Crossing Between Genres

[Emily Spencer]

Certain authors are well-known for the genre in which they write. Take Stephen King, for example. The name is synonymous with Horror. The same could be said with J.R.R. Tolkien and Fantasy or H.G. Wells with Science Fiction. That being said...

Which authors (not limited to the above, of course) do you feel could be successful in another genre? Can you see, for example, Anne Rice writing Comedy or J.K. Rowling writing Horror? Alternately, do you believe that authors, once they find a field, should stick to it exclusively? The possibilities are endless.

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

I could easily see Professor J. R. R. Tolkien writing history. That's sort of what the Lord of the Rings books is, a history of events which happened somewhere else and/or at a different time, as well as being high fantasy. The Silmarillion, too, if read by someone not knowing that it was a work of ficiton, might read it as a history.

My first thought, looking at the name J. K. Rowling, is that .... in some ways, the Harry Potter books are sort of horrifying.. She is quoted (Mirror.co.uk 00:00, 9 DEC 2005) as saying that she believes fear is good for kids.

"We need to fear and we need to confront fear in a controlled environment and that's a very important part of growing up.

"The child that has been protected from the dementors in fiction, I would argue, is much more likely to fall prey to them later in life in reality.""

So she could probably easily write horror!

[Emily Spencer]

My first thought, looking at the name J. K. Rowling, is that .... in some ways, the Harry Potter books are sort of horrifying..

You actually bring up a very good point. I'm currently reading them with my daughter (ok, to my daughter would be more accurate) and there are some scenes that I have to skirt around (she's 8). And we're doing Read-Along in Slytherin, and going back and reading some of the passages, even I had the thought of 'Wow, that's grim!" So I could actually see her writing a very good horror book.

Neil Gaiman, who is known mostly for his Dark Fantasy, I could see easily slipping into the Science Fiction genre, or perhaps even Horror. Coraline smacks of horror, and I could see him doing well with that particular genre, should he so choose. With his love of fantasy, I could see him going the Science Fiction/Steampunk route. Put it this way, if he were ever to do so, I would be among the first to buy that book!

[Amy Darvill]

I definitely think authors can change their genre and quite a few have proven successful at it. And I certainly don't expect them to stay put in one literary genre. But I also think one shouldn't change just to say that they did. For example, I can agree on what's already been said of Neil Gaiman and J.K. Rowling, but I can't say that I can picture Anne Rice writing comedy. But she may yet prove me wrong.

I think Emily Bronte could have written a good horror novel or possibly even a dark fantasy. She developed such a good atmosphere in Wuthering Heights and could really pull at you emotionally. It doesn't take much to tweak that in either of those directions.

[Janne Halla]

I'm adding my voice to the people who said that Neil Gaiman would be quite amazing to see as a horror author. I've read Coraline as part of this challenge, and he marvelously does the 'scary' part. I'm still thinking about the Other family and just how eerie all parts of the book were that featured them. If Gaiman managed to do that with a children's story like Coraline, I'd love to see him tackle supernatural horror, similar to H.P. Lovecraft. From Good Omens, we already know he can do delightful supernatural/spiritual storytelling as well.

I love horror, and there's another author that I'd love to see delve more into the genre. Ransom Riggs already touched on elements of horror in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, but that was just a taste of it. In my opinion, it was handled remarkably well and I wonder how it would pan out if instead of fantasy, Riggs focused more on horror. But this is a children's story. The idea of an orphanage, full of children with unbelievable abilities, on a mysterious island, is already scary enough, when you add everything else, it'd really make a good, proper horror. As opposed to Gaiman, who I think would excel in fantasy or supernatural horror, I think Riggs would be a perfect urban horror writer.

[Hiya Debnath]

I have often wondered if J.K. Rowling could write detective stories. J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series is one of my favorite authors. All of us Harry Potter fans may agree that she makes amazing associations between events that seem to be unlinked and builds great suspense throughout her stories, for e.g, Aunt Petunia being Lily's squib sister. She is also great at bringing out the detective in us and somehow manages to keep the mystery alive in her stories and keeps us guessing who the real villain may be, and we don't actually get it till we read about it, for e.g., who would have thought that the stammering Professor Quirrell would have Voldemort's face sticking out the back of his head, and who would have thought that Mad-Eye Moody wasn't actually Mad-Eye Moody, and who put Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire. She is also amazing at making under-age teenagers work their way out of complex mysteries/problems by breaking a few rules and showcasing the imagery of an authority that isn't really competent for e.g., the Ministry of Magic. The way she pits teenagers and children against the most powerful Dark Wizard in the world without raising an eyebrow is amazing. She could definitely use these themes and tools to brew up a brilliant mystery and detective story where the Golden trio or perhaps some other group of children are detectives solving a grave murder mystery in the face of an incompetent authority or crime branch.