Writing the Paranormal. Rules? Yup.

This is a bit of a seminar I called Rules of Magic and did a couple of years ago... I'll probably dribble it out in dibs and dabs (and YES, I am STILL working on those THREE Synopses, that's why you see me elongated and screaming)

Here are some basic rules.

The Basic Rule of Writing
First, write paranormal only if you read it and love it. We all have subgenres we are drawn to, and the books that we write will reflect our values and identity. So like all subgenres, if you write a story because someone asked for a ms., or the genre is hot, or for any other reason and your heart isn't in your work, it will show. This is bad not only for you as an author, but it is bad for the genre itself. Since I've been pursuing my dream in this area I've heard that one of the reasons it took paranormal to cycle back into being more acceptable is that when futuristic/fantasy romances were "big" the last go round, quite a few poor books were written. This "sloppy/bad" label stuck.

HeartMate was published just before the paranormal surge and at the time, I was SURE that if HeartMate (the first futuristic/fantasy romance Berkley purchased) had flopped, it would have been A LONG TIME before Berkley bought another one.

As it was, they waited until they got solid sales figures before buying the spin-off.

May your love of genre be clear in your story today -- hmmm, sounds more like a curse. Ok, so may you really like what you write today!
Robin