EXERCISE: Seven genres for Halloween?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original Posting 1 Oct 2012

All right, here's something that might spark some thoughts about Halloween. Just remember that Halloween traditionally is about monsters and things that go bump in the night. Then take a look at this list of seven genres, borrowed from Save the Cat! By Blake Snyder.

1. Monster in the house. Take your characters, put them in a crucible, a limited situation of some kind, and then let something loose...
2. The Golden fleece. A quest, my kingdom for a quest...
3. Out of the bottle. Love potion number nine? Anyway you look at it, wish fulfillment often turns out to be a little more complicated than we would like...
4. A dude with a problem. Take one ordinary guy (or girl) and drop them into extraordinary circumstances. What happens then?
5. Rites of passage. In every life, there are changes. And when those changes happen, how do we handle them?
6. The fool triumphant! From rags to riches, beating the odds and winning! Little orphan Annie does it again!
7. The superhero. Take one extraordinary guy (girl, vampire, whatever?) And drop them into ordinary circumstances! How do they handle that?

Okay? Something traditional like a monster in the house? A search for the...? What about a little magic? When things get weird, what are you going to do? Or one of the other three? Mix with a little Halloween horror, witches, headless horseman and pumpkins, voodoo, or what ever you do, toss in characters, setting, and all that good stuff of writing, and let's see what kind of a tale of Halloween you can spin!