I've been doing some soul searching lately. I do this from time to time, just sort of take a moment to step back and look at my life and my writing to see if things are going the way I feel they should be. Well, this time it was mostly related to my writing and I've come to a few conclusions. First off being that my books DO NOT fit comfortably into the paranormal romance genre. If anything, they are more romantic horror. Which brings me to my next thought, what exactly is romantic horror?
When I was reading through some reviews of my Spiritus Series, I realized the over and over, readers were saying that it was more horror than romance. Okay, I can live with that, but it is still a romance so now what? Well that brings me to my new self imposed classification: Romantic Horror. It isn't exactly a new idea, Bram Stoker built Dracula around that very idea and Anne Rice has been paving the way for years, but what makes it different than paranormal romance?
Well, for starters, it's more about the horror and less about the "Oh go on and kiss me before I go mad" sort of mentality. With paranormal romance, there is the expectation of a happy ending, but with romantic horror, a happy ending isn't guaranteed. The two are so similar, but also exact opposites. In paranormal romance, the romance is the driving force of the story and the paranormal elements are sort of a backdrop. In romantic horror, the horror elements take center stage and the romance is almost an afterthought.
I guess this all goes back to the idea that I'm tired of pretending that I'm not dark and creepy. Yes, I love a good fairy tale, but only because I love to cheer for the villain. Yes, I love Dracula and Phantom of the Opera. So there I am....Romantic horror...The best of two dark worlds.
When I was reading through some reviews of my Spiritus Series, I realized the over and over, readers were saying that it was more horror than romance. Okay, I can live with that, but it is still a romance so now what? Well that brings me to my new self imposed classification: Romantic Horror. It isn't exactly a new idea, Bram Stoker built Dracula around that very idea and Anne Rice has been paving the way for years, but what makes it different than paranormal romance?
Well, for starters, it's more about the horror and less about the "Oh go on and kiss me before I go mad" sort of mentality. With paranormal romance, there is the expectation of a happy ending, but with romantic horror, a happy ending isn't guaranteed. The two are so similar, but also exact opposites. In paranormal romance, the romance is the driving force of the story and the paranormal elements are sort of a backdrop. In romantic horror, the horror elements take center stage and the romance is almost an afterthought.
I guess this all goes back to the idea that I'm tired of pretending that I'm not dark and creepy. Yes, I love a good fairy tale, but only because I love to cheer for the villain. Yes, I love Dracula and Phantom of the Opera. So there I am....Romantic horror...The best of two dark worlds.
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