Update:  The inner of a copy of GRAVE NEW DAY is…Cindy Carrol! Congrats, Cindy!

Paranormal authors must have certain qualities in order to write in their genre: A very open mind. Imagination that goes beyond the earthly realm. Love of the unexplained. Maybe we all have a bit of scientist in us. In our own way we’re exploring our world and beyond. We look at our plot and ask ‘what if’ we twist this into something darker and more dangerous (just saying that makes me smile). And for those whose imagination extends beyond the boundaries of earthly unexplained phenomena or mythology – there are no limits to what can be done in the paranormal genre. Editors are looking for what’s different, but in a way that is familiar and sought-after by readers. As difficult as that sounds, there are elements that are intrinsic in all books.

Good writing is based on emotion. In my mind, the main, most important element of your book is emotion. The eerie/dangerous/magical/maniacal, and the list goes on… elements lend themselves nicely to building emotion and angst in our books, so it’s lots of fun to write. The characters are bigger than life, so their emotions and angst have to be bigger than life as well. That can be a challenge.

More often than not these characters are physically stronger than normal. Maybe they can’t die. Or maybe they can die, but it’s very difficult to kill them. Or they have superpowers, but a green meteor rock is their Achilles heel. <G> That creates major differences from writing non-paranormal books (obviously) but it goes further than that. Creating these personalities is different, not just because our characters are paranormal, but because their emotions can’t possibly be the same as a real person’s. Their lives aren’t impacted by the same things as mortal men, therefore, their fears and desires must also be different. For example: What are paranormal characters afraid of? What kinds of angst do they have? Their daily lives are unpredictable, and their abilities are not the same as mortal men.

I’ve always wanted to write category romance as well as paranormal but couldn’t quite sell the romances even though I came close. I now believe it was because I didn’t understand the importance of emotion in the romances. Sounds silly not understanding the importance of emotion in a romance – I know. I thought I wrote enough emotion, but in reality I was more interested in creating unique plots, etc. than making sure the hero and heroine were emotionally and inseparably connected.

It wasn’t until I began to write paranormals that I realized how paramount emotion is to binding my whole story into an unputdownable book. That’s when I realized what I’d been doing wrong. For some reason, I “got it” when I wrote paranormal. Paranormal romance has many of the same relationship elements as does a regular romance, only in a paranormal, life and death often come into play; relationships are doomed if not impossible, problems seem insurmountable, needs are bigger and emotion is as jagged and exposed as many of the wounds and conflicts in the books.

Given that information, writing a paranormal character who can’t die, or who is exponentially stronger than any human, it’s important to create a set of problems for the hero or heroine that is as large as the characters themselves. Uber emotion. Their problems have to be worse. They don’t worry about death, they don’t worry about pain (sometimes) — so what do they worry about?

My heroine is a vampire, her brother is a priest. She worries about losing her faith. About going against everything she and her brother believe in. There’s nothing small about that. It’s her daily angst, she worries that she’ll lose herself to the darkness that invades her soul every minute. She can’t die, but she can lose her immortal soul. A worse than death problem for her.

It wasn’t until I started writing Jess Vandermire, my female vampire and John Brittain, her love match and human ex-cop that I learned how integral emotion is in a book. She’s strong—he’s weaker physically. She might kill him if she loses control; and if that happens, the only way he can stop her is to kill her. Not something either of them wants to contemplate. Their problems seem insurmountable. Yet, I did give them a point of connection at the beginning of the series. She’s a vampire and can no longer practice her faith, he’s an ex-cop who believes he committed murder and therefore won’t go back to the church because he committed a mortal sin. It’s the one area where they are equal and they understand how the other feels. They understand on an emotional level, rather than physical level.

The next time you read a book, try reading it for the emotion. Maybe compare the books you really like to those that aren’t quite your cup of tea. You might find the differences are in the amount of emotion conveyed in the books…

Thanks to all the readers and writers who’ve joined in on this blog and have taken the time to listen to this author’s perspective on writing. It’s been a pleasure.

Thanks very much, Cynthia, for inviting me to your blog. You’ve done a great job with it.

There’ll be a ‘Grave New Day’ – New Release giveaway at the end of the day.  If you win, and you’d rather start with the first book in the series, rather than the third, I’ll send you Grave Illusions to get you started.

Allright, blog update here with the winners!

Stephanie G and Quilt Lady, please email me at my website , www.julianastone.com with your deets and I’ll mail you each out a signed copy of HIS DARKEST HUNGER along with a signed copy of the sparkly new coverflats I just recieved for book 2, HIS DARKEST EMBRACE!  thanks for all the comments….this was fun!  Juliana

Hey everybody!  Happy Friday!  I wanna give a huge shout out to miss Cynthia and thank her for letting me have a bit of space here during this huge party month for her!  And a huge congrats on her books finalling in all those contests! Woot!

A little introduction, I’m Juliana Stone a new author on the paranormal scene and my debut came out in April from Avon,  HIS DARKEST HUNGER! 

Isn’t it pretty!!!????  My series, The Jaguar Warriors deals with a family of jaguar shifters and all sorts of other paranormal beings, but the main focus in this particular story arc are the Castille brothers.  They are all very different from each other but share a few common characteristics.  They’re  tall, dark and dangerous!  Just the way I like them!

I have several secondary characters, one of which, Cracker, a critique partner of mine totally loves.  I can see why, he’s rough around the edges with an air of mystery that deepens as each book progresses.  I’ve also had several readers write me about Declan O’Hara…the sorcerer.  I will freely admit since I began to write book two in this series, I’ve been looking ahead to his book.

There’s something about him that really touches me and I’m crushing huge on Declan these days.  He’s an arrogant, sharp, witty and sarcastic dude who I fashioned after David Boreanaz….um, after I saw this pic:

yeah, I know…this is one sexy picture!  But all of this got me to thinking…what is it about certain characters that call to you?  I’ve read books before where a secondary character will stay with me for days afterward…and I can’t wait to read their book!

Luckily for me, I just started the fourth book and it stars the delicious, naughty and dangerous Declan O’Hara!  In honour of this I am going to give away two signed copies of HIS DARKEST HUNGER as well as a few copy flats that I just recieved today for my second book, HIS DARKEST EMBRACE.

All you have to do is tell  me what makes a character sexy for you personally, and who was the most interesting secondary character in a recent book that you’ve read, one whose story you cannot wait for!

Sound cool?  Feel free to visit me as well at www.julianastone.com   where you can read the first chapter in my second book, HIS DARKEST EMBRACE…

Update: Time to announce the winners!! The three lucky commenters are…Jean P, Diane Sadler, and Stephanie G!  Congrats! Check your email for prize details.  🙂

I love when Cynthia does her month-long blog parties!  It’s so fun reading all the authors’ posts.  I want to talk a bit about my new series from Nocturne, OF ANGELS AND DEMONS.  I’ve always wanted to write angels, but could never really get into the whole ‘guardian’ or ‘goodness’ thing when it came to them.  I know they can be fierce warriors, and that they are not always as good as we like to think they are.

Take the Fallen angels, for example.  They Fell because they were enamored by mortal women, and well, they wanted to get it on with them.  Not exactly an upstanding hero.  So why make them heroes?

In my first book for the series, the Fallen ones are the bad guys.  And it’s the demons who are the good guys.  Kinda fun to reverse the standard roles and see what kind of trouble I could put them both into.  Oh, and for some odd reason, vampires always seem to show up in my stories.  Go figure.  🙂

The hero of ANGEL SLAYER, is Ashuriel the Black, Stealer of Souls, Master of Dethnyht.  You can call him Ashur, because the title is a bit much.  His only purpose walking earth is to slay the Fallen.  But one thing about demons?  They thrive on sin.  They need it to survive.  So while Ashur is doing his best to play the hero and slay the bad guy, he’s got some sinning to do just to stay alive.  I hope you’ll enjoy this new twist of a hero as much as I did writing him.

What characters types or creatures have you seen classically written as villains that you’d like to see redeemed and offered more heroic roles?

I’ve got three copies of ANGEL SLAYER to give away to 3 commenters.  So let’s chat heroic villains!

Michele

Update:  The winner of a copy of Donna Grant’s DANGEROUS HIGHLANDER is CatsMeow! Congrats!!  And thanks for all the comments!

Today, I’m thrilled to have awesome author Donna Grant as my guest blogger.  Donna, welcome!

Scotland

Maybe it’s because I write historical novels, but one of the most asked questions I get is “would you travel back in time and to where?”

It’s an easy answer for me.  Yes, I would travel back in time, and I’d go to Medieval Scotland.  It would take some getting used to, especially the lack of plumbing, toothbrushes, caffeine, and pasta.

I have no doubt life would be more than difficult.  After all, we’re used to remote control TV, information easily – and quickly – accessible through computers, not to mention cell phones and iPods. We’re the information age with instant gratification.

Our world is so drastically different than Medieval Scotland.  In a few short hundred years, lives went from basic living off the land and seeing people daily to hectic days, buying food from grocery stores, and going months, if not years, without seeing or speaking to your neighbor, much less speaking to people you pass on the street or the mall.

Could we survive in medieval times?  Putting aside the leap in physical hygiene over the ages, life was much simpler back then.  If you had a problem with someone, you faced them instead of texting or emailing them.  If you wanted to call off an affair, there was no hiding behind technology.  You stood before them and said your piece.

There’s a debate in whether medieval life was more violent.  At least in medieval times, you saw your opponent attack and you had time to retaliate or hide.  Now, with bombs that can cross oceans, that silent, almost constant worry hangs over our head.

Still, knowing all of this, I would love to see Medieval Scotland.  I’ve always been drawn to Scotland.  Maybe that’s why I centered my Dark Sword series there.  The second book in the series, FORBIDDEN HIGHLANDER, released yesterday, and I hope you pick up the book to be transported back to another time and place.

So, I want to know – Would you time travel if given the option?

I’ll be giving away a signed copy DANGEROUS HIGHLANDER to a commenter.  Happy Reading!

To find out more about me please visit my website at www.donnagrant.com.  To read more about the Dark Sword series, see pics of the Warriors, take the quiz, download wallpaper, or search characters, please visit www.donnagrant.com/darksword.

hugs,
D

Update: The winner of a SKIN TIGHT copy is…Raelena!! Congrats!! I will email you with prize claim details. Thanks for all the comments!

First, thanks to Cindy for having me today! Today is the release of SKIN TIGHT, which features one of my favorite heroes of fall time. Why? Because he’s an antagonist in the first book, and I love a redemption. He also does something fairly despicable in SKIN GAME, which made for a fun setup for his romance with his heroine. She’s pretty freakin’ mad at him when their book starts. In fact, she’s pretty devoted to the idea of taking him down. How does that change? Well, you need to read the book.

But villain to hero is one of my favorite tropes in general because I love a redemption story. When an author can sell me on the reformation of this character, it blows my mind. That takes true skill, especially if that person aroused your antipathy in a prior volume. Kimberly  Cates does this brilliantly in Briar Rose; Lionel was a wonderful villain, and then he gets his own book.

How do you guys feel about redemption arcs and the villain getting his own story? What are some of your favorites? A random commenter will receive a copy of SKIN TIGHT.