World building & believing

I’ve written in a lot of different genres, but I have to say doing the paranormal thing is by far the most satisfying genre I do. Why? I have the freedom to write about whatever I want in whichever setting my mind can dream up. It’s an awesome feeling.

Prime example: Just sold a vampire book in which the bulk of the setting takes place in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Park. It’s a beautiful place, all full of woods, sandy lakeshore, marshes, hilly dunes, walking trails and history. I thought it would be the perfect place for a regular woman to encounter the paranormal world: vampires, fairies, a goat man, a werewolf. I even incorporated some local ghost story lore into the mix.

Awesome. It’s amazing what your imagination can come up with if you give it half the chance. Of course, that being said, it totally creeps me out to be in the woods after dark—for no other reason because of my overactive imagination. The worlds I create seem to taunt and tease me.

For its sequel, the paranormal once again comes sneaking into real life. A marriage councilor is a gypsy, an attorney is in reality a dragon, a disgruntled mermaid who spends her time in a rusted out school bus in a golf course lake, and a pixie with an attitude that lives in an upstairs linen closet. If you can dream it, you can write it.

My point? I guess I don’t really have one today, but if you should have any questions, please ask. I’ll be back—every Thursday—unless the things that go bump in the night get me first…