We’re pleased to welcome Kelly Meade on the blog for the release of Black Rook, the first book in her new PNR series. For that we asked her how she ended up writing PNR novels and the difference she had to make in regard of her UF series under her Kelly Meding name.
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ONE’S NOT SO DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER
Thank you so much for hosting me today at Between Dreams and Reality. I’m so pleased to be here talking about writing paranormal romance for the first time.
I’m primarily known for my two urban fantasy series written as Kelly Meding. While there is certainly romance in my other series, romance isn’t necessarily the focus. However, I enjoyed the romantic relationships I wrote in those books, and I decided I wanted to take on the challenge of writing a paranormal romance series.
As a fan of romance (contemporary, historical, paranormal), I knew some of the expectations. I also knew what I liked in terms of how a series is tied together: brothers. Be it brothers related by blood (KGI by Maya Banks) or by choice (Lords of the Underworld by Gena Showalter). When I made the decision to write a paranormal romance series, I knew that the thing tying these books together would be brothers as the heroes. I also made the conscious choice to write an enclosed trilogy with a solid ending. I didn’t want my readers to take another chance on not seeing one of my series come to a conclusion.
In terms of differences between writing paranormal romance and UF, the main one is the most obvious: the romance between the hero and heroine is the primary focus of the story. As an UF author, I had to find a balance between the plot and world-building, and in giving my main couple a solid romance that resonates with readers.
The other big difference was point-of-view. In UF, I write a single first-person POV for each book, so I’m in one character’s head for the entire novel. And except for one, all were female POV’s. The challenge of writing BLACK ROOK was sharing Brynn’s POV (the heroine) with Rook’s (the hero), and I gave myself a double-whammy by adding in a second male POV (Knight is the only character with a POV in all three books).
But in terms of the thing I love the most about writing—world-building and putting my own spin on familiar tropes—this series has in spades. I really enjoyed creating a breed of wolf shifters who are a little bit different from the standard, but who are still the badass heroes you want to see sweep the heroine off her feet.
What’s your favorite thing about paranormal romance? Or are you more of an UF reader at heart?
Black Rook, Cornerstone Run Trilogy #1
Available July 15th from Intermix
Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Penguin | BAM
She never saw this coming… Brynn Atwood is a low-level Magus whose unpredictable precognitive powers have made her an outcast among her people—and an embarrassment to her highly-regarded father. After a frightening vision in which her father is murdered by a loup garou man, Brynn decides to prove herself by finding the killer, and stopping them at any cost.
Her target is Rook McQueen, the son of a small-town loup garou Alpha. Despite being the youngest of three, Rook is first in line to inherit the role of Alpha, a duty he isn’t sure he’s capable of fulfilling. When Brynn finally meets Rook, she doesn’t expect the attraction that draws her to him—and him to her.
No longer believing him a murderer, Brynn and Rook strike an alliance to find her father’s real killer. But when his older brother is targeted by an unknown enemy, Rook will have to choose between his growing feelings for Brynn and his duty as the future Alpha of his community.
Cornerstone Run Trilogy:
Black Rook: July 15, 2014 – http://amzn.com/B00I8R61LY
Gray Bishop: October 21, 2014 – http://amzn.com/B00I8RB1WS
White Knight: January 1, 2015 – http://amzn.com/B00I8RB100
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miki
i love to see the focus on a new couple in each book in the paranormal romance but i also need some “news” above those we met first so i love when they are linked together
i guess i do prefer urvban fantasy though but really not by a lot, those 2 are my favourite genre after all
thank you for the interview
Stephanie Faris
POV definitely makes a big difference in a book. Great job on the interview. I always love learning more about authors!
Jennifer Bielman
UF is best in first POV for sure. Great post.
Kirsty-Marie
An insightful insight! I haven’t read much UF, many Paranormal, since I love that there’s pretty much anything you can do with it. And because of that, you get a ton of surprises, which is always good. 🙂
Silvia
Great post and I’m personally into paranormal romance as much as I am into urban fantasy. They’re both amazing genres that really draw me in!
ShootingStarsMag
Nice post- and thanks for the fun giveaway. I’ve probably read more PR than UF, but I do want to read more UF in general. I like both.
Melissa (Books and Things)
I tend toward UF and my fave PNR tends to have elements of UF in it. Sounds like this is the case here. I do like the multi POVs so I do think I would enjoy this book.
Isabelle pinel
Bonjour,
Merci pour le concours et le super cadeau.
Je participe avec plaisir.
Encore merci et bonne continuation.
LilyElement
Woohoo! I love the sound of this one, have it on my TBR already 🙂
Zoe @ The Infinite To-Read Shelf
It all depends on the author. Some authors are just able to master all POVs, and some are better with just a specific POV. Thanks for sharing! <3
kindlemom1
Fabulous guest post! Thanks so much for sharing it with us. 🙂
Jennifer Bielman
I love that the author changed up her wolf shifters just a bit to keep things interesting.
Tracy Terry
I always enjoy author interviews and I found this one particularly interesting, thanks for sharing.
Great excerpt and what a tremendous giveaway, I’m gutted that it isn’t open to international entrants but wish everyone good luck.
Braine Talk Supe
So true! Her werewolves are something else, i love the lore behind it all!
P.S. Sorry I wasn’t able to leave a comment on yesterday’s post, my phone doesn’t have a translator and I can’t read French 🙁
Melliane
Oh no don’t worry, I’m away so not very present and it’s already nice of you to stop by.
Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum
This is a very cool post. There’s always talk about the difference between UF and PNR and it makes things even more confusing because so many book shops don’t seem to make the distinction. You’ll see both on the same shelves in the same section sometimes! I’d like to think I know the difference, but it’s always nice to see an author of both (so she’d know best!) really lay it out clearly like that 🙂
Melissa (My World...in words and pages)
Oh I’m so glad to see Kelly out with a new series. 🙂 Thank you!