I hope you find something in the snippets I've included that appeals to you and makes you click the links to read the entire articles.
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| billnwmsu http://bit.ly/1dPSPTQ Creative-Commons Licensed Content |
A Dark and Stormy Night: 10 Tips for Writing a Paranormal Mystery (Wendy Webb)
- Real world or new world?
- Once you've created your world, make your readers want to live there. And then pull the rug out from under them.
- Even implausible situations must be plausible.
- The "dark and stormy night" cliché isn't a cliché for nothing.
- Adapt The Hero's Journey.
- Create vulnerability or danger that the lead character doesn't see for awhile, but the reader does.
- Give your readers breaks in the suspense.
- You've got to believe.
- Was it just my imagination?
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| Hartwig HKD http://bit.ly/17ydGav Creative-Commons Licensed Content |
…the paranormal includes phenomena and manifestations that lie outside the range of normal experience and cannot be scientifically explained or proven.
- Powers
- Creatures
- Angels/Demons
- Witches
- Ghosts
- Fairies/Pixies/Other fae folk
- Gods/Goddesses
- The just plain weird
An Introduction to Writing the Paranormal Novel and Supernatural Elements (Courtney Carpenter)
Paranormal novels…need some element of magic or the supernatural that’s so deeply integral to the story that the entire novel would collapse if you removed it.
People have been telling supernatural stories from the beginning of human civilization. Such stories form the basis of every mythology that ever existed.
Supernatural stories feed the human desire for escape. We can pretend we’re riding that magic carpet, making those three wishes, or swinging that sword because we know (deep sigh) it’s never going to happen for real.
How to Write a Paranormal – 7 Tips to Remember (K.A.E Grove)
- Originality in your writing
- Create a solid mythology
- A strong female heroine
- Hero
- Conflict and Villains
- Violence
- Stills needs a happily-ever-after
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| NightHawk24 http://bit.ly/1cnhVpa Creative-Commons Licensed Content |
Logic and consistency are important.
Make magic relevant to your story, and a meaningful part of the conflict within the characters.
Consider what is important to your character, and associate the cost of using the power with this important thing.
Writing rules for magic systems:
- Establish a set of rules.
- Have someone (or something) deliver the rules of the magic system to your character.
- Create scenarios in which to put your characters that test these very rules.
- Create situations in which the cost of using magic is something that risks what the character holds dear.
- Time sensitive
- Can be blocked
- Can be painfully overwhelming
- Unexpected
- Exhausting
- Can only occur under specific conditions
- Can only be used a certain number of times
- Restricted
- Corrupts
- A price
- Requires a recipe
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| JMiu http://bit.ly/Hvrisq Creative-Commons Licensed Content |
Bonus Material for sticking with me – Resources to Check Out:
Encyclopedia Mythallica (all things mythical)
Encyclopedia Mythica (mythology, folklore, religion)
godchecker (gods and goddesses)
Irish Fairies
Myth and Legend from Ancient Times to the Space Age
Paranormal Research & Resource Society
Paranormal Vocabulary
Psychic Research – PRISM Paranormal Research
Religions and Myths
Rosemary Ellen Guiley’s Library (check out the left side of the screen)
Sacred Text (religion, mythology, folklore)
Werewolves: The Myths and the Truths
Zerotime (vampires and werewolves)
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Are you writing a paranormal story or have a favorite paranormal story? Do you have any tips or resources to share? I’d love to hear all about it in the Comments section.
