I'm doing it. But I've been writing for Intrigue since 1991.
Can someone who's come on board in the past few years answer the question?
My guess is that they would have discouraged it a few years ago. But it would be more likely now that paranormal is so popular.
Ruth/Rebecca York
Posts
Thank you Ruth for giving me lead billing! :-) I've read almost all of your Intrigues, so I know you've had a number of paranormal elements in them.
ReplyDeleteReading through the comments under Amanda Steven's post, I wonder if the issue of paranormal is related specifically to the gothic line. What I mean is maybe they don't want paranormal plot devices for the gothic line but are open to it as a regular Intrigue submission. Do you think that might be the case?
Patrizia
No! I think they'd be more open to paranormal in a gothic, because gothic is such a "natural" place for ghosts and other paranormal elements.
ReplyDeleteI wrote Phantom Lover just before the Eclips line started But my editor asked me to write a gothic. I decided to include as many of the old gothic elements as I could. The heroine comes to a spooky old house in an isolated location. (In this case, it's a castle on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, near Mendecino, CA.) The heroine is there to be the governess to the hero's daughter. The hero is a mysterious figure whom the heroine can't trust. The house is inhabited by a cast of characters who probably want to kill the heroine. And just to make it more interesting for me--I made the hero a ghost. Or was he? And if he was a ghost--then how did I end the story?
The next year, my editor asked me to write an Eclips. And my reaction was--"I've done it. How do I do it again?"
But she told me, I could expand the definition of gothic to include other settings. When she said, "the bayou can be gothic." I said, "Ah ha! That's another great setting for a spooky book. Which is how Spellbound ended up in the bayou country. For that book, I introduced lots of elements that were spooky but not necessarily what I'd consider classic gothic."
Ruth
I was never allowed to put paranormal elements in my Intrigues. However, Blaze and Signature have let me do so.
ReplyDeleteSusan Kearney
Ruth--
ReplyDeleteI've been with Intrigue for 5 years now, so I don't know if I'm still considered new. But I've used some paranormal elements in a couple of my Intrigues--one just this year and one that came out a couple of years ago. I'll have some in an upcoming book, too. (Patrizia, that one will be an Eclipse, so the paranormal fits there)
I didn't include the paranormal element in the first one at the proposal stage, but no one said anything about it when I turned in the complete ms. The last two have had obvious paranormal elements.
So, I don't know if I'm getting more leeway to include paranormal elements now that my 20th book has come out, or if it's just because I didn't have any paranormal in my first few Intrigues.
I've use more blatant paranormal elements in my Dorchester single-titles.
Julie Miller
www.juliemiller.org
Ruth, I read Phantom Lover and do recall the story vividly. (I won't give away the ending either. ;-)
ReplyDeleteActually, what I seem to be getting as an answer is that it depends and it seems to depend on the writer and the editor. All of this leaves us wannabe Intrigue writers confused. I guess all we can do is write our story the way we see it and simply wait for the editor to comment.
I'm currently brainstorming a plot for a second gothic and am debating whether to 1) include a true paranormal element, 2) hint at it only or 3) have it turn out to be from human hands. Given the story's setting and plot, I would like to have a bit of the unexplained in there. In fact, I think it should be in there, so I guess I have my answer. I will include paranormal elements with this one and take my chances.
Thank you ladies for talking stuff like this out. I'm really enjoying the blog.
Patrizia
Don't know why I ended up anonymous this time. Just in case you didn't get it, I'll shout it loud, "That was me in the previous post!!" ;-)
ReplyDeletePatrizia
For what it's worth, an Intrigue editor asked to see my paranormal romantic suspense by way of a contest win. There was absolutely no way she could have missed that it was a paranormal, since the opening deals with my heroine having a vision.
ReplyDeleteMaybe more openness to paranormal elements is another part of the "new direction" for Intrigue?
I don't know.
Paula
thanks for the infomation
ReplyDelete