Genre Mashups: A mystery in the stars

Well, it's Tuesday... and I see now that this didn't post last week, like I meant it to. So here it is, several days late! And don't worry, I'm also starting this month's series today, as well.

~

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! It’s finale day! Well, technically it should've been yesterday... but I'm only a day late! (or more...)

All month long, we’ve been talking about a plethora of genres, and mashing them together to get our creative juices flowing, to get ourselves ready for the month of writing that is NaNoWriMo. We’ve put together genres that easily go together, and genres that really… don’t… and honestly, I’ve had a great deal of fun playing with the writing prompts I’ve been putting at the end of each post—and I’ve loved seeing what you’ve all come up with!

So let’s get into our final episode, shall we?

Genre Mashups: A mystery in the stars

Today, we’re talking mystery and science fiction—two genres that I adore seeing together, and that I’m honestly really bad at putting together. I’ve tried, in one way or another, and it just never works out. I’m more of an action writer, if I do say so myself.

But that won’t stop me from talking about these two, today.

Let’s define!

Science fiction is, as we talked about the other day, a genre that’s defined by things that appear or take place within the genre. It’s a genre that’s littered with scientific advancements, things like laser blasters and holograms, all as mundane parts of life for the characters within. It’s a genre that often takes place at least partially in space, or on another world altogether—and it’s one of my favorite genres to write.

Mystery, on the other hand, is a genre that’s defined by the single thing that must take place within the story. There must be a mystery. There’s usually a detective, though not always a willing one, and sometimes it’s a complete amateur. But there’s no other requirement, when it comes to this genre. All it demands is that there must be a mystery, and the focus of the book must be on the solving of that mystery. Simple, right? Except that this means we have the world available, to throw into the story… and sometimes that makes it even more difficult to write.

These two, I think, are a pair that belong together. Like the beginning of The Expanse, where it was focused on the mystery of the girl’s death, and nothing else mattered (it really devolved, after that)… science fiction and mystery can be one of the most cunning pairs, and often keep readers glued to the page from start to finish, without really trying. We just gotta know how it ends!

So let’s put them together, shall we?

Write me a story, set on Earth, in the far future. There’s so much technology around that there are no police officers anymore, no detectives, no law enforcement. We’re so technologically advanced that we don’t need those anymore, because we keep our people in line, with our technology. But then somebody dies. And somebody sees. And that second somebody, they need to find out what’s really going on.

Lead us on a merry chase, my dear writers! Show me what you’ve got. I think this one could be amazing, when it comes to a NaNoWriMo story.

Thank you all so much for joining me, this month (let's pretend it's still October, for just a second longer)! I have a special series lined up for November, so be sure to stop by and see what we’ll be focusing on all next month!

[love]

{Rani Divine}