I suspect - as JB and Colin have suggested - that this is one of those questions where the real answer to 'Can I have a multi-genre plot?' is 'Yes but only if you can make it work,' which is wholly tru doesn't actually get the writer much further. Funny how many questions about writing and the book trade have answers like that, isn't it...

Emma

I suppose it's because there isn't really one answer.

Look, I don't want to sound like the authority here, as I'm just passing on my own personal experience. In my case, my multi-genre attempt just didn't really work. Looking back, I can see why - I mean, a dark fantasy laced with slapstick comedy? And then wrapped in anti-Biblical myth? It also weaved between fantasy and science fiction rather wildly, and was, all told, a bit of a mess. I can see that now.

In my case, it was a question of someone advising me that in being over-ambitious and wilfully experimental, I'd perhaps created one of the most interesting literary non-sellers they'd ever read - although the writing and the basic plot were great, apparently, so that just made me a pain in the arse. Focus!

JB

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The agent actually told me I was a pain in the arse. That was an eyebrow raiser, I'll tell you.

Besides, 'magical realism' is just a posh word for fantasy.

Well, yes and no. There are certainly fantastical elements to magical realism, but there's a big difference between MR and fantasy. Most obviously, fantasy constructs alternate worlds to our own, whereas magical realism is rooted firmly in human experience (dictated by history, culture, geography, philosophy, etc...). If anything, magical realism is about creating heightened reality (you wouldn't call Jorge Luis Borges a fantasy writer, would you? at least, I wouldn't).

Yes, I can see that. I was just being flippant. It's enough to make the old head spin!

JB

I was about to mention From Dusk Til Dawn too! It is a good example, but I loved it.