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CHAPTERCrossover Novels
PUSHING THE ENVELOPE
MANY COMMERCIAL NOVELISTS, ESPECIALLY WRITERS OF
genre fiction, feel that they are stuck in a ghetto. The snobs at the
top of the publishing ladder, they have noticed, seem to hate com-
mercial fiction. They rigidly categorize, rake in genre profits, then
squander all of their advertising budgets on flash-in-the-pan liter-
ary writers and a handful of proven best-sellers.
How is a hard-working commercial novelist supposed to get
ahead? One route that many authors are traveling, both for creative
and practical reasons, is that of writing crossover novels; that is,
novels that borrow devices from several genres.
On paper it seems like a good idea. Let us say that you write a
noir tale about a detective who is hired by Satan to trace a man who
has sold his soul. Let us also say the detective lost his memory in
World War II—and gradually comes to realize that the missing man
is someone important to him.
Sounds hot, yes? Not only will this please the mystery audience,
it may also be appealing to horror and occult fans, not to mention
people who simply like a good suspense tale. Surely this is a way
out of the ghetto. How can you lose, in fact, since your audience
has just doubled (or more) in size—right?
Unfortunately, while that sounds good in theory, it is not so in
fact. Crossover novels can be wonderful; indeed, it would be impos-
m