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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/36547
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I got into trouble last year for submitting an assignment (Masters in Creative Writing) that included a story that sprinkled elements of humour (think _Despicable Me_) into a gritty and frankly disturbing tale of a homeless man swapping bodies/minds with a teenage girl (think _Freaky Friday_ spiked with _A Clockwork Orange_).

The dismissal of my experiment still rankles; I think mostly because I didn't get an explanation I could use to progress my writing.

Under what circumstances would it be acceptable to mix humour with something approaching horror? If possible, can you give examples of novels/screenplays in which this has worked?

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**PS** I looked at [Is blending genres well received by readers?](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/28114/is-blending-genres-well-received-by-readers) and found some good general advice about blending genres, but nothing that addresses the specific bleed style I am looking at. Similarly, [Writing Across Multiple Genres](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/9508/writing-across-multiple-genres) is more about authors _crossing_ genres rather than _mixing_ them, as is [Writing different genres](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/199/writing-different-genres?rq=1).

Original score: 27