book and to potentially outline your chapters before you even start writing. If you aren’t sure why outlining is important, then check out this post!
Keep Reader Expectations in Your Mind
Readers of certain genres will have certain expectations and ideas of what should be in that particular genre. This is why you’ll see stories within a certain genre that convey the same ideas across multiple stories from different authors because readers tend to expect to see these things in the stories that they want to see.
When it comes to combining genres, you’ll likely find fans of whatever genres you’ve chosen to combine coming to read your book and each one will be expecting to see something. This is why it’s important to read books from these genres and understand what sort of expectations readers have when it comes to these genres so that you don’t leave anyone disappointed.
However, do understand that when writing something that is multi-genre, you will find people who will not be pleased with certain elements of your story and that’s fine. You cannot please everyone and you cannot be expected to either.
Get Feedback
One of the things that some writers skip out on the most is the idea of getting feedback from readers. The best way to get readers to see what your book is like and to get feedback is to enlist the help of beta readers.
A beta reader is basically someone that agrees to read a book that is still in a sort of draft phase (basically, before the book is completed and ready for publication). The beta reader will read your story and give you the proper type of feedback on the story, as well as let you know if the target audience has appropriately been reached.
If you want to learn more about how to get beta readers, then check out this post!
Market to Your Audiences
When you are marketing to your audience for a multi-genre book, you basically have many audiences that will be interested in reading your book. However, you want to be sure that you are accurately representing your story. So, if your story is primarily a romance, then you need to be sure to let readers know. However, if your story has a romantic subplot, your marketing should not be focused on the romance only because readers will feel misled when they go to check out your story.
Conclusion
Although writing a multi-genre book can seem confusing sometimes, it’s important to remember that it’s not so difficult when you break things down and follow the tips above. You just want to make sure that you are understanding your genres, that you understand the reader’s expectations of your genres, and that your marketing is accurate to the content within your book.
Before you head on out, be sure to check out my series, The Fallen Age Saga, and don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter so you can get updates on all my latest book releases, WIPs, posts and more!