Let's give Bernadette a warm Diva welcome. She has cruised by today to talk about what we love to read, paranormal romance.
Witches
and Faeries and Demons--Oh My!
Last week when an acquaintance asked
me what I was writing, I mumbled, “a paranormal romance.”
“What’s a paranormal?” he asked.
“It’s, uh, about witches.”
He was very nice and said, “how interesting,”
but I was a little embarrassed. After all, writing about witches sounds, well,
juvenile. However, my Devlin Legacy books are anything but. They deal with
infertility, infidelity and the sometimes strained relationship between mothers
and daughters -- with a little witchcraft thrown in for good measure.
I found that working within the
paranormal space allows me deal with”real life” issues in a way that avoids a
“Lifetime movie” feel. I think a book about infertility to me would be too
heavy, and frankly I thinks it’s been done to death. However, in a paranormal I
was able to use a woman’s burning desire for a child as the catalyst for her to
make a deal with a devil-like creature.
I think its important when writing
paranormal to ground your characters in ordinary experiences. If your
characters are constantly running from dangers or casting spells, they can feel
like cardboard characters rather than living breathing people. Charlaine Harris
does this so well in the Sookie Stackhouse - True Blood books. Yes, Sookie
spends her time running from or sleeping with sexy vamps, but in every book she
deals with experiences that we can all relate to: shopping for a new dress,
running short of money before pay day, sunbathing. These types of normal
activities serve two purposes. First they allow for a “rest” in between the
more suspenseful vamp action, but more importantly they help frame a relatable
world.
In my first Devlin Legacy book I
really winged the paranormal element. I described the characteristics of my
primary paranormal character -- he can take the form of animals, he is can
visit people in dreams and take over their bodies -- but I never really
identify what he is, although since the book is set in Ireland I infer that he
might be some type of fae. Because I was essentially making up my own
paranormal entity I didn’t need to conform to any of the reader’s pre-existing notions, as I would
for example if I was writing about a vampire. That provided me with enormous
freedom.
However in Book Two I will be dealt
more with the witchcraft aspect of my heroine. One downside to paranormal being
so popular right now is that readers know at least the basics of the popular
paranormal species: witches, vampires, weres.
Since I don’t want to make the kind of mistake that will take readers
out of my story, I researched witchcraft on the web and I even attended the New
York Witch Festival in Smithtown, Long Island.
So far I’ve enjoyed my time in
paranormal land and I think I’ll stay for a while.
Bio
I have always been a bookworm and
had always meant to write a novel “someday.” You know, when I won the lottery
and could live in beach house and look out onto the water and feel inspired.
Four years ago I decided to stop waiting for my winning lottery ticket and sat
down and started writing. In between work and family obligations, I piled the
words on top of each other until they formed sentences, paragraphs, chapters
and eventually a book. My first novel, a contemporary romance, Gold Coast Wives, was published in November 2011
by Lyrical Press and my second, The
House on Prospect, was
released in January, 2012 by Echelon Press. The first book of my paranormal
trilogy, Devil’s
Mountain -- Book One of the Devlin Legacy,
will be released June 18, 2012 by Lyrical Press. Books Two and Three, Devil’s Shore and Devil’s Daughter, respectively, will be release
by Lyrical Press later this year.
While I’ve hopped around genres, all
of my books to date have a common theme: strong women handling what life throws
at them the best way they can.
Places to find Bernadette:
Bernadette's website
Bernadette's twitter
Bernadette's FaceBook
