by Steven Harper
Published by Writer’s Digest Books
A review by John Irvin
CLICK HERE TO GO AND BUY WRITING THE PARANORMAL NOVEL!!!
“Supernatural stories feed the human desire for escape. We can pretend we’re riding that magic carpet, making those three wishes, or swinging that sword because we know (deep sigh) it’s never going to happen for real.”
From the back cover blurb:
Writing a paranormal novel takes more than casting an alluring vampire or arming your hero with a magic wand. It takes an original idea, believable characters, a compelling plot, and surprising twists, not to mention great writing.
This helpful guide gives you everything you need to successfully introduce supernatural elements into any story without shattering the believability of your fictional world or falling victim to common clichés.
You’ll learn how to:
- Choose supernatural elements and decide what impact the supernatural will have on your fictional world
- Create engaging and relatable characters from supernatural protagonists and antagonists to supporting players (both human and non-human)
- Develop strong plots and complementary subplots
- Write believable fight scenes and flashbacks
- Create realistic dialogue
Complete with tips for researching your novel and strategies for getting published, Writing the Paranormal Novel gives you everything you need to craft a novel where even the most unusual twist is not only possible—it’s believable.
Okay, did you happen to notice how many times Steven Harper used the word “believable” in that book summary blurb? No, just me? Oh really? Not just me? Sweet!
Well, he is telling the truth. This work of his is definitely a must read if you want to be any type of successful paranormal writer.
Believe me, with my Longevity (dark fantasy/paranormal) series and the Magic’s Time Split (alternate timeline/magic-induced paranormal) series both coming out to be my main two franchises—this book of Harper’s was added to my library a long time ago.
If anything, I want my own stories to be believable. I’ve read too many books and watched too many movies (*clears throat* Twilight) where the supernatural was too unreal to me, not to mention the horrible plots—That is one of my biggest concerns with my books: is my plot believable? Does it feel like I just grabbed one scene and another and threw them together?
So, if you are a writer who loves the paranormal—and with this I mean: werewolves, vampires, ghosts, witches, you name it—then you need to read this How To book.
So, take my recommendation and click this link to go buy it: WRITING THE PARANORMAL NOVEL.
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