Loading ...Guest Blogger Sapphire Phelan
Bitten by Books is excited to welcome author Sapphire Phelan today as our featured Guest Blogger! Sapphire will be sharing how a horror author can write the same scary stuff for dark paranormal romance. Check out the contest at the end of this post! You could win a $20.00 Amazon.com Gift Card.
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When I decided to write my first paranormal romance I looked no farther than what I’ve been doing already: horror. It was a no brainer for me.
I’ve read paranormal romances where the vampire didn’t drink blood nor did bad things. Let’s admit it, European vamps drink blood—humans are food for goodness sakes. I also had a problem about a vampire getting together with a human—things like necrophilia came up. My first vampire romance was not only set in the future and on another planet. The hero was the last Undead Earth vampire in existence and he had to escape from Earth to another world as pollution was killing his kind off. It was on that new planet that he met his ‘soul mate’, Nalessa, an alien vampire. She was the last survivor of her civilization, which perished eons ago. That story became Crimson Promise. Since then, I did write a vampire with a human romance story, which also was a second chance at love for two lovers separated by terrible circumstances.
Monsters are scary. We all are afraid of the dark. What better way to conquer that fear of the dark then have the heroine or hero fall in love with a monster? You have the bad boys or girls in contemporary romance novels, but this takes that bad idea and making them even badder? Besides the reader wants to be taken away from their mundane day-to-day life and suddenly they can read a tale where the heroine moves to some creepy town. Each night something or somethings are taking innocent citizens. These monstrous things are also after her. But she meets a tall, dark and handsome man, who saves her from a pack of howling things. She falls for him. Maybe even makes love with him. It is later that she learns he’s not human, but one of those ‘howling’ things. He’s a werewolf, cursed to take another shape, but he’s tortured and doesn’t want to harm humans. Will she, can she, change him for the better? When she does, and both ride off into the sunset on his motorcycle, the readers close the book with a snap, knowing once again there’s a happily ever after for another couple.
You don’t have to stick to supernatural creatures either. Why not an alien, whose people want to take over our world? Not just an alien, but a parasitic one? I did this with Iridescent Invasion. Since that e-publisher closed its doors and I got the rights back, I plan to turn this short story into a full length novel because it did so well. This could be considered a ménage in an odd sort of way–a love story between three people with two bodies.
It doesn’t matter what your hero or heroine is, a paranormal allows you to take chances, to go where no reader has been before in a love story. You can take the theme of racism, religion and prejudice, and add a twist by making one of the lovers a merperson or a vampire or shapeshifter. They say that love overcomes everything–well, here’s a writer’s chance to prove that.
With writing paranormal romance and being allowed stretching the limit with blood chilling horror I have proved that a horror author can take their experience and apply it to a paranormal romance with no problem.
I will be giving away a $20 Amazon.com Gift Card
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Questions and Contest: Now, I am going to open up the internet floor so to speak and let our readers ask some questions and share your stories. Feel free to post as many questions or comments as you like. Sapphire will be answering them on and off the rest of the day.
Readers, here’s how to enter the contest. You can do one or all of these things, and each one will give an additional entry. This is to win a $20.00 Amazon.com Gift Card
1. Ask the author a question (ask as many questions as you like, but only two questions count towards entries) or share your own ghost story. Your name will be entered for a chance to win the fabulous prize mentioned above.
2. SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter here on the right hand side of the site. This is for new subscribers only.
3. Post links to the interview here today at another blog or website and you will be given additional entries to win. You MUST post those links in one response here in this thread. The more places you post the event, the more entries you get, so spread the word!
4. Purchase a copy of ANY of Sapphire ’s awesome books and send us a copy of the receipt for your purchase to: racoo.smith @ gmail.com (no spaces) for an additional entry. You get an entry for each one you purchase. Check out her books here:
To purchase an electronic copy of Wedded Magic click here.
To purchase an electronic copy of Crimson Promise click here.
To purchase an electronic copy of Beast Magic click here.
5. Add us as your friend on Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/bittenbybooks
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6. Stumble, Digg or share the post with any social networking sites. There is a button right at the end of this post that says “Share” that you can use. 
Be sure to include an email and name where we can contact you if you are a winner. We will be awarding the prizes and posting the winners to the Bitten by Books website later this week.
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Is there a limit you set in your worlds when you write paranormal so someone will not be offended or do you stay true to what you are writing?
“Monsters are scary. We all are afraid of the dark. What better way to conquer that fear of the dark then have the heroine or hero fall in love with a monster?”
I couldn’t agree with you more, Sapphire! I also agree wholeheartedly with you in branching heroes (anti-heroes?) out from vampires and shifters. While I LURVE my vampires, I do enjoy a change from the norm.
Are there any creatures/beings that you do not have an inclination to write about?
Do you find paranormal romance is a very different genre to write in as opposed to horror or more of a natural progression to add in romantic elements to what might otherwise have been labeled a horror story?
Carpe Noctem,
Des
Desirée Lee
Putting the Romance Back in Necromancy
http://www.desireelee.com
des@desireelee.com
Sapphire, out of all the Dracula movies that have ever been made, who do you think plays this part the best?
And which paranormal hero of your own making has been your favourite and why?
Krista, I stop at sex witn children and with animals. Making something scary is one thing, something digusting or terrible is not. That goes over into porn realm. I had a erotic horror story, “Jack” with jack the ripper and it was not romance and published in a horror magazine in which the main character dies, but there is horror.
I hadn’t found anything that I wouldn’t like to write about. Well, maybe zombies. Another thing about making love to that I will never g]do is nechrophelia. It was hard to write first vamp story because of this. besides the fact humans are food to the vamps.
Some paranormal romance has turn vamps and shifters pretty tame. And be honest, they are dangerous, way more so than bad boys, unless th bad boy is a murderer. But there are those like J R Ward who has push boundaries with paranormal romance.
Bela Lugosi, Megan. Okay, he has a soft part of my heart. Christopher Lee is second.
Mmmmm. . .I like Charun, my demon Familair in the witch/demon urban fantasy that’ll come out from Phaze books in 2009.
And my fairy bad boy from Soul Seduction from Forbidden Love: Bad Boys is close to my heart. And loves Ramses too. It’s hard as all are my children and how can I love one child more then the next one?
I enjoyed your blog. I don’t read paranormal that often, but I enjoy the ones I do read.
I once rented a house owned by the widower of a deceased witch. The small town where my wife grew up had many tales of what people thought went on in the house. I do know the woman’s husband was a creep so we called the house The Creep House. There was mirror in the hall at the entrance. You could walk down the hall to the bedrooms and bathroom or avoid the mirror by going through the living room and entering the hall through the kitchen.
My mother-in-law and all her sisters would not walk past the mirror once they had seen it for the first time.
I cleaned the mirror with a rag only to find what looked like blood on the cleaning rag. I looked and I wasn’t cut. No one in the house had been cut. Every time I cleaned the mirror the rag would come away crimson.
It was the strangest thing Especially when I would find the creepy landlord hovering in the yard trying to look in the windows.
Ray
Thanks so much for being here today Sapphire! This is a great conversation.
As they say, love is blind. What woman doesn’t want her man in leather and be a little scary? Give him a bike and Woo Hoo. lol
I just started brancing out to the shapeshifters. I enjoy the werewolves but was looking into others. What is favorite shapeshifter?
Also, do you have a sort of ritual you do before writing? Like music, coffee or whatever?
Katie
I am both a horror and paranormal romance enthusiast and I was wandering how difficult was it for you to bridge that gap?
Thanks so much for coming by and sharing with all of us today.
Cindy Mac
That’s cool, Ray. For those who don’t know, I write nonfiction ghost books too. Well, have one out, buy my real name, Pamela K. Kinney, and it’s called Haunted Richmond, Virginia, published by Schiffer Publishing. Tis book has sold well for me. Tomorrow, I plan to go to Natural Bridge in Virginia to take photographs and interview,as writing a book for Schiffer on legends, folklore, myths and interesting bizarre true stories of Virginia. My husband and I will be staying overnight in a reputedly haunted hotel there.
Katie, I love the werewolves since I was a child–got most of the horror werewolf movies and many horror werewolf books. Starting on paranormal romance versions past three years too. Though love other shapeshifters too. My fave feline shapeshifter films are the Cat People 1940s and 1980s versions. 1980 one is very erotic. I would recommend it.
As for what i do, I most of the times go exercise at Curves in the morning, come home, shower, have my yogurt and coffee for breakfast, check email, and then start into writing. I do writing mainly Monday through Friday during the day (I don’t work), but have done it at night and on weekends like been doing past couple weeks as this nonfiction book is due to schiffer by October.
Cinday Mac, it was not difficult at all for me. I worried about readers, but they seemed to embrace what I write. One ebook I had wrote, Iridescent Invasion that was published by Lady Aibell Press before they closed their doors was one I did worry about. the hero is actually the parasite alien who inhabits Sheriff Drake Whiting’s body. Instead it garnered super reviews and got bought a lot. Now I plan to make it a full blown novel and hope to get done and in time for the RWA conference in D.C. to pitch in 2009. The readers deserve that much!
When you are writing do you imagine certain actors and actresses as the characters or are they just part of your imagination? And if you do picture either celebs or people you know, will you share with us who you see playing those roles?
[...] August 27, 2008 at 6:59 pm (Uncategorized) Guest Blogger Sapphire Phelan [...]
Which genre do you prefer, horror or paranormal romance?
We all know that horror is real, maybe not in the form of supernatural creatures. We see it everyday in the acts of people, cruel people. But, do you believe in love?
Thank you for being here today.
What is your favorite place in Haunted Richmond?
Has anything unusual ever happen to you, at a book signing?
I also blogged here http://candersgoodfun.blogspot.com/
and
Dugg it here
http://digg.com/arts_culture/Bitten_by_Books_Guest_Blogger_Sapphire_Phelan
How do you define paranormal as opposed to defining fantasy?
Krysten, strangely enough, I don’t imagine any actor or actress in the roles of my characters. I see what they look like in my imagination. Only one short story I wrote that almost got publsihed and that was by my other name did I based characters off real people in a plasma center. But the rest of my characters come out of my head.
Wow…Bitten this is really nice so wonderful to be able to ask Sapphire Phelan questions. I would like to know what inspired you to write. I’m a zombie lover…lol lol do you often write about them.
Thanks Bitten!!!
Stacy, In read both and like both. I also read fantasy and science fiction. Yes, there are those books or films that have serial killers, but my horror is supernatural or science fiction in nature. Even “Jack,” the Jack the Ripper story was not the real Ripper but by virtual reality.
But I read and love both.
And yes, I believe in love–been married 31 years to the same man since 1977.
Cander,
It’s hard to pick any place in the book, Haunted Richmond.All were great and interesting places, paranormal-wise and historically. I think the Lady In Red at Wrexham since that’s a five-minute walk for me, Centre Hill Mansion since the people were so helpful in the interviewing, Hollywood Cemetery since it is gorgeous, and the Richmond Vampire legend.
Unusual? I had people come looking for me and that is always a treat.I’ve had people start talking about their paranormal experiences too and I enjoy hearing them. especially now as I really do ghost hunt with a couple paranormal investigating groups in the area.
Paranormal is ghosts (actually in horror world it is ghosts, werewolves and vampires are horror) and supernatural beings.
Fantasy is world of elves, fairies, magic, dragons, unicorns and usually in a fantastical world. Though urban fantasy has set those same magical beings in an urban setting in our world in contemporary times. It’s just been last few years I seen vampires and werewolves and even ghosts added to urban fantasy–before paranormal or horror (Laurell K. Hamilton was horror when her books first came out).
How do you define paranormal as opposed to defining fantasy?
Lisa,
I had wrote a zombie story but it’s horror and I haven’t found a publisher for it yet–like magazine or anthology. It combines the ghouls of Night of the Living Dead with zombies of Voodoo.
maybe someday I will have a zombie hero for a romance–that would be interesting.
I love stories about paranormal that is as different as you can make it. I like zombies and odd shifters. Do you ever write about things like that?
Debby
If you could be any paranormal creature, what would you want to be?
Is there a genre you haven’t written in, but would like to?
Odd shifters? Like not werewolves or any of the big cat ones? Like foxes or elephants or hippos? Bears? Someday I like to write other shifters as legends fill the world with all kinds.
haven’t wrote zombies in a romance yet. Just in one horror short story and an urban fantasy that is by my other name that has Armageddon and demons and zombies in it. Which hasn’t been accepted by a publisher yet. maybe one day.
I love stories about paranormal that is as different as you can make it. I like zombies and odd shifters. Do you ever write about things like that?
Debby
A werewolf or a feline shapeshifter–maybe a panther.
Mystery. Maybe one day, but for now not sure I could give it the best I could.
If you could be any paranormal creature, what would you want to be?
Is there a genre you haven’t written in, but would like to?
Sapphire I have to say you are a woman from my own heart! Give me the strange and unusual any day the more shifters, Fae’s and vamps the better! Who do you think influenced you in your writings the most?
Hugs and Sisses!
Caden,
Ray Bradbury, Shirley Jackson, Anne McCaffrey, Madeleine L’Engle, Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft ( I have an erotic Lovecraftian horror novella coming from Under the Moon next year), Bram Stoker, Victoria Holt, Phyllis Whitney, JRR Tolkein, Heinlein, Philip K. Dick, so many other authors too.
Sapphire I have to say you are a woman from my own heart! Give me the strange and unusual any day the more shifters, Fae’s and vamps the better! Who do you think influenced you in your writings the most?
I got to go to bed, as we’re getting up early to leave for Natural Bridge as doing interview plus photographing for the next nonfiction Schiffer book. It’s take us 3 hours to get to the area from Richmond. We’ll actually be staying in the Natural Bridge Hotel which is reputed to be haunted. I will come back to here to answer any comments Friday evening or Saturday morning, so please keep commenting.
I would like to know if items such as jewelry or even clothing has inspired any of your wonderful books?
Hi there, Sapphire (that’s my birthstone, by the way)! It’s interesting to read about your experiences writing paranormal fiction and horror. Do you have a theory about why paranormal romance/urban fantasy is so popular these days? And do you listen to music while you write, and if so, what genre, albums, or artists do you find most inspiring? Thanks so much!
Surprisiingly not. Though the thought of jewels is a wonderful idea, or even a piece of clothing.
I would like to know if items such as jewelry or even clothing has inspired any of your wonderful books?
it’s my birthstone too.
With ghost books and people watching Ghost Hunters I know that interest in the paranormal started with X-Files came out years ago on TV. I watched the show and loved it. And with urban fantasy and paranormal being about ghosts, witches, vampires, werewolves, fairies (regular fantasy is popular too) and things like that, it takes people away from our day to day cares that life is throwing at us. Gas is not cheap, food isn’t cheap either and people can’t afford much. Movies, television and books are all we can afford much and what better why to pass the time then leave this world and become one with the hero or heroine and save the world from demons and monsters or even fall in love with one? It’s a mini vacation.
No, I don’t listen to music actually when writing. There might be low background noise from the small TV in the computer/costume sewing room, but most time quiet.
Music is when I am driving, or relaxing in living room or exercising.
Did Haunted Richmond take more time to write than your fiction books?
And How long did it take to research HR?
It takes time in that I have to research ghost stories and history too. My current book for them is taking lots more as it is all of Virginia. I also have to go to some of these places and take photographs too.
Haunted Richmond in writing, interviews and picture taking took one month and 2 weeks, but did it every day, all day.
Did Haunted Richmond take more time to write than your fiction books?
And How long did it take to research HR?
Thanks again to Sapphire for being with us and offering up such a great conversation.
Caden Leigh is the winner of the $20.00 Amazon.com Gift Card. Congrats Caden!!