Mixing Fantasy and Romance and Making it Work

      There are many challenges in mixing genres, especially fantasy and romance. How can beings from different worlds become romantically involved and even be believable? I hope I can shed some light on that very subject because that is what my novel, FRACTURE The Secret Enemy Saga stands on; two people from different worlds, fighting in the same cause and falling in love. That's a mouthful!
      How can I make that believable you ask? Next time you go to the mall look around you. The couples holding hands and shopping are as diverse as you can get; different nationalities, different shapes and sizes, even different beliefs, yet they seem to make their relationships work. How?
      The Asian man with the American wife are from worlds so different they might as well be from Mars and Jupiter. What about the Italian woman or the French man? I could go on and on. The cultures and beliefs that separate us everyday are broken and shattered by one simple need, to be loved and accepted by another.
      How far off am I that someone from another world could actually fall in love with someone from this world and vice versa? Not far at all. Take those two people, throw them into a conflict that threatens both their worlds and fill it in with a little magic and mayhem, friends and family and who knows. You might have a winner.

Colleen Hoover Climbs Self-Published Bestseller List - GalleyCat

Colleen Hoover Climbs Self-Published Bestseller List - GalleyCat

The Art of Lying

 Fiction writers are the best liers in the world. They have to be or they would never sell a book. You name it, a good author can write a story about it. Does it mean we are experts on our writing subject. Probably not (have you seen any vampires or dragons running around lately), but with imagination, research and good old lying a writer can transform a stack of dead trees into a world of fantasy, fear, science fiction, or romance, and readers everywhere want to believe it.
   That is what writing is all about. Taking those pages of lies and transforming them into believable bits of time that takes a reader away from their everyday lives and on a journey. That is what reading is all about. Every genre has a different set of lies. Some lies are based on real life situations, others on the utterly fantastic (there's that dragon again).
   Do you have a pack of lies you would like to share with world? Get started before the zombies get you.

Paranormal Romance~What makes It Hot?

   Paranormal Romance is one of the hottest genres (actually a sub-genre of fantasy) on the market today. The titles and book covers alone can make one break out in a sweat, but what is it that makes you want to read about romantic encounters with beings from other worlds or vampires and werewolves? Is it the old concept of forbbiden love or the thrill of the bad boy (or girl) image mixed up with fangs and wolf fur?
   Dragons and wizards are sitting on the back burner while muscled bodies and creatures who howl at the moon warm the beds of the humans we write about. Steamy romance, whether implied in Ya or graphic in Paranormal erotica, has encreased by leaps and bounds since the e-book revolution and now knows no boundaries.
   Don't get me wrong, sex sells in any format but you have to have a good story to back it up. There still needs to be adventure, a plot, somewhere that this is all going. Without a good story line its just porn on paper.
   Fantasy, as wild and imaginative as it is, still has rules. If your reader does not find your characters and story believable you will lose their interest. Make the relationships between your human and non-human characters real. Give them a cause they both have a stake in (no pun intended), especially if its for different reasons. Obstacles that strengthen real life relationships are everywhere. Just give them a little  twist.
   So, what makes it hot? Dark and dangerous delivers whether you dash it with a little pepper or turn on the hot suace. Romance appeals to the heart and the paranormal infuses it with the thrill of the fantastic, something we all want a little bite of (I just can't help myself).
  
  

My Love For Writing

   One of my earliest memories as a child was the Book Mobile. A great big panel truck from the local library that would come rolling down our streets in the summer carrying adventures, fantasies and places far away. The sides were painted in bright colors and a cheerful voice would announce its arrival over a loud speaker. (I think that lumbering elephant drew more kids than the ice cream truck.)
    My sister who was ten years older than me would run to the curb with me and my younger brother and sister in tow. She loved to read and she passed it on. Hot summer nights would find us falling asleep to the likes of Gulliver's Travels or Swiss Family Robinson.
    My imagination ran wild at that age and never quit. I love the fantastic. One can go anywhere and do anything and so I did. The move from the world inside my head to the pages of my first novel was only a matter of time.
    The first person to read my finished work,   Fracture The Secret Enemy Saga
was my husband who reads like most people eat. I'll never forget what he said when he turned the last page, "I feel like I've been on a journey that I didn't want to end. Don't stop."
Those words have pushed me onward and there is no turning back. I wrote this as a Q and A  post origionally at Goodreads to see what other writers had to say but the reach continues onward. So I ask,why do you write?

The Devils in the Details

   Do you have fight scenes in your book? What does your character used to defend him or herself; a gun, a sword or even his bare hands? How much do you know about how to use a weapon or use your hands as a weapon?
   My protag is a muscle bound assassin who is feared in his world but when he has to come to ours he is on unlevel ground. He's suppose to come here, find his prey and leave without being known but he gets found out by a young woman who will be his partner throughout the rest of the story.
   The young woman, Kristina is the key to the story. She has abilities she is only just learning about, but she also has fighting skills. Her parents sent her to self defense classes blah, blah, blah. How do I convey that in my writings?
   I have some knowledge of martial arts. Not much. I am a brown belt. Like I said, not much, and I didn't want Kristina's fight scenes to look orchestrated, so what did I do? I studied hand to hand combat and martial art videos and read articles from well known people in the martial arts arena. I even watched myself in a mirror with a weapon to see how to make it look real.
    My assassin's skills and even the marine in my novel had to feel real and I hope that I have accomplished that with what I have learned, and there is magic in my book also.
   Alas! that is another story. Study your characters abilities. Try to make them as real as possible. Research is the key, so don't treat it like poison ivy.
  
     

Bringing Your Words to Life

     I have a very vivid imagination, so when I read a book I see everything that's happening; the action, the character, even the scenery. How does a writer convey that to his or her readers? I put myself into the story. I touch the rocky wall, feel the sand under my feet and then I put it into words.

     Example: Jenny and Mica were laying on the beach. He kissed on the forehead and smiled. This would be a day she would never forget.

This is much better: Jenny felt the scratch of wet sand against her back. She opened her eyes. Micah was smiling. His blue eyes as turbulent as the sea they had just come from. He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. A delicious shiver went down her spine. This would be a day she would never forget.

    Even that can use improvement but I think you get the idea. Where are they? What are they doing? You tell me.
   

Snippets from FRACTURE The Secret Enemy Saga

Tegrin waited until midnight before he slipped into the caves and through to the other side, wanting to avoid humans at all cost. Darkness would be the best cover. He did his best hunting at night.

       He thought his knowledge of this place was very good but he did not expect the beauty that surrounded him. It could almost be home if he did not know better. His catlike eyes adjusted well to the dim light of a half moon. Tegrin’s excellent hearing picked up even the tiniest sounds.
       He sniffed the air, taking in every smell around him. Small rodents and birds nested close by. His eyes narrowed. Another scent filled his nostrils. The one he was looking for.
      The Couton, and they were heading towards the lights of a city. Urgency gripped him as he headed for the town below. He stayed in the brush along the road to conceal himself and tried to work on a plan of capture.
      Just before dawn he came across a cold, lifeless dwelling. He sniffed the air and the smell of death filled his nostrils. Tegrin circled the building, listening and sniffing the air, but found no life was present. He walked up the steps pushing the door open. Inside were two bodies, one male and one female, both had been murdered. He knew by the scent that the Couton had been there.
      The hair on his arms stood up. He was not alone and knew it. A young woman lunged from the shadows, a knife in her shaking hand.
      “You killed my parents!”
      Moonlight reflected off the long blade of a Bowie knife slicing through the air. Tegrin was too fast for the hand that wielded it.
      He deflected the knife, pulling her close to him. She had a whiff of something strange before darkness enveloped her. A deep voice faded away.
      “I did not kill your parents,” Tegrin whispered.
      He carried her back to the caves. This was a complication he did not need. “By the Throne of Patwain, what am I to do with this human?”
      He studied the woman for a long time. She looked to be about nineteen, maybe less. Long fiery red hair fell across her face. Quite pretty, he thought, in an unusual way.
     Those green eyes, he sighed, they had been filled with hatred for him before she blacked out. The wait for her to regain consciousness chewed at him. He knew he would have to tell her the truth.

Women Writers and Their Share of the Market

    Three of the most popular women writers of all time are; J. K. Rowling (450 million books sold in the Harry Potter series + movie rights), Danielle Steel (800 million books sold (best seller of all time in Romance genre), and Stephanie Meyer (100 million for her Twilight series + movie rights). What makes them special? They are all different in their style of writing, yet they draw a huge audience.
    I believe what sets them apart is the connection they all have with the readers who chose their books. People want to escape from the real world for a variety of reasons, so they delve into magical places or romantic lives of imaginary people. When a writer can bring the pages of a book to life, and readers can go beyond the paper its written on, then you have a winner.
    These women have not only cornered the market with their great stories, they have overcome a market that was at one time predominately a man's world. The writing world is changing. The ebook market has hit the world by storm, but you still need to have a great story that people will want to read.
    Watch the newcomers like Amanda Hocking (420,000 sold and counting) and Alice Sebold (118,583 sold) and see where they are headed. Alice is just behind John Grisham in sales with her book Lovely Bones. The writing world is changing faster than speed of light and women writers are ready for the challenge.

FRACTURE The Secret Enemy Saga