It's Valentine's Day again and I thought I should write about something romantic. It occurred to me this would be a good time to remind you all of my paranormal romance, Red Ellen, the first in the Magic of Rochester trilogy. I confess, it didn't actually originate as a romance, just paranormal. I have seen many interpretations of the supernatural world as it might work in modern times and one thing I found they all have in common is that the only supernatural creatures that seem to exist in the modern world are the ones that at least pass as human. I wondered why this was, and then I realized the answer was simple, we hunted all the others to extinction. I don't know if you realize this, but much of the mythology of the world suggests that in days of yore, legendary heroes made a name for themselves by killing monsters. Given that mastodons and dodo birds didn't survive humans over hunting, it seems likely that if dragons ever existed they probably got hunted too, and even unicorns probably weren't safe from poaching. So it would seem that if anyone would survive it would be those that had enough human nature to hide in plain sight. This narrows down the pool to five groups, undead that used to be human, shapeshifters that appear human when not in alternate forms, fairy changelings that use the illusion of glamour, spirits that are incorporeal so it doesn't matter, and wizards and other magic using mortals that actually are human except for powers that are only a giveaway when used. So once I figured out the basics of who and what could actually exist, it was simply a matter of figuring out a story to go along with this. My first idea was simply a war between undead and fairies with the others caught in the middle, but that went nowhere, I just simply didn't have any one party to actually care about. Then came the new genre of paranormal romance, all I had to do was put a girl in the middle of the action and watch the boys fight over her, it practically writes itself. Seriously though, I did eventually figure out a way to use it as an allegory for coming of age with the boys representing stereotypes of what a girl wants. Hey, after all these years of one-dimensional female characters in supporting roles in male driven stories, it's about time to turn things around. I really do like this story, I like having a fairy princess defend her kingdom against undead with the aid of werewolves and wizards. This isn't a parody, it's a sincere effort, although I really hate how vampires are romanticized beyond recognition, so my vampire is a hardcore villain, but much as in real life, the bad boy has his charm. Also, I want to point out Rochester, my hometown, is the setting because I feel there is just way too much focus on New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Miami. Seriously, if aliens read our media, they would think 99% of Americans live in those five cities. The rest of our country needs to start representin' especially upstate New York. Yes, world, there is a New York outside of the city, and it's pretty cool up here too, so stop ignoring us.
Now I already talked a lot about Red Ellen when I was writing about in back in November, so I'm going to use this opportunity to give a preview of the sequel Waking Dream. "Changelings always come in pairs, the one the fairies take, and the one they leave behind. For the three changelings of Rochester, their other halves have come back to claim the lives that were stolen from them. Ellen must face her true heritage as a fairy princess in the realm of her birth and her cousin Jasper's loyalty will be tested when he realizes that his true relative is the one Ellen replaced. The real question is, why are they coming back now?" This book will take place in the year Ellen turns 18 and introduces the other half of each changeling pair. Slate and Shale are the ones who were swapped with the dragons that were Jasper's and Jade's great grandparents, making them 97 years old by this time, but fairy magic has been sapping their humanity with each subsequent generation of the dragonkin and now they are only one more generation from losing their last shred of humanity and becoming full dragons. The only physical human trait left is their left arm, mirroring the dragonkin Jasper and Jade, although the glamour allows them to appear s if they were 18-year old humans. Jasper and Jade will need the help of the spirit Fickle Luna of the Ever Changing Moon to defeat them and protect their place in our world. Ellen's situation is very different, and a lot more complicated, especially since she was swapped for the daughter of the brother of Jasper's actual mother, meaning that his loyalty is divided between the girl he's known for two years and the one that actually shares his blood. Of course, the boys are all dragged into this, and Nate the vampire may actually be more involved than anyone knows.
Read Red Ellen and prepare for part two Wakign Dream due sometime after November National Novel Writing Month.
No comments:
Post a Comment