We have the common themes: Vampire can't be with the person she loves because, in moments of passion, she loses her will power and feeds upon them. Werewolf can't bed his love because, in the heat of things, he loses control, transforms, and will bite or ravage her.
I like the more unusual obstacles. In Richelle Mead's Georgina Kincaid series, Georgina as a succubus can't get intimate with the man she loves because she'll steal his life force. Then there's Anton Strout's Simon Canderous who has the psychic talent of psychometry, and he can't sleep with any women because he sees their whole sexual history flash in his mind's eye when he touches them.
I love digging around on the internet and reading about supernatural creatures and various psychic and otherworldly powers. There's a lot of inspiration for a great hook for a paranormal romance.
A pyrokenetic who loses control of her powers when things heat up with her love interest.
A Fury who cannot touch any man intimately or she will lose her immortal life.
A Harpy (originally they were beautiful) falls in love with a man whose soul she must carry away to the Underworld, and if she touches him, he will die.
The trick is to find a creative way to give the hero and heroine the Happily Ever After ending. Find that key whether it be a person, object or something else.
The pyrokenetic falls in love with a fire resistant demon. (Supernatural creatures)
The Fury gives in and touches the man she loves, and becomes human. She loses her immortal life, but not her mortal one. (Play on words)
The Harpy helps her love interest win a challenge to reclaim the fate of his own soul from her boss, Zeus. (Seemingly impossible challenge)
What other physical obstacles can you think of? Any good books with this theme you can recommend?
Sorry, can't think of any other books...
ReplyDeleteThat's okay. :)
Deletethose were intense puzzles to solve! cool!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I like books that make me think like that.
Deleteoooo... i like the harpy one! You should go with it! I come up with ideas all the time, but it feels like such a saturated market, I have trouble diving into my ideas enough to make them stories. But I have been toying with an idea for awhile now.....
ReplyDeleteReally, you should flesh out one of these ideas into a story... (like the harpy one) :)
Now that everyone likes the harpy idea, maybe I will have to do with it! It is a saturated market, but it's still a very big market. They want new ideas and if you have something unique, go for it!
DeleteIt can definitely be fun to figure out what happens. In my short story "Melek Katili," I had an angel who couldn't love a mortal woman, so what does he do? Falls in love with a vampire.
ReplyDeleteI really like the harpy idea too. It would be fun to figure out how that one works.
Now I'm thinking about making the harpy story! Hey, that angel was smart. ;)
DeleteI love x-men and Rogue and Gambit's relationship was my favorite! (Still pissed that they completely ignored it in the movies.) And we all know that Rogue can't touch anyone without killing them. Kissing is an even bigger no-no.
ReplyDeleteOh! Rogue and Gambit. How could I forget about my favorite X-Men? Poor Rogue. Imagine the frustration she feels.
DeleteOh, THIS. I adore Rogue and Gambit and I always felt so terrible for them. :(
DeleteI love stories with such immense obstacles... especially when we don't see the outcome coming... how they're going to get together. Hmmm... a big one was Buff and Angel - at least at the beg when she was meant to slay all vamps not date them:P
ReplyDeleteAh yes, Buffy and Angel. She sleeps with him and he turns into the biggest bad boy in town! I really liked evil Angel. *grins*
DeleteMe too... so much better than good Angel:)
DeleteThere was Khalan in Terry Goodkind's "The Sword of Truth" series. She was a Confessor--she could get the truth from people, but only by touching them and releasing a power that made them totally devoted to her. But it wasn't a power she called on; it was a power she had to restrain, and if she slept with someone, she'd lose her restraint in the heat of passion. (Honestly, as much as the writing captivated me, I could not read much past the first book in this series because there were some things I just could not deal with reading. They had a TV show based on the books, too, but it was different and much more tame.)
ReplyDeleteThat's the only other one I can think of right now. I love being able to see characters overcome obstacles that stand in the way of them getting together. :D
I forgot about Khalan. I read the whole series. It was better at the beginning than at the end. And yes, the TV show wasn't good at all.
DeleteOne barrier that I found interesting was from Alyson Noel's YA Immortals Series; the MC inadvertently cursed their relationship by putting a spell on her boyfriend that would kill him if they touched.
ReplyDeleteClever trick by the author to put a curse on him!
DeleteOh, oh, I love the 80s movie Ladyhawk where the the couple were forced apart by a curse. One was turned into a wolf at night and the other was a hawk during the day. Always together, eternally apart.
ReplyDeleteI totally forgot about that film! Awesome example.
DeleteLadyhawk is a great movie. I'll have to look some of these others up. I started a story with this theme...which I'll someday get back to.
ReplyDeleteI have a pile of stories that I started and set aside. They all sit huddled together in a folder. Maybe I ought to mash them together in one big story!
DeleteOkay, when I have a plot problem I can't figure out, I think I'm going to come and ask you! You seem to be pretty good at creating both the hook and the resolution!
ReplyDeleteHere are two good ones I've read (I won't say the book names because that would be spoiler-y): 1) guy and girl fall for each other but then discover they are brother and sister. Ouch! 2) guy has had a curse put on him by a demon so that anyone who loves him will somehow die horribly. Thus he has to push EVERYONE away from him so that no one will love him & perish.
I've got a ton of ideas. I'm happy to share. :) And I know that first book you mentioned. I disliked that particular aspect of it. I'm curious as to what the other one is. You can whisper it to me!
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