*Cross-posted from my blog, where I've been talking about some of the thoughts and ideas that came up at Romantic Times last week*
One really interesting RT panel was devoted to defining the (often blurry) line between urban fantasy and paranormal romance. Jackie Kessler (who, by the way, just sold an awesome-sounding YA that you can read about
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Sometimes its the amount of horizontal hokey-poking that goes on in the pages that make it more paranormal romance, but not always.
Sometimes its the package and how much skin on the cover that makes it more paranormal romance, but not always.
Sometimes a books is heavier on action and fighting evil than it is on the developing romantic relationships that make it more UF, but not always.
Sometimes it's a sales team deciding they could get a better buy from the urban fantasy buyer for the bookstores than they could from the paranormal romance buyer, but not always.
Sometimes the noir detective style of the story with that cleverly worked first person perspective plants it down in urban fantasy, but not always.
Sometimes its an arbitrary choice to fill the monthly slots in a publisher's schedule, but not always.
These panels are great because the world will never truly know, but they do get people talkin!
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I pretty much write the kind of stories that I like to read, where the hero isn't always a nice person and he/she experiences some sort of transformation but the love interest may end up going home with their best friend . . . that sort of thing.
It's my intention to "keep it real" as much as possible because you're already dealing with supernatural powers of some sort. And, real life doesn't go for the HEA.
It's difficult because on the one hand there's a trend of readers wanting HEA but also those who're happy if you give a bittersweet bite to your last words.
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For myself, I have always thought of those terms as pertaining to two completely different elements of a book: "Urban Fantasy" denotes a particular tone/style/environment of the book, while "Paranormal Romance" is more an indication of what the main focus of the plot is all about (i.e. the romantic relationship). So basically apple and oranges, and books can be both at the same time, or just one and not the other. But then you toss "Contemporary Fantasy" into the mix, and I start getting a headache. ;-D
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