Using research as a springboard

I love reading paranormal stories, and discovering new worlds full of magic and monsters. But I hate it when I start reading a new book and it seems like the only research the writer did was watch a cheesy move like The Craft, or even worse, a few episodes of Charmed. If your fictional magical system is based on a lot of extravagant hand waving and liberal doses of deus ex machina, some readers may accept that but many will want to throw the book across the room. Since I don't want any of my books thrown across the room, I do my research.

One of the best resources for research into magical systems paranormal writers might want to use in their fiction is the Internet Sacred Text Archive. It's a free online resource I first found several years ago when surfing the net for my own curiosity. I've found myself coming back to it again and again when I want to give my fictional worlds a more solid grounding. For one recent novel I pored over the archive's section on Chaos magic, using what I learned there as a jumping off point for a character who is a Chaote. What I learned there, and the questions I learned to ask for further research, helped me to shape both the character and the kind of magic he practices. More recently I've been looking through the section called Grimoires and starting to read some of the magical texts there, for both general research purposes and because of a story idea I've got floating in the back of my head. There's lots of other stuff in the archive, too, including a section on Tarot that I need to delve into one of these days.

For me, research is one of the most fun things about writing paranormal fiction. It can take me to places I hadn't considered the story might go and enrich both characters and plot in ways that might otherwise have never happened. Think of it this way: even the best high-diver at the pool, capable of doing all sorts of amazing twists and turns before reaching the water, needs a solid surface from which to jump. Research gives me, and my fiction, that solid surface. Sometimes it can inspire some pretty crazy leaps too, but then, what's why it's fiction.

Please allow me to introduce myself

I’d like to thank everyone here at Frightening Journeys for inviting me to join them. Though I’ve been maintaining my own blog for a while now, this is my first time being part of a group blog. I’m a little nervous about getting started so I thought I would use this first post as an opportunity to introduce myself.

My name is Sonya, and I live in Tennessee with my husband and our Yorkie. I was born here but I didn’t grow up here, what with my father being career military. The longest we ever lived in one place while I was growing up was two and a half years. Books were one of the few constants of my life. I don’t remember the first paranormal story I ever read, but I do remember it was always my preferred genre. From an early age, I loved all things that go bump in the night. Ray Bradbury, Anne Rice, and Stephen King were my favorite masters of the macabre, and I scoured libraries at Army bases all over the world for any and every of their books I could get my hands on. The eternal twilight of Bradbury’s evocative prose, King showing the horror found in broad daylight and everyday things, and Rice’s existential vampires provided a home I never had to pack up and leave. At thirteen I knew I wanted to be a writer, thanks in part to obsessive multiple readings of Bradbury’s Death is a Lonely Business. I never seriously considered writing anything but paranormal fiction. For me, magic and monsters is where it’s at.

Now years later, those midnight dream are coming true. I’ve finally started my own frightening journey as a published author with the release of my first novella, Bring on the Night. It’s a monster story with a vampire named Jessie as the main character. Here’s the blurb:

Only a vampire can own the night.

If there’s one thing Jessie hates, it’s going after her own kind. She may be used to taking a bite out of human killers, but she leaves her fellow immortals alone. It’s only after a series of gruesome murders have her suspecting vampires and werewolves are going after innocents does she set out to put a stop to it. It’s not long that Jessie finds herself racing against the waxing moon to stop an ambitious gang of monsters with a sinister agenda.

Bring on the Night was released this past Monday by Lyrical Press. Seeing it out in the world for sale and review may be the culmination of one journey, but I’ve realized it’s really just the beginning for me. I have a lot more stories I want to tell, about vampires and demons, witches and sorcerers, magical artifacts and hidden worlds. There may be a lot of aspects about publishing that are frightening, but that journey into the dark, full of wondrous magic and mythical monsters, is one I relish.

Some news...

Like Nerine, I must apologize for my lack luster blogging. I have a bad habit of tunnel vision. I tend to focus on a project and become obsessed with it until its done. Wait for the Wind is one of those things. It's due in a little under a month and so not where it needs to be. I've been setting aside basically everything to push through and get it finished. I solemnly promise to do my best to be here, but sometimes just those few blogging minutes are a battle hard fought and not always won.

Some changes are definitely in the air at Frightening Journeys. Please give a warm welcome to Lyrical Press, Inc. author Sonya Clark. Her new release Bring on the Night is already getting great reviews, and I know she'll be a credit to the team.

I hope all of you have a blessed week,

Brynna