Pet Peeve Friday!

So many blogs have themes within their blogs. And for lack of anything else to comment on about, I decided that I would vent about this week's pet peeve.

My blog. My choice. My pet peeve.

And here is this week's peeve . . . *drum roll*

Just because you call your character a vamp, zombie, immortal, elf, or some other paranormal critter--IT DOESN'T MAKE IT A PARANORMAL STORY IF YOU CAN REMOVE THE PARANORMAL ASPECT FROM THE STORY AND THE STORY STILL HOLDS TOGETHER.

Here's the deal.

RWA has just sent out Golden Heart contest entries to be judged. I usually request either Paranormal or Historical entries. Historical is easy--anything pre-WWII is considered historical. Some eras are more popular than other eras, but it's easy to define historical.

This year I ended up with six Paranormal entries.

Judging guidelines per RWA's judging instructions:

Paranormal Romance: Romance novels in which the future, a fantasy world, or paranormal happenings are an integral part of the plot.

See the word in red?? Hmm?? Personally, I think it needs to be highlighted on the instruction sheet. When the paranormal aspect is integral to the story and you remove it, then the story falls apart. The paranormal aspect has to be woven into the story, not just plopped in there to call it paranormal.

Just to clarify: the following examples are NOT from my current selection of GH entries.

Sorry, but saying your main character's canine's lengthen twice in fifty pages doesn't make it a paranormal, unless he does something with them, like chomp on the heroine's neck. Or having a medieval setting and calling your character's elves doesn't make it a paranormal, unless you have a battalion of orcs, trolls or dragons trying to kill them. Or having a hero think a hawk is actually his long lost love doesn't make it a paranormal, unless he actually sees a shapeshifting, ie LADYHAWK .

But a psychic solving a murder mystery by using her abilities DOES make it a paranormal (BLIND SIGHT by Susan Shay). Or having an immortal brand a human to force her to help purge the world of demons because she slept with his brother (Eve of Darkness by S. J. Day). Or having a hockey player pay penance for his aggressive behavior on the ice by becoming a tooth fairy is a paranormal (Okay, THE TOOTH FAIRY with Dwayne Johnson hasn't come out yet, but still. . . I wanna see it!). Or having a reanimator solve mysteries by raising the dead (Anita Blake character by Laurell K. Hamilton). Shapeshifter Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. Even Deb Macomber's angels (Shirley, Goodness and Mercy) play a role in their stories by manipulating their star-crossed lovers. And last, but certainly not least, LADYHAWK. Wow, talk about a romance featuring star-crossed lovers! That would be considered a paranormal, because if you take out the curse that forces them to shapeshift, you don't have a story.

The paranormal must function as part of the story. Take it out and the story falls apart.

Simple rule. Please follow it.

Write on!