KidLit Forum

Crossover Fiction as Dual or Even Multi-Genre Novels


I think multi-genre books create a whole new language or maybe a new style of writing. For the new generation of writers or for those experimenting creative writing this may be a motto: " We write what we read" . Multi-genre books have potential to reach out to new audiences, to encourage those interested in one genre or to explore new ones. They can also teach us to become more flexible and effective writers and storytellers. We can learn how to convey tones in various ways. For example, suspense in a crime novel is certainly different from the suspense conveyed in a comedic novel. But using both versions or knowing how to use different types of suspense allows one to communicate much more freely.
There are books that strike our interest, that let us think differently after closing the last page or the even open our mind to writing that way. Some such amazingly great multi-genre novels are as follows :

"How I Live Now" (2004) by Meg Rosoff - It's a novel which breaks many long established rules of children's literature. It contains graphic violent incidents; it indicts modern parent-child relationships; it also presents both pleasurable and positive under-age sex between close cousins ; it is about anxiety or the tear of becoming fat, feat of war, terrorism and invasion. It also deals with near future, so it also falls into the category of uchronia, the lack of time or an alternate history ( the Greek term cronos takes the place of topos from utopas, so we get the term uchronia).

"Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" by Haruki Murakami - Perhaps the best description of this book sounds like: a combination of noir, cyberpunk, sci-fi, fantasy, mythology, mystery and magical realism. This novel portrays dual worlds and storylines that features a futuristic Tokyo and a fantasy land completed with unicorns and shadowless people.

"Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace : Set in a near future in somewhat dystopian North America, the novel consists of many plot lines that eventually converge around a family that operates a tennis academy. This encyclopedic novel, perhaps described as a mix of satire, tragicomedy, hysterical realism and postmodernism, is a story about addiction in its various forms. It’s a novel that’s equally parts frustrating, moving, funny and profound.

" The Book Thief" by Markus Zusakthis : This is a book that adults and children alike can appreciate. Part historical, part supernatural and part coming of age, The Book Thief is narrated by none other than Death, who tells the tale of a young German girl named Liesel and her experiences during World War 2.