Deidre Knight, the amazing and multi-talented head of The Knight Agency and award-winning writer, continues paranormal romance week with this from-the-heart blog:

"This Crazy Little Thing Called (Writing) Love" by Deidre Knight

Okay, I’ll admit it, here and now—I love Queen.  And I’m betting that some of you, like me, remember their 1979 hit, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.” Well here’s something you probably don’t know.  Freddie Mercury reportedly wrote that song in just five to ten minutes.

And I am sure that every time Freddie sat down to compose a song it was always that easy.  Riiiight.

Why don’t we send an email to Freddie.Mercury@afterlife.com and confirm that fact?

in the end…myself. 

When I asked Michele Lang to guest blog for Paranormal Romance "Week," she went above and beyond, offering both a blog on "Speculative Fiction: What If...." and a short story from her NETHERWOOD world.  I'm sure you'll enjoy both!

Speculative Fiction:  What If…..

Where do you get your story ideas?

If you are a writer, you probably get this question all the time from non-writers.  And if you are participating in National Novel Writers’ Month right now, you may be asking yourself this question in desperation or despair.

For a long time, I resisted answering or even thinking about it too much, because I was afraid that if I considered the question too deeply, my mystifying muse would flip me the bird and take off on a Harley for parts unknown.

Fatal Error

By Michele Lang

<FATAL ERROR>

My handheld device blinked and blinked, trying its electronic best to warn me of danger.

I stood at the base of the huge oak tree towering over Petraeus Park on 23^rd Street, and I weighed the dangers of ignoring the error message versus abandoning my plan.  My thumb brushed the surface of my handheld’s screen, and the harsh, incriminating words disappeared in a cascade of shimmering cyberlight.

Far above my head, at least twenty feet up, I picked out the silhouette of a tree house looming in the fading light.  The tree’s trunk, smooth, had no rope or footholds to ease the way up – and, given the illegal stuff going on up there, I knew that inaccessibility was part of the design.

Today's post is by Patti O'Shea, author of the Gineal series for Tor Romance (per the covers above), as well as science fiction romances from Leisure Love Spell.  Patti O'Shea has won nine awards for her writing and been nominated for many more.  Her books have appeared on the Barnes & Noble, Waldenbooks, and Borders bestseller lists and have earned starred reviews in prestigious publications such as Booklist.  The Chicago Tribune calls IN TWILIGHT'S SHADOW, "Non-stop action, magic-laced suspense ."

"No One Roots for the Terminator:  Realisitic (and Sympathetic) Kick-Butt Characters in a Paranormal World" by Patti O'Shea

One of the things that sometimes gets lost in the push to write strong, kick-butt characters is the fact that everyone is vulnerable in some way and that includes supernatural characters in a paranormal world. Or as the saying goes: Even Superman has Kryptonite. As a reader, I'm not interested in a heroine who's perfect or the hero without a flaw. At the end of a book, I want to see characters who've changed and grown and how can that happen if there is no real vulnerability?

Setting up a paranormal reference manual for the world you’ve created.   Hmmm,  that’s an interesting topic – especially since I’ve resisted doing this myself for the past four years.  I’ve always been more of a pantser than a plotter, and now that I sell on synopsis, I’ve been dragged kicking and screaming into the world of plotters.  Create a manual, too much detail (shudder!) 

            When I wrote the first “Pack” book for Silhouette, I thought it would be a one time, one book only thing.  Boy, was I wrong..    

            So, insight number one – be VERY careful what rules you establish in your first book.  For example, I blithely set up that only fire or silver could kill my shape-shifters.   Then in every subsequent book (and there are 9 of them so far!), I had to make certain I obeyed this and other rules I’d set up.

            If you’re a detail-oriented person, you could have fun with this, or so I imagine <G>.  I’m more by-the-seat-of-my-pants, and it’s like pulling teeth for me to sit down and set up rigid parameters. 

            However, this year my editor changed and my new editor hadn’t read any of my Pack books.  It suddenly became necessary for me to put together some sort of rudimentary bible, explaining the rules of the series.  Let me tell you, doing this after several stories have been written is like pulling teeth.

            Which is why I’m writing this blog – because next time I’M DOING IT DIFFERENTLY!

            How (and the long-winded way I work into my topic)?

            Buy a cheap notebook, preferably a divided one.  Label one section rules – this is my biggest area that I have to keep track of.  For example, I made full-blooded shape-shifters able to heal almost immediately, where Halflings heal like humans, though their blood composition is different. 

            Sometimes each book will have a song or a soundtrack which when played, immediately brings the theme of each book to mind.  This notebook is a good place to keep track of that.

            Character’s names, family ties, where they’re from (city and state), occupations – nice to know here, especially if you have reoccurring characters like I do. 

            Myths and legends is another good section topic.  Sometime a book within a series will deal with a particular legend coming to life or to resolution.  For example, my Pack book Touch of the Wolf dealt with a legend of a Healer who could heal dying Halflings with a touch. 

            Recently I introduced a couple of new things into my Pack books – the notion of inter-paranormal-species marriage (shape-shifter/vampire), and a secret organization within the Pack structure called The Society of Protectors.  I will need to keep tabs on these as well.

            The important thing (at least for me) is that this series bible is not set in stone.  Because I’m a character-driven writer, new scenarios will occur to me and oftentimes I have to make them fit into the series.  Since I’ve proposed two more stories (one a Nocturne and one a Nocturne Bites) which are sort of continuations of the last two respectively, my hope is that this notebook will help keep me more organized and help me avoiding getting bogged down with two much research into back books to make sure I’m staying consistent.  Plus, this makes for much less work to do during the editing stage.

Talk to you next time!

Karen Whiddon