Thursday, February 26, 2009

How a Horror Author can Write the Same Scary Stuff for Dark Paranormal Romance



ISBN: 978-1-60659-118-5

Warning: This title contains hot, graphic demonic sex that goes beyond magic.

When I decided to write my first paranormal romance I looked no farther than what I’ve been doing already: horror. It was a no brainer for me.
I’ve read paranormal romances where the vampire didn’t drink blood nor did bad things. Let’s admit it, European vamps drink blood—humans are food for goodness sakes. I also had a problem about a vampire getting together with a human—things like necrophilia came up. My first vampire romance was set not only in the future but on another planet. The hero was the last Undead Earth vampire in existence and he had to escape from Earth to another world as pollution was killing his kind off. It was on that new planet that he met his ‘soul mate’, Nalessa, an alien vampire. She was the last survivor of her civilization, which perished eons ago. That story became Crimson Promise. Since then, I did write a vampire with a human romance story, which also was a second chance at love for two lovers separated by terrible circumstances.
Monsters are scary. We all are afraid of the dark. What better way to conquer that fear of the dark then have the heroine or hero fall in love with a monster? You have the bad boys or girls in contemporary romance novels, but this takes that bad idea and making them even badder? Besides the reader wants to be taken away from their mundane day-to-day life and suddenly they can read a tale where the heroine moves to some creepy town. Each night something or somethings are taking innocent citizens. These monstrous things are also after her. But she meets a tall, dark and handsome man, who saves her from a pack of howling things. She falls for him. Maybe even makes love with him. It is later that she learns he’s not human, but one of those ‘howling’ things. He’s a werewolf, cursed to take another shape, but he’s tortured and doesn’t want to harm humans. Will she, can she, change him for the better? When she does, and both ride off into the sunset on his motorcycle, the readers close the book with a snap, knowing once again there’s a happily ever after for another couple.
You don’t have to stick to supernatural creatures either. Why not an alien, whose people want to take over our world? Not just an alien, but a parasitical one? I did this with Iridescent Invasion. Since that e-publisher closed its doors and I got the rights back, I plan to turn this short story into a full length novel because it did so well. This could be considered a ménage in an odd sort of way--a love story between three people with two bodies.
It doesn’t matter what your hero or heroine is, a paranormal allows you to take chances, to go where no reader has been before in a love story. You can take the theme of racism, religion and prejudice, and add a twist by making one of the lovers a merperson or a vampire or shapeshifter. They say that love overcomes everything--well, here’s a writer’s chance to prove that.
With writing paranormal romance and being allowed stretching the limit with blood chilling horror I have proved that a horror author can take their experience and apply it to a paranormal romance with no problem.


Sapphire Phelan

http://FantasticDreams.50megs.com

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Go beyond the usual, instead take the unusual that stretches the boundaries and find romance with Sapphire Phelan's aliens, werewolves, vampires, fairies, and other supernatural/otherworldly heroes and heroines.




5 comments:

Karen Michelle Nutt said...

Interesting article and so true. It's only the matter of letting your imagination run wild.

Take Care,

Karen

Margaret Carter said...

Cool post! I started in horror, too. I specialize in vampires, and over the years it became ever clearer that what really interested me was the theme of relationships between human characters and vampires (or other "monsters"). My first published vampire novel, DARK CHANGELING, is sold as horror but contains a romance subplot important enough to qualify the book as horror-romance crossover. Since then, I've moved over to paranormal romance for most of my vampire and other "monster" fiction.

Hywela Lyn said...

Great post Sapphire. I love fantasy but have struggled to see how the romance could work in a 'horror' story, but you've clarified the dilema - it's part of human nature to want to save a 'lost soul' with love and as you say, by writing dark paranormal romance, the author can truly let her own and her readers' imagination free rein.

Patricia Altner said...

Excellent article!

I look forward to reading your stories especially those containing vampires. I have a special weakness for them.

Patricia Altner said...

Excellent article!

I look forward to reading your stories especially those containing vampires. I have a special weakness for them.