Guest Post by Kristie Cook: Why we need the escape of paranormal romance

Today, we have a guest post by Kristie Cook as part of the VBTC Romancing Your Darkside Book Tour.

She's going to talk to us about why readers need the escape of paranormal romance.

In addition, she's giving away an ebook copy of her paranormal romance novels, Promise and Purpose. No fancy contest requirements, just leave a comment and we'll use random.org to pick a single winner for both books.

Now on to the guest post:


Why We Need the Escape of Paranormal Romance


Paranormal romance has been around for decades, experiencing highs and lows along the way, but the genre seems to have experienced an explosion of interest in recent years. The Twilight Saga may have played a significant role in grabbing readers who had never read the genre before and made them lifelong fans, but there are a number of series and authors who could have played the same part. I think timing has had a huge impact – when and where our world was when Twilight came out and where it still is as readers continue to devour paranormal romances and contemporary fantasies.

With everything going on in our world, from wars, famines and natural disasters to failing economies, job losses and loss of homes, people are living in survival mode. Our minds are constantly running at full-speed, working overtime to ensure our families stay afloat. Problems bombard us from all sides, but solutions are often out of reach or even non-existent. We don’t know what to do but just keep going as best as we can.

We can’t afford the money and/or time to take much-needed vacations, but the need for escape is even greater than ever. So we escape into fiction – books, movies and television. And many are finding that they want their escape to be just that – a removal from the current world, from normal daily stresses and from having to use our brains too much on genres that require intense focus.

With paranormal romance, we get problems that may be somewhat similar but also different than our everyday human ones. We also get main characters who eventually solve those problems, a relief when we can’t solve our own. We swoon over alpha males because we want someone else to take care of us, although we know in the real-world we’d never put up with their arrogance and control. We take the role of the strong, independent heroine who does things we’d never bring ourselves to do in real life. And we lose ourselves in the heat of the passionate moment.

I love writing this genre because I love reading it. All of these elements come together in stories I wish were written, but they’re not, so I write them. I’ve always enjoyed the foundation and rules of our real-world setting combined with the freedom to incorporate the impossible from the fantasy world. And I’m a sucker for romance and the sexual tension and heat that comes along with it.

Some may say paranormal romance is frivolous or a guilty pleasure. But, really, what’s wrong with a little guilty pleasure, especially in our lives today? Escaping to the insanity of a fantasy world helps to maintain our sanity in our own world. After all, at least we’re not dealing with overbearing, control-freak partners, creatures who want to suck our blood or rip out our throats during sex and villains who can wipe out all of humanity in a half-second. It helps to make our own lives more bearable and we can all use every bit of help we can get right now.

What do you think? Have touched on any of the reasons you read paranormal romance? Do you have anything to add? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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Thanks, Kristie.

Remember to leave a comment for your chance to win  Promise and Purpose.

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Kristie Cook is a lifelong, award-winning writer in various genres, from marketing communications to fantasy fiction. She continues to write the Soul Savers Series, with the first two books, Promise and Purpose, available now and the third book, Devotion, coming February 2012. She’s also written a companion novella, Genesis, coming October 2011.

Besides writing, she enjoys reading, cooking, traveling and riding on the back of a motorcycle. She has lived in ten states, but currently calls Southwest Florida home with her husband, three teenage sons, a beagle and a puggle. She can be found at:

Author's Website & Blog: http://www.KristieCook.com

Series Website: http://www.SoulSaversSeries.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorKristieCook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/kristiecookauth
Tumbler: http://www.tumblr.com/tumblelog/kristiecook
Google+: https://plus.google.com/102746226001674797330/posts

A good novel is not written by committee . . . but a few friends help

What's the purpose of a novel?

I'm sure there are many fine English graduate students who could pen entire books to answer that question in a thorough and intriguing manner. I, however, will suggest my simple answer: to pass along a story to a reader in an engaging manner.

What's an engaging manner? Yet another question that is fine thesis fodder.

For me, being engaged by the text often doesn't involve the story (though it helps) as much as the voice of the work. How can I blow off the story and characters? Aren't they important? Sure, they are, but let's face it, after thousands upon thousands of years of storytelling, truly unique stories and characters are a pretty rare breed. There are only so many plots that a human mind can generate, and I'd suggest they probably have pretty much been done in one form or another.

When I read a book, yeah, I appreciate a good story with an interesting twist on the subject and interesting, three-dimensional characters, but what really draws me is the voice of the writing.

So, what's my grand point in mentioning all of this? Well, it has to do with how people write. Though there are some people who are perhaps literary geniuses and can sit alone in a cabin and produce a work that requires no editing, the rest of us mere mortals need feedback. After all, how can one adequately judge if they are communicating a story in an engaging manner if they never actually test the ability of their novel to do so?

There are different ways of getting feedback, of course. Editors will obviously provide it, but critique groups and beta readers are often good choices before a piece even gets near the editor (and may be necessary for a writer to even have that opportunity). The latter two also generally involve more people, so isn't that the better option? Well, yes and no.

Reading, after all, is a highly subjective affair. Have ten people sit down and read a piece, and you'll end up with a lot of conflicting opinions. Now, obviously, ten people all agree on the same point (whether positive or negative) there's probably something to that. The troubling part is when they don't disagree.

When people aren't saying the same thing, if you address all their concerns, you run the risk of producing homogenized writing. Even if the interesting story and interesting characters are preserved (which is questionable), the story will likely be stripped of the unique voice that had previously defined it.

All your darlings can be killed. Your favorite sub-plots might be worthless and can be hacked out, but whatever you do, keep your voice!

Yes, seek out and appreciate feedback but always remember it's impossible to please everyone. I would direct anyone dubious of that idea to think of their favorite book (or a book that has won numerous awards) and then go to Amazon and read through all the one and two stars reviews.