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IS PARANORMAL ROMANCE DEAD?

5/21/2013

6 Comments

 
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I don’t know about you, but if I read one more story about a sexy but aloof vampire/werewolf/merman/garden gnome I might drive the stake straight into my own heart. To say that paranormal romance has been done is like saying that Lady Gaga’s outfits are different: the understatement of the century. As a reviewer for the indie book review site, Underground Book Reviews, I get inundated with requests to review paranormal books. The tropes have been beaten to death with sexy, yet tortured super beings and the innocent damsels who love them. Readers are fed up with it. I’ll wage a coffin full of money that if you pitched a vampire paranormal romance to an agent right now, they’d laugh you out the door.

And yet, there’s some reason why Stephenie Meyer can now buy an African country from writing four books.

I’ll be the first to go on record to say that I LOVED the Twilight books when they first came out. I read the first book before anyone was talking about it (I think that puts me in some elite nerd group where the perks are atomic wedgies, but I digress). That book rocked my world. There was something so…addicting about being loved by a creature strong enough to crush you. To be special enough to attract the attention of a super human, now that was sexy. No amount of sour grapes on the part of reviewers can take away what those books did for fantasy writers and reader everywhere.

So, where does that leave us? With stories that are derivative, characters that are more cardboard than a cereal box and plots completely overdone. Do we kill this genre and bury it with a sparkling tomb stone? “Here Lies Vampire Love Stories. RIP.” Like its undead characters, would it rise, moaning, clawing for scraps of life?

Science fiction and romance are my two favorite genres, so I refuse to believe their pairing has been killed. No matter how many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches people eat, they still come back for more because the pairing is just so good. So it should be with paranormal romance. The genre doesn’t have to die, but it must be refashioned, reborn. And, that is exactly what I attempted to do with Eyes Ever to the Sky, my new YA sci fi romance. Did I go far enough from the derivative? Did I hug close enough to the tropes that matter? Only my readers may judge. I will tell you that not a single scene is set inside a high school and not a single character sparkles. That has to count for something.

My conclusion. Paranormal romance is not dead. Derivative stories and fan fic may be on its last straggling breath, but like any genre, authors can remake, reshape and reform. That’s the beauty of story–it can always be made new.

What about you? Do you think Paranormal Romance is dead?


6 Comments
H.S. Stone link
5/22/2013 02:11:29 pm

I've never been a big fan of paranormal romance to begin with, so I've been sick of all the Twilight ripoffs for a while. I just can't get the hang of vampires and werewolves as anything other than monsters. For a while, after reading Angelfall, I thought angels could be a nice twist, but then I read City of Bones and changed my mind. I don't know if it's the paranormal part that I dislike or the YA instalove love triangles that drive me crazy.

Speaking of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I thought you'd never had one before. :-)

Reply
KatielFrench
5/27/2013 12:26:43 pm

You are so right. I've never actually eaten a PB and J. But I know that my kids love them. :0)

Reply
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Jeff Carbine link
1/13/2022 06:39:52 am

I never knew that to say that paranormal romance has been done is like saying that Lady Gaga’s outfits are different: the understatement of the century. I never thought that it would be like this, it is a good article to read, I'll share this with my aunt. Thank you for the information about the paranormal book.

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2/27/2023 03:50:01 pm

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    Katie French is the author of The Breeders, a Young Adult dystopian adventure and Eyes Ever to the Sky, a sci fi romance. Nessa: A Breeders Story, a prequel novelette is available on Amazon for FREE. Sign up for notifications, or like her on Facebook. 

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