Soon that porch was overflowing with a unique holiday spirit that resonated with people from all over. Every time she left a note, Frank gained a new friend on his porch. Then one December day, a cranky neighbor left a note saying Frank needed to be moved out of sight because he "wasn't festive and in keeping with the holiday spirit." Frank donned a Santa hat and gathered a Christmas tree, but still, the neighbor was unhappy, and she left another nasty note. As long as you tell a compelling story.īITE, Berkley (with stories by Laurell K.Frank was just your average gargoyle, sitting on the front porch and protecting his house. Whatever you can conceive these days, you can write. Most of all, open your mind as a writer and a reader. Have the inhuman characters ponder their place in the modern world. Let them doubt themselves occasionally and others frequently.Ĥ) Don’t hide the fact they are “fish out of water” in the modern world – use it. Us women will forgive a lot for those two qualities.ģ) BUT, the more inhuman their physiology is, the more human their nature needs to be. She doesn’t just place her dragons in the lost city of Atlantis, she explains why, and in a very concise, believable (for a paranormal reader) manner they are there.Ģ) Make the heroes very handsome and very virile. Gena Showalter also did a fine job of this in HEART OF THE DRAGON which I read recently. In the gargoyle world, the mythology behind their creation is critical. Explaining why it is the way it is helps the reader suspend disbelief.
You’ve got to explain why your altered world is the way it is. It’s not enough anymore to explain the rules of your universe. But here are a few things I’ve kept in mind as I’ve created a new race of beings for romance readers.ġ) Create a mythology. I don’t think there is a formula – the more you can break the rules the better. I’m not saying I have “the formula” for success. Whatever a writer can imagine, if he or she can tell the story in a compelling way, the market will devour. It’s as if someone flipped on the “open-minded” switch in the reading public. But now the door is open for shape-shifters, aliens, genetic mutants, gods and goddesses, wizards and witches, demons and angels, ghosts and ghost hunters (and huntresses). Sure, there are still plenty of psychic, vampire and werewolf stories out there and they’re as endearing as ever. The subgenre of paranormal romance has never been more open to innovation and creativity than it is right now. Just a few short months later, with the help of a terrific bookseller friend named Kathy Baker and a wonderful new (for me) agent named Lucienne Diver, Les Gargouillen were on the road to print. I started furiously scribbling notes and pitched the idea to my friend on the way home. What the hell? In the middle of a lecture on nothing remotely to do with paranormal, I realized how I could use the gargoyles in a romance. So I tucked the information away.įast forward to that Shreveport conference a few years later. I was writing romantic suspense at the time, and paranormal romance wasn’t popular. The legend was fascinating (I’ll be adding it to my website soon if you’re curious), but I had no idea what to do with it. I read the legend that explained why a church so opposed to demonic belief and satanism would grace the edifices of their holiest cathedrals, such as Notre Dame, with such horrific carvings.
#FRANK THE GARGOYLE VS KAREN FULL#
I flipped through a coffee table book full of amazing photos of gargoyles. Some women like sales on fancy dresses, bags or shoes. I’d been in a Barnes and Noble browsing the discount table. So she nurtured the dream instead of killing it with a single swipe of reality like, “That’s insane.” They’re like an itch that just has to be scratched. Still, she was a good friend and a terrific writer herself, so she was sympathetic to the nature of weird ideas. We were on our way home to Dallas from a writer’s conference in Shreveport. Those weren’t my friend and critique partner’s actual words when I first pitched her the idea of a gargoyle as a romantic hero, but they certainly sum up the expression on her face. Vampires will have a week all their own beginning April 6th! I'm going to continue it through the weekend and into next week.
Gargoyles and Shifters and Demons, Oh My! week is still going strong. Anyone who comments below will be entered to win a signed copy of one of her books.Īnonymous won the signed Karen Whiddon book from yesterday's giveaway! Please e-mail me at so we know where to send it.
The wonderful Vickie Taylor is my guest today with a post about gargoyle romance and a giveaway. So, where the heck are those gargoyles I promised? Well, here they are. We've been talking a lot about shifters and demons.
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