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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/28117
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/28117
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

You can very clearly blend elements of genres. Lots of people have done it. The real question is, will it produce a work with crossover appeal? That is, will it appeal to fans of both genres?

A good example to look at here is Joss Whedon's _Firefly_. It is a very clear blending of elements from westerns and space-opera style science fiction. Which audience did is appeal to? Clearly it appealed to science fiction and fantasy fans. Did it appeal to fans of westerns? Not as far as I can tell.

Now imagine a romance novel set in 1850s Wyoming with a cowboy as the hero. Clearly it will borrow elements from westerns again. Will it pull a lot of Louis L'aMour fans? Probably not.

A genre is fundamentally a promise to the reader that they are going to receive a particular kind of reading experience. Fans of westerns like horses and big hats and schoolmarms in their books to be sure, but they also want a kind of rugged earnestness of a John Wayne, not the smarmy smartassery of a Nathan Fillion.

Firefly, in other words, is science fiction set on a western backlot, but it is still science fiction because it delivers the kind of viewing experience that a science fiction fan wants, not the kind of experience a western fan wants.

So, can you blend elements from one genre into another genre? Certainly. But the result had better still be squarely aimed at the reader of one genre and had better clearly give them the core elements of the experience they expect from that genre, or no one in the entire publishing chain, from agent, to editor, to publicist, to bookseller, to reader, is going to know what to do with it.

Original score: 6