Non-Humans R Us Newsletters

Crossing the Genres

“There’s something important I forgot to tell you! Don’t cross the streams… It would be bad.”

No, this newsletter has nothing to do with Ghostbusters or ghosts- though I might do spirits in a future newsletter. Instead, I’m going to talk about how to mix the genres. This can be tricky at times, unless you know how to write the types of stories you’re trying to mix.

Let’s take Weird West as an example. These are Western-themed stories mixed with elements of other story types. Take Clint Eastwood’s movies High Plains Drifter and Pale Rider. In both of them, Eastwood is portrayed as the mysterious Stranger/Preacher, who comes into a town in need of help, from either a group of outlaws or corrupt businessmen. Certain hints are given that the Stranger/Preacher might have been a lawman/gunfighter who had been killed by the bad guys, especially at the end of their respective films, when, in High Plains Drifter the Stranger passes a man carving a name on a gravestone, and the man stating that the people of town wanted to know who the Stranger was, with the Stranger stating “You already know”, as the man had been working on the murdered Sheriff’s gravestone. In Pale Rider, the corrupt Marshal Stockburn recognizes the Preacher as a man he and his men had gunned down, shouting “You!” just as the Preacher kills him. These two movies have hints of the Supernatural, and/or Spiritual genres, but they aren’t the overall theme, and one is left to draw their own conclusions.

Other Weird West films are more obvious. In BloodRayne 2: Deliverance, half-vampire Rayne comes into town to stop 300 year old vampire, Billy the Kid, from carrying out his plan of creating a vampire empire in the Western half of the United States, and to seek vengeance for those he and his men had killed. Then there’s Tremors 4: The Legend Begins, a prequel to the first three films, where Burt Gummer’s great-grandfather (played by Michel Gross) is forced to hire a gunfighter, (played by Billy Drago) in order to stop this first incursion of Graboids (called Dirt Dragons in this film).

Coincidentally, Billy Drago has had parts in other Weird West films, including the previously mentioned Pale Rider, where he was a corrupt deputy. Other films include, Copperhead, where he plays an outlaw leader in a town that is embattled with a host of deadly copperhead snakes, Ghost Town, where he plays the murderous ghost of a Satanic worshiping outlaw gang/cult leader, killing people who wonder into a ghost town, right up to the Present Day, and even a few guest star appearances as a Western/Native American-themed villain in a few TV shows, including Walker: Texas Ranger.

Now, other genres can be easy to mix. For instance, Sci-Fi/Military stories, such as the Starship Troopers series, tend to deal with elements that are both Military/War related, such as armies and weapons, and tactics, and Sci-Fi related, such as alien races, and spaceships. Certain games, which often are a story of their own, can have multiple genres to go with them, from Historical/Military, to Fantasy/Military, to Sci-Fi/Military, and even more.

The important thing is to be able to blend the different genres in the right way. Do this successfully, and you could write stories that have things that just don’t normally go together, such as a military/romantic/horror/scary/action/adventure story about a werewolf sergeant being involved in a romantic relationship with a human private. Until next time, enjoy your travels in to the lands of Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Horror/Scary, and anything else they connect to.