Terrific essay from Foz Meadows on The Truth Of Wolves, Or: The Alpha Problem.
I think/have thought about some of the issues she raises quite a lot, but not as insightfully. Below are some of my own posts relating to shapeshifters in romance and urban fantasy.
The Next Wave in Paranormal Romance. In my humble opinion. Ahem.
I revisit The Mark of Merlin by Anne McCaffrey.
Robyn Carr’s My Kind of Christmas came out at the end of October, despite being about Christmas in the town of Virgin River.
Beneath the Abbey Wall by A.D. Scott, a mystery set in 1950s Scotland.
Kept by Shawntelle Madison, urban fantasy with an unusual heroine.
Killer Librarian by Mary Lou Kirwin, first in a new series of cozy mysteries.
Fox Tracks by Rita Mae Brown.
Happy Holidays! I’ll be back in the New Year.
This cover proves that the Paranormal Romance subgenre started earlier than we thought it did. Behold the Parrot Shifter.
I did a “Fresh Meat” feature at Heroes and Heartbreakers this week on Eve Silver’s Body of Sin. No, not body part of sin. Though that would have been funny.
Also, Lynn Spencer at the All About Romance blog read The Moonlight Mistress. Overall, she liked it!
My 5 Tips for Writing Erotica post is now appearing over at Erotic Meet.
If you missed it on Wednesday, I have a new post on Heroes and Heartbreakers: “If You Build It, They Will Come: Worldbuilding in Urban Fantasy.”
My other posts at Heroes and Heartbreakers.
I have a post on Heroes and Heartbreakers today: “If You Build It, They Will Come: Worldbuilding in Urban Fantasy.”
Now, on to today’s post!
What do the paranormal creatures in Paranormal Romance represent? Are they allegories?
You could say, sometimes a gorgon is just a gorgon. I think, though, it’s valuable to think about paranormal creatures in fiction as allegories, symbolic representations of things from our own society that we want to examine or critique. I think that writers can’t afford not to think how their paranormal characters might be representing roles in society, from sexual to racial to any of a dozen other categories.
I’m not considering writing a paranormal…not exactly. But I’m thinking about this issue now because it’s something I want to use in my new project. If I think about it enough, maybe I can encourage my brain to use the concept on an unconscious level.
What does the writer want to convey with a story about a paranormal being? How is the text she produces working to convey what she intends? How is her text working against her, and what can she do about it? What different interpretations and judgments might readers have of the text?
Here’s a very generalized and exaggerated example of what I mean. The werewolf might represent an overwhelming sexual hunger. What does that interpretation say to the reader? I estimate that, in ninety percent of Paranormal Romance novels featuring werewolf characters, the werewolves are male. Is the implication that women can’t experience overwhelming sexual hunger, because if we don’t see it on the page, it doesn’t happen? Is the implication that periods of uncontrolled sexual hunger are natural and desirable for men, or alternatively, deviant? What message does the preponderance of male werewolves give? It’s all very well to mention that “oh, yes, female werewolves in this world also are lauded for losing themselves and devouring enemies,” but if that is not shown in a scene, it leaves much less of an impression on the reader than the seven scenes in which a male werewolf changes form and devours his enemies before having wild sex with the heroine. But it’s very easy to fall into that trap, without even noticing one is falling.
A writer can’t control every interpretation her audience places upon her work. Reading is in many ways a joint effort between writers and readers. But I think the writer can be mindful of the possible range of interpretations of her stories. Vigilant, even.
I don’t think writers should shy away from this. I think it can add a lot to a story’s depth if we keep in mind the richness that’s possible through allegory.
Here’s another very generalized example. Vampires have often been used as allegories for outsider populations, including people who suffer from a disease. If the writer chooses the latter option, the disease chosen will affect the story. For example, I read various 1980s and 1990s stories in which vampires were an allergory for humans with HIV. To criticize how our real-life society demonized those who contracted HIV, vampirism was shown to spread more easily than in some other vamprie stories, and the vampires were shown as unjustly persecuted by society. Alternatively, vampirism as an allegory for tuberculosis might show the vampires as Keats-like artists. Vampirism as an allegory for flesh-eating bacteria…would work better as a zombie story, I think.
I’m going to keep thinking about this. Do you have any thoughts? Examples? Do I need to just shut up and write?
The winner of the signed print copy of The Duke & The Pirate Queen, per Random.org, is Crystal Jordan. Congratulations, Crystal! I’ll email you to obtain your mailing address.
Now, please welcome my guest, Stacey Kennedy!
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What do we know about wolves? They live in a social hierarchy which is lead by an Alpha. They mate for life and will defend that mate to their death. They’re loving, yet deathly lethal when the situation calls them to be. Needless to say, it’s not a surprise that readers are taken by such a beautiful animal when portrayed as a werewolf.
When I created my werewolves in An Everlasting Bite, I followed many of the same rules wolves adhere too. Alphas lead over lower ranking wolves. Their hearts are destined to only one mate. They’re territorial and vicious when provoked. But of course, I changed a few rules too. My wolves are immortal and can shift to a human on command. Not that it hurts any, more just a shift in senses when the magic brings on the change.
As I created the characters, Briggs and Rynn, it really gave me a chance to step outside of myself. To imagine what turning into a werewolf would be like. How every sound would be crisper, how paws would feel when dug into the dirt, and how the wind would feel across your fur. The experience was quite a ride. I suppose by feeling so connected to the wolf while I wrote this story it made me want to understand them more. Through research, I discovered just how playful they are with their pack. And it was this character trait that inspired one of my favourite scenes in An Everlasting Bite. Below I’ve included an excerpt that shows you the sweeter side to a werewolf:
Briggs howled loudly to the moon. When he lowered his head, his eyes shone of rightness, protection, and happiness. But more than that, they showed playfulness. He nudged her side with his nose, nodded toward the forest.
She immediately caught his meaning. She jumped to her feet, returned the look of play and pounced forward. As she ran, she glanced back to see Briggs hitting the ground with his paws in anticipation and wagging his tail. She focused in front of her and ran as if her life depended on it.
His howl came loud, but far away. He let her have a head start, but as she rushed through the trees, she could hear him fast approaching.
She lunged faster, continued to run harder. Her paws barely touched the ground as her speed increased. Her ears twitched back and he began to close the distance. Briggs’ wolf was three times the size of her as a wolf. Needless to say, it didn’t take him long to catch up.
She had an advantage, though, her small size made her slightly quicker. She could weave through trees with impeccable speed while he had to go around them. He couldn’t catch her. He ran to her right, but she never looked back. She didn’t have to. His presence was there, and she could feel his playful banter coursing through her. For wolves, she suspected this was about as fun as it came, and she felt silly right along with him.
Suddenly, he moved faster–lengthened his stride.
Oh crap! He was only humoring her that she could out run him. Before she knew it, he was behind her and gave her backside a little nibble. She skidded to a halt and glanced behind her. He rested, head down and rump in the air, tail wagging.
The wolf within her knew exactly what to do. She lunged toward him. He jumped out of the way to rest in the same position and waited for her attack. Even in his wolf form, his eyes were so amused. He enjoyed this and so did she.
He growled, the sound rumbled through the air as he called her forward. She pounced again, but this time she ended up right on her butt as he maneuvered away from her.
Determined, she crouched down in the position he displayed–the declaration of an attack. She lunged forward. This time he let her. When she collided with him, they rolled around within the leaves and dirt, nibbling at each other.
After a final tumble, she jumped away. When she met his gaze, his eyes were smiling. She couldn’t deny how fun this was. As wolves, this was happiness. She’d needed this. Just silly fun. No danger, only them.
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Thank you, Victoria, for letting me stop by and share my werewolves with you! Now I ask all of you, what side do you like most to the wolf―the sweet side or their ferocious protective nature?
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Thanks, Stacey!
Please welcome my guest, Janet Mullany!
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IMMORTAL JANE
He released her hands and stood. “Consider, Jane. You’ll marry some bore of a country gentleman who’ll kill you in childbed and who won’t want a bookish wife anyway. Perhaps you’ll stay a spinster and lose your bloom and die young of some disease they’ll find an easy cure for in a hundred years or so. Or you’ll see your sister die first.”
“Now you’re cruel.”
“No, it is the truth. But let us paint a happier picture for Miss Jane Austen. You write a few books that entertain your family and you win a little fame, perhaps even some money, while you live. And after, what then? Your books languish forgotten on dusty bookshelves and you are but a name on a binding that disappears with decay and time. You think your books offer you a chance at immortality?”
–Jane and the Damned
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Jane and the Damned isn’t a romance so it doesn’t have a traditional happy ending. It’s a historical urban fantasy with romance elements, part alternative historical with a bit of this, that, and the other, and some “spot the Austen novel” moments. But I think a characteristic of the HEA is that hero and heroine exist in a bubble of passion, which is why vampire romances are so hot (and, oh yeah, the physical perfection and great sex and all that stuff)—the eternal is now. Never mind that she’ll be looking at hip replacements while he is still a gorgeous 28-year-old sex god. Or, they’ll both be forever young and gorgeous vampires, the HEA distilled into eternity, the passage of time halted.
It’s a great fantasy.
But Jane Austen as a vampire? Neither of these endings would work and I had to create a scenario where her immortality would come with her books, even if at the age of 21 (the book is set in 1797) she was not at all sure she would ever be published. But I was following a trend, even though I hadn’t read a lot of vampire books, and I certainly hadn’t read any of the vampire classics, but I had watched hours of True Blood on HBO before getting tired of all those ripped perfect bodies and all that blood.
All those ripped perfect bodies and all that blood are what I define as Vampires Type A in popular culture. Vampires Type O are the evil ones. The ones mortals must fight to save the world, yadda yadda. And then there’s all this stuff about garlic and holy water and crosses (anyone remember that Roman Polanski movie with the Jewish vampire?—“Oy, lady, did you ever get the wrong vampire…”), not being able to cross running water, go out in daylight, use public transport (I’m making that up), and so on.
I had to come up with a vampire scenario that fit into my depiction of Georgian England, the age of reason and of both social and industrial revolution; the world that produced Jane Austen. I chose very selectively from vampire lore, although essentially the Damned are Type A—hot, desirable, and very fashionable. They’re the ton. Everyone wants to have sex with them or provide them with a dining experience. (These vampires do not feed—that is so vulgar. They dine.) The Prince of Wales (later the Prince Regent) loves to hang out with them and the newspapers are full of their scandalous behavior.
To tie the vampire elements to what we know of Austen’s life, I used another established literary trope, that Austen became what she was because of some lifechanging event: frequently a passionate love affair, a secret destroyed in the letters her sister Cassandra burned after her death. The family secret as I interpreted it was that Jane Austen was once a vampire and it influenced everything she wrote.
Do you agree with my vampire-HEA assessment? And what do you think of the current Austen-paranormal trend?
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Thanks, Janet! It was great to have you visit!
Please welcome my guest, Anna Katherine!
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Roll Your Own
One of the biggest issues with writing any paranormal beastie is the need to bring something new to the table. With everybody writing about vampires these days, why should someone want to read about yours? Let’s say you want to make your vampires stand out from the pack by being different from your everyday Count Dracula stereotype. Where do you start?
Well, there are lots of cultures out there with their own versions of vampires (one of my favorites is the Bulgarian vamp, which has only one nostril). You can add a lot of originality to your work by just exploring new (to you) folklore.
But what if you don’t want to go the Western vamp route or the “borrowing from elsewhere” route? What if you want to make something all your own?
So let’s say you want to make up something new and shiny. Problem number one with that is: If you make up something that has nothing in common with a vampire, what makes it a vampire? Why isn’t it called a Thubmert?
(The secret answer to this is, there is no reason why you can’t call something a vampire. “Vampire” is just a word we made up. Maybe in other universes, “vampires” are what people call post-it notes. You’re an author; you can use whatever words you like. But authors don’t write in a vacuum, and eventually you’re going to have to do a major bit of hand-waving to get your reading audience to follow along with those sorts of shenanigans.)
Let’s say that if you want to call something a vampire, you need some recognizable vampiric traits to build off on. Right off the top of my head, I can think of: Dead, drinks blood, pointy teeth, drive to create more vampires, can’t go in sunlight, a stake through the heart kills them.
The next step is to twist these traits around — make them mean different things, or take them a step further than tradition normally does. Some examples:
Ladies and gents: My vampires are academics.
Keeping vampires (or other mythological creatures) fresh — but familiar — is a tough row to hoe, but you’ll be amazed by what you can come up with using a twist of thought and a little reductio ad absurdum logic. Have fun!
Note: I can’t recommend enough the use of motif indexes for writing research (mine’s the Stith Thompson Motif-Index of Folk-Literature, but others include Aarne’s The Types of the Folktale and Uther’s recent The Types of International Folktales). Vampires are tale type E251: “Vampire: Corpse which comes from grave at night and sucks blood”, but there are a ton of little details and stories to follow up on in there.
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Thanks so much!
In keeping with my run of guest posts on vampires, this is a special edition of Linkgasm focusing on our bloodsucking (and lifesucking) friends outside of Europe.
Vikram and the Vampire, translated by Richard R. Burton (1870). More about the Baital Pachisi. A more academic essay on the Baital Pachisi.
Article about Chinese vampire movies, “Horror, Humor and Hopping in Hong Kong,” by Ian Whitney.
Vampire Anime Wiki.
The pontianak and the langsuir, from Malaysian and Indonesian folklore.
From the Carribean, the soucouyant.
Bonus vampire movie links!
Vampire Movie Database, with brief summary information. Searchable. Everything from Vampire Vixens to Sodium Babies.
The Top 70 Vampire Movies of All Time at Snarkerati.
Bonus vampire book review link!
Dead Sexy by Kimberly Raye at Read React Review.
Related Post:
Werewolves All Over The World.
