Genre Mashups: Scares in space

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m so glad you stopped by! It’s finale week, as it’s the last week of the month… and I am, as always, a little sad to see this series go. I’ve been enjoying it. Don’t I always? I’ve had a lot of fun coming up with writing prompts, and discussing many of the different facets of genre, before we get into the amazing month of November, for NaNoWriMo. Do you all have ideas of what you’re going to be writing, this November? If you do, drop me a line and let me know! I’d love the chance to encourage you along the way!

But for now, let’s get into the final week of our October series! This month, as you know, we’re talking genre. We’ve been discussing some genres that aren’t often seen together, and discussing a writing prompt for how to mash those two genres together. And while last week we talked about one half of my wheel house, today, we’ll be talking about the other.

Genre Mashups: Scares in space

That’s right; today, we’re talking about science fiction and horror. Two genres that I get a great deal of enjoyment from. In fact, I have a whole full-length novel series in science fiction, and I’ve written a few short stories in horror. They’re both great ways to really let out that creative energy, for me.

But let’s define our genres, shall we?

Horror is, as we said last week, just that. It’s a genre that’s focused around horror. There’s usually jump scares, heart-pounding tension, blood, guts, gore, creepy-crawlies, monsters, thrashers, serial killers—the list goes on. It’s a categorical genre, defined mostly by the fact that anything in horror must have elements really designed to freak people out. We want to be scared, when we read horror. And only sometimes do we want to really feel better, by the end of the book.

Science fiction, on the other hand, is a little harder to define. It’s a genre that often takes place in the future, because it’s often defined by levels of science that we haven’t achieved yet, in reality. Things like hover cars, laser blasters, space travel as a common occurrence, even aliens and other worlds, exist in science fiction. It’s a genre that is, again, very categorical. Science fiction is really defined by things that exist within the genre, rather than the theme the story takes within the genre (like mystery, for example, which is defined by a thing taking place, but not by anything else within the genre).

For me, I think science fiction and horror mash together quite nicely. And if I’m honest, there are zillions of authors out there who are already messing with these two, already throwing them together every chance they get.

But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t play with these two—because, again, just because other authors are doing it, doesn’t mean we’ve done it.

So, write me a story. Write me a story that takes place in the future, where space travel is a common occurrence. Write me a story where there’s a ship on a pilgrimage to a new world, a better world (they don’t necessarily have to be from Earth). While they’re on that pilgrimage, disaster needs to strike. What’s your biggest fear? That’s the thing that manifests, for every member of the crew. But why? And what dangers will that bring, along the way?

Just some questions, for you to answer. As always, I have lots of ideas for this one. Let me know if you write something off this prompt! I’d love to see what you come up with!

[love]

{Rani Divine}