by Sandra Murphy
Just when you think you know what’s going on in writing, up pops another genre, sub-genre, or blended genre. The latest is curio fiction, at least until the next idea comes along. Try it, it can be a lot of fun.
Take a story, any story, then add the twist of one element being off-kilter. The main story is as usual, whether historical, in the future, or the present. Location, setting, characters, can be what you’d usually write. Now take one giant step out of the usual and you have curio fiction.
What if a ten-year-old boy fishes with his grandfather and the fish pulls the boy in the water? In an ordinary story, readers would worry – can the kid swim, will his grandfather jump in to save him, will the boy be changed for life?
In curio fiction, the fish takes the boy on an underwater tour, shows him where fish live, how they keep the waterway clean, and that fish have families too. Of course, the boy would have gills while he’s underwater, so there’s no fear of drowning.
To take the story one fathom deeper, grandfather had the same experience as a child, and this incident will now be shared history. Will the experience change the boy? Maybe he’ll grow up to be an environmentalist or marine life expert.
Erica Drayton’s article in The Writer, July issue, says using tropes can get you started.
Remember the movie Fifty First Dates? Repetition is a way for a character to learn a needed lesson.
Lessons are often learned by time travel to the future or past.
What if your character never ages?
An experiment gone wrong can cause havoc when the minds of two friends trade bodies; remember Freaky Friday?
What happens after death? Does everyone have the same view of where they’ll be?
Instead of staying in heaven, what if your character returns to an earthly life as a corgi?
Give your character special powers like mind reading. It may sound cool, but knowing what people really think can bring devastating results.
Your character receives a letter from an old love on her wedding day. What happens if she opens it and finds he still loves her? Or he hopes her groom will leave her at the altar like she did to him? Or if she thought he’d died, then finds he’s alive?
We’ve all cried at the end of Old Yeller. What if a veterinarian is watching the movie, falls into the screen, and saves the day with a rabies shot? Will the vet be able to go back, or will he become part of the movie?
There’s always been the idea that a person can take on the traits of another after the transplant of a body part or a blood transfusion. Add AI technology—what happens then?
Whether curio fiction becomes your new favorite genre or is just another way to play with words, it’s bound to flood ideas into your mind like a dam bursting.
Now there’s an idea…what if?
Sandra Murphy is the editor of the Writers and Publishers Network newsletter. She edited the anthology Peace, Love, and Crime: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of the ‘60s. Her collection of short stories is titled From Hay to Eternity: Ten Devilish Tales of Crime and Deception.
