2T Repeat Performance - The Beach and the Pounding Waves (Paranormal vs. Contemporary Romance)

I've done a number of blog tours over the years, posting on different sites. Now I'm bringing them to you!

Originally published February 6, 2013 for Guilty Pleasures

The Beach and the Pounding Waves (Paranormal vs. Contemporary Romance)

Pounding waves. Standing on a beach, feeling the warm wet sand between my toes. Walking slowly into the lake or ocean, cool water lapping at my ankles…and then being hit by that first surge of water which lifts me off my feet. That’s what writing contemporary romance versus paranormal romance means to me.

The very first story I wrote, Hot Chips and Sand, was a contemporary romantic comedy. The very second I wrote, Mystic Fire, was a dark paranormal about a man who sees the future and thought his gift killed his mother, and the heroine who redeems him.

So you see, I was split from the beginning. ☺

For me, it’s not contemporary versus paranormal any more than it’s left brain versus right brain or water versus land. I need both. One is the land that grounds me. The other is the water that lifts me from my feet.

That’s not to say each doesn’t have its own peculiarities, difficulties, and joys. Contemporary is faster and easier for me because I don’t have to do the world building or worry about what I need to explain (and how to present it in an entertaining but believable manner). Paranormal is more fun because of the world building. I can pick physical vampires or magical witches and shifters or corporate werewolves and muck about in their DNA if I want to (whee!). Contemporary romance is more day-to-day. It has a hero I can relate to and a heroine I could possibly be, with difficult yet real problems like babies, career and making a home. Paranormal deals with ideals. The hero and heroine are not just sweethearts but each other’s One True Love or True Mates. Their problem is generally Saving The World.

But whether contemporary or paranormal, the emotional component has to be there, and it has to ring true. The conflicts, whether real or ideal, have to be real to the heroine and hero.

And most of all, the story has to sweep the reader away for a little while.

Hugs!

Mary