When Love Meets Monsters — Paranormal Romance!
By Romance
Author Kelli A. Wilkins
Hi Everyone,
To celebrate my favorite month, I’m
writing about what happens when horror meets romance—paranormal romance!
Although I create hot and spicy romances,
I actually started out writing horror stories. For some, that might seem like
an odd combination, but it works for me. One half of my brain writes the
horror, and the other half writes the romance. (In fact, I just released two
new horror stories this fall. You can read more about them on my site or my Amazon
author page.)
I like writing horror fiction because I
get to explore different settings, plots, and characters that I couldn’t develop
in romance. Sometimes after working on several romances, I’ll switch moods and
write a horror story to give my brain and writing muscles a change of pace.
My horror short stories are more
psychological/spooky/creepy than gory, and it’s fun to add something scary (or
strange!) into a romance. Sometimes it’s hard to keep a paranormal romance
within bounds—you have to blend just enough horror elements into the love story
without grossing out (or turning off) the heroine or hero… or readers!
Other times, the challenge to writing a
good paranormal romance is creating a believable plot or finding a way to make
a “monster” attractive/romantic/sexy. If one of your characters is a monster (of the
non-human variety) you must believe your creature is real (whether he’s a
vampire, a werewolf, or something else entirely). If you don’t write the
creature believably, readers won’t buy into it, and there certainly won’t be
any sparks flying in your romance. As a writer, you need to make your monster
as real as any other human character and flesh him out completely with a
backstory, goals, motivation, and conflicts.
In some cases, the only way to get around
the wacky idea of someone being in love with a non-human creature is to use
humor. My novella, Beauty & the Bigfoot is a perfect example of that. Beauty
& the Bigfoot sprung from a “what if” idea. What if a girl fell in
love with a Sasquatch? And, what if her father was the town crackpot Bigfoot
hunter? I wrote the story as a contemporary comedy (how could it not be?) and
had great fun creating the oddball characters and their crazy situations.
And yes, there’s plenty of romance between
Tara and her sexy Sasquatch-shifter named Joe. I’ll admit, writing the love
scenes was challenging. I had to write the scenes in a way that was believable
to the readers and characters, and give Tara a really good reason for giving
into her animalistic desires. It must have worked, because the book got several
great reviews and readers love the chemistry between the two lovebirds. The book
has a “twist” ending that I won’t give away here, but “Joe” isn’t exactly what
he seems…
Confessions of a Vampire’s Lover
started out with the premise “What if a vampire went to the beach and fell in
love with a surfer?” The book is extra “unique” in that it’s told in first
person from the male character’s point of view. I made Cassie (the vampire)
sympathetic and sexy, and not overtly terrifying—yet she still flexed her vampire muscles when she wanted to. This
story could have gone down the horror road and become a full-fledged vampire
story, but I wanted to show a softer, kinder side to the Cassie, and embrace
her once-human side.
Killer in Wolf’s Clothing
is my third paranormal romance, and I almost had a problem writing the story
because I’m “old-school” when it comes to creatures of the night. I expect my
werewolves to be violent and vicious, and anything but cuddly. In my opinion,
if a person is going to turn into a werewolf/wolf-man, he should look like the
werewolves in Dog Soldiers. (A horror
movie I highly recommend.)
Killer in Wolf’s Clothing
is not your usual werewolf love story—readers should know that Deke, the
werewolf character, doesn’t actually turn into a “wolfman”—he’s a shifter type
of werewolf and transforms into a super-aggressive Alpha male. As I say in the
book, “It’s more Incredible Hulk than
American Werewolf in London.”
I contrasted Deke’s harsh and demanding
personality with that of his gentle alter-ego Greg. Greg has an understanding
of his condition and does everything he can to keep Deke suppressed. But Deke
is a badass with a serious need for revenge, and the antagonist, Blayne, is
just about as violent and vicious as you can get (without fangs and claws).
This book was a lot of fun to write and although it’s dark in places, Larry
lightens the mood with his offbeat sense of humor.
But no matter what
subgenre of paranormal romance you write, readers need to be swept into the
story and buy into the premise that you’ve created. Your job as a writer is to make
the reader believe in the paranormal element (whether it’s a werewolf, zombie,
vampire, or ghost) and take the reader on a journey with the main characters as
they fall in love. The situations in the story need to be plausible and told in
a way that grips the reader, even if the premise seems a bit far-fetched (at
first).
When writing paranormal
romance, don’t be afraid to break patterns, make your characters different, or
have them go against stereotype. Give readers something unexpected, turn a
cliché on its ear, or use a different point of view—it’ll make your work stand
out. Why not set your werewolf story in Hawaii? My paranormal, Confessions
of a Vampire’s Lover, takes place at the beach.
I hope you’ve
enjoyed this look at writing paranormal romances. I enjoy hearing from readers
and other authors. So feel free to drop me a line with questions or comments.
You can catch up on all of my writings and follow me on social media here:
Happy Haunting!
Kelli
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Her short horror fiction has appeared in several anthologies. In autumn 2015 she released two horror ebooks, Kropsy’s Curse and Dead Til Dawn. In 2014, her horror fiction appeared in Moon Shadows, Wrapped in White, and Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine.
You Can Write—Really! A Beginner’s Guide to Writing Fiction was released in February 2015. This fun and informative non-fiction guide is based on her 15 years of experience as a writer, and is available exclusively on Amazon.
Kelli published three romances in 2014: Dangerous Indenture (a spicy historical/mystery), Wilderness Bride (a tender historical/Western/adventure), and A Secret Match (a gay contemporary set in the world of professional wrestling). Her romances span many genres and heat levels.
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