Unrequited love

[Hex]

(Does paranormal romance have to have vampires?)

I think you can get away with fairies, pixies and werewolves too. Ghosts. er.. succubi?

 

[Mouse]

Ghosts and psychics will have to be enough, I hope!

 

[Warren_Paul]

Yeah, I don't think paranormal romance has to be urban fantasy, as long as there is a love story and paranormal elements (and ghosts clearly count), it can be called paranormal romance, even if the two don't combine.


EDIT: Midnight Bayou by Nora Roberts is a good example, romance with ghosts, no vampires.

or Dream man, by Linda Howard. a romance about a psychic.

you could also try Night Echoes, by Holly Lisle.

 

[mosaix]

Didn't we have paranormal romance (or something like it) as one of the 75 word challenges? Maybe a read through them would help?

 

[Ursa major]

Yes there was, mosaix - see here - and I seem to recall a lot (indeed, an infinite amount) of unrequiting going on in the winning story. However, I don't think the tale is typical of the genre.

 

[Interference]

No I haven't. Not read any paranormal romance at all! I guess I should do?!

Thanks, Aber.

Noooooooo! Only read 'em after you've written your own, and then if you've accidentally veered into their territory you can course-correct.

Whew! That was close....

 

[David Evil Overlord]

Yes there was, mosaix - see here - and I seem to recall a lot (indeed, an infinite amount) of unrequiting going on in the winning story. However, I don't think the tale is typical of the genre.

Because of the unrequitedness, or the way most Paranormal Romance exceeds the 75 word limit?

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

So, apparently I'm writing paranormal romance. Thing is, I don't think any of my characters will get together.

I have two questions really.

1. Does a 'romance' have to contain two people falling in love? Or can it just have romantic things in it - like two people who love each other as friends, or someone who dies for someone else (I'm with Oscar Wilde on that one, I think it's hugely romantic), or someone who would do anything for anyone regardless, or general tragic stuff (I'm a sucker for tragedy).

2. What about unrequited love? Would you be happy reading a story where a character loves another character but they're just not loved back? You want them to get together but they just don't.

Okay, to the first question:

Yes, it can sstill be an aspect of romance in some form even if there's nothing erotic going on. (Ever hear of the term "bromance?" It's where two males are near-inseparable friends, no matter what happens.) Of course, a lot of people tend to prefer something erotic going on, but I don't think it's necessary.



As for the second question: A situation of unrequited love can be frustrating to a reader, but it does make for good reading. It can be a good ploy to keep a reader hanging on, where they expect something to happen and just think, "Oh, they're just putting it off a little more, come on, it has to happen!" I think that alone can be a great way to keep someone interested.



See, we're a complicated species. We're drawn to all sorts of opposing natures and situations. We're not black and white, emotionally. We want to see the good guys win, we want to see the two perfect soulmates get together, we want to have happy endings. At the same time, many of us want a lot of action, a lot of drama, a lot of chaos. We want to hang on the edge of our seats in anticipation, we want to be eat the nails off our fingers in fear, we love to be dragged along by the nose with no clue of where we're heading. We want our heroes to be good and noble, but we want them to have their flaws and shortcomings. (Lancelot, anyone? There's a reason that story endured centuries.) In short, we want to see ourselves in the characters we imagine as we read. Not only does it help us relate, but it also helps up immerse ourselves into the world of the story more. If the characters are believable and more real, then the setting can be, the conflicts definitely are, and we can broaden our mind's eye as to what is really around, and that makes for a much more enjoyable experience.


Pretty much everything I said in that last paragraph there is what I lack from my stories and I beat myself over the head every day trying to figure out how to do it in a way that's right for me.

 

[Warren_Paul]

Sounds like you need a coffee, Karn.

A big one...



I'm hoping to tick some of those boxes at least, nothing almost ever works out for my characters, but you want it to. And half the time it's their own fault - or they are plain misunderstood.

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

Sarcasm does not become us, Paul.


Actually, there is a lot going on in my mind that DOES make sense to me, and I think could really, really work if only I could articulate it correctly without being a 100% infodump writer.

 

[Warren_Paul]

Sarcasm does not become us, Paul.


Actually, there is a lot going on in my mind that DOES make sense to me, and I think could really, really work if only I could articulate it correctly without being a 100% infodump writer.

Can't say I've actually seen any of your writing yet. Are you working on a novel?

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

Nothing so grand. I'd like to, but that's the trouble I tend to have.

No, all I have are the worlds and characters, and potentially the conflicts I want. It's like trying to make a cake when you have all the ingredients, but don't know how to put them together. You can imagine how you want it to turn out, but that crucial point in between is just escaping you.

 

[Warren_Paul]

You can imagine how you want it to turn out, but that crucial point in between is just escaping you.

With my book I had the world, a start, and a finish. The in-between came to me as I wrote. I let my characters decide how they got from point A to point B.

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

Yes, there is that, but I am bad at description, which is one major aspect of my problems.


Anyway, we've hijacked the thread.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

Yes, there is that, but I am bad at description, which is one major aspect of my problems.

You've never seen one of my first drafts.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program of Unrequited Love.

I have an idea for this. Must think it through. Would be a nice kick-in-the-seat-of-the-tights for a couple of super heroes if I can pull it off.

 

[Montero]

Mouse - not clear - are you wanting to write a book that will be clearly categorized as paranormal romance, or are you trying to work out what category the book you want to write falls into?

Regarding paranormal romance - the library service usually has yards and yards of it.
To me it comes into two broad categories

1. A Mills and Boon type novel with paranormal elements added onto the romance
2. Someone who is looking at the ins and outs of the paranormal who has a romantic relationship.

I couldn't tell you any author examples of the first type but I have certainly read the first couple of pages of some where the current (male) PoV character is say being attacked/burgled whatever by say a figure which is way stronger that you'd expect for its size. Manages to grab hold of say an arm and then there is a whole paragraph in the middle of the fight scene about what a lovely slender smooth arm the mystery attacker is gosh what a gorgeous girl.

The second type there is say Vaugn's Kitty the Werewolf series (which are quite funny - Kitty is a midnight talk show host who was bitten by a werewolf and does a call-in show on the paranormal) and that series goes into some of the physical ins-and-outs of how werewolf could work.

There is a second werewolf set which my mind has utterly lost which is rather grittier, but again looks at werewolf ins and outs and has a female character who was turned into a werewolf.

Characteristic of quite a lot of later books in paranormal serieses is the writer(s) coming up with new paranormal surprises - yeti, more obscure stuff, were-polar-bear, sexy-were-jaguar-from-Brazil.

Then there is Laurell K Hamilton who is I think onto 15 or 16 books and sex is all over those. Writes very well but I do sometimes flip over several pages at once to get back out of bed.

 

[Mouse]

Didn't we have paranormal romance (or something like it) as one of the 75 word challenges? Maybe a read through them would help?

Yup, I did actually enter that one too. A Snow White story.

Okay, to the first question:

Yes, it can sstill be an aspect of romance in some form even if there's nothing erotic going on. (Ever hear of the term "bromance?" It's where two males are near-inseparable friends, no matter what happens.) Of course, a lot of people tend to prefer something erotic going on, but I don't think it's necessary.

Yeah, I was going to mention bromance and, on another level, the sort of relationship you got with Sam and Frodo in LotR, but didn't want people to go off thinking about a m/m slash thingy or whatever it's called. But yes, bromance is definitely something I'd class as romantic.

As for the second question: A situation of unrequited love can be frustrating to a reader, but it does make for good reading. It can be a good ploy to keep a reader hanging on, where they expect something to happen and just think, "Oh, they're just putting it off a little more, come on, it has to happen!" I think that alone can be a great way to keep someone interested.

Yeah, I want to avoid the frustration for the reader, really. But I'm not going to set up a 'will they/won't they' it'll just be as simple as one character loving another and not being loved back. Is that just as frustrating?

Mouse - not clear - are you wanting to write a book that will be clearly categorized as paranormal romance, or are you trying to work out what category the book you want to write falls into?

The second one.

Regarding paranormal romance - the library service usually has yards and yards of it.
To me it comes into two broad categories

1. A Mills and Boon type novel with paranormal elements added onto the romance
2. Someone who is looking at the ins and outs of the paranormal who has a romantic relationship.

I couldn't tell you any author examples of the first type but I have certainly read the first couple of pages of some where the current (male) PoV character is say being attacked/burgled whatever by say a figure which is way stronger that you'd expect for its size. Manages to grab hold of say an arm and then there is a whole paragraph in the middle of the fight scene about what a lovely slender smooth arm the mystery attacker is gosh what a gorgeous girl.

The second type there is say Vaugn's Kitty the Werewolf series (which are quite funny - Kitty is a midnight talk show host who was bitten by a werewolf and does a call-in show on the paranormal) and that series goes into some of the physical ins-and-outs of how werewolf could work.

There is a second werewolf set which my mind has utterly lost which is rather grittier, but again looks at werewolf ins and outs and has a female character who was turned into a werewolf.

Characteristic of quite a lot of later books in paranormal serieses is the writer(s) coming up with new paranormal surprises - yeti, more obscure stuff, were-polar-bear, sexy-were-jaguar-from-Brazil.

Then there is Laurell K Hamilton who is I think onto 15 or 16 books and sex is all over those. Writes very well but I do sometimes flip over several pages at once to get back out of bed.

See, it's starting to sound to me now that 'paranormal romance' means that the relationship has to be between a human and a supernatural. Mine won't be that. There's ghosts in it, but nobody's falling for a ghost (I've now got a White Stripe's song in my head...)

It'll be two humans.

Thanks all!