Wicked Wednesday - Critiques (part 4)

This is the final part of my critique series. I'm talking about critiques because we're giving some away to the lucky winners of the MORE THAN JUST A KISS blogfest on September 9 - 15. You can win some awesome ebooks too! You can check out the other posts in this critique series here: part 1, part 2, and part 3.

Once I've gone over the details, I look at the overall story. All the chapters could be fine on their own, but everything needs to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. A story can have all the technical parts correct with everything in its right place and still fall flat.

Here are some of the things I take into account:
- does the story engage me and hold my interest?
- are all the loose ends tied up neatly at the end?
- am I satisfied with the ending, or does it need something more?
- is the voice consistent throughout the manuscript? If there is more than one POV, does each one have a unique voice?
- does the tension build realistically and reach its height at the climax?
- the plot should have its ups and downs, but are there any places it drags? Or perhaps goes too fast?
- does the conflict(s) add to the plot or are they there simply to entertain?

Remember that critiques are subjective. Everyone is going to feel differently about the various aspects of the story. I've had my critique partners tell me two different things about the same part of a story. In the end, it's up to you to decide what you want to change if you want to at all. The critiques make suggestions. They are not follow-by-the-letter orders. You are the author. You must do what feels right for your story.

How do you wrap up your critiques?

Wicked Wednesday - adult vs. young adult

I write paranormal romances for adults. I sometimes read YA books, but most of the time, I don't relate to the teen voices. I didn't relate to them even when I was a teen. I just have a different mindset. There have been YA books that I've loved. Yet there have also been adult books I've read that should have been YA with the immaturity of the protagonist.

It's vital to know your audience. YA books are geared toward 12 to 18 year olds, and the protagonists in the books are typically between 16 and 24. Just because you're writing about someone in their early twenties doesn't automatically make the book an adult one. Sometimes adult books have young protagonists too, but the difference between the two is important to recognize.

Both YA and adult paranormal romances:

Supernatural elements. (Obvious!)

A conflict that might require the protagonist to save the world or a piece of it.

Growth in character. (The protagonist has to learn from her mistakes and become better for it.)

A romance central to the plot.

YA paranormal romances:

They're typically written in first person. (Teen readers like to get inside the protagonist's head. The world of a teen is all-consuming for them. They are the central characters.)

Though the central conflict might be to save the world, the secondary conflicts revolve around school, popularity/fitting in, pop culture, friends, and family. (Typical teen day-to-day dramas.)

They usually involve the "coming of age" story. (The protagonist doesn't have a solid identity at the beginning of the book and learns who she is. Most of the conflicts are internal.)

Romance is most often awkward and embarrassing as they fumble through the motions, and just a kiss can be a major event. (YA romance does not need to end in sexual gratification and typically does not.)

Adult paranormal romances:

They're typically written in the third person. (Adult readers tend to like a wider view of the world.)

The secondary conflicts revolve around work, finances, politics, friends, relationships, and stuff from the past coming back to haunt them. (The protagonists have a better idea of who they are and thus their identities are more inflexible. More of the conflicts are external.)

Romance covers all types. (The protagonists can be inexperienced or very experienced. Yet usually her love interest is experienced. Adult romance does not have to end in sexual gratification, but it typically does.)

What other elements are key to YA paranormal romances? To adult paranormal romances?

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Wicked Wednesday - emotional conflict

There's no doubt that one of the key aspects of a paranormal romance is emotional conflict. A story can't be built around that alone, but without it, there would be no love story. Emotional conflict arises from something within a person which sometimes seems irrational and utterly insane. Okay, maybe not sometimes, but most of the time!

To create emotional conflict for the protagonist and their love interest, it must arise out of something apart from the plot. It must be something inside of each of them that would create the same conflict no matter where or how they met. Of course, it is intensified by the situation and the only way to resolve it is by working together.

Do not confuse emotional conflict with intellectual conflict. Intellectual conflict always starts in the mind. It's a conflict of ideas. A character might try to reason out their emotional conflict and make it intellectual, but it doesn't make it so. An intellectual conflict can be argued and the character can be persuaded to change their mind. Emotions aren't so reasonable. They simply are. There's no logic to them. Remember in a paranormal romance, the goal is to win the heart of one's love not the mind.

Do not confuse emotional conflict with external conflict. External conflicts arises outside of the character through plot and circumstance. Emotions make up internal conflicts and they arise within the characters themselves. Where emotional conflict make-up the heart of the novel, external conflict drives the plot. You can't have one without the other.

The key to writing a great paranormal romance is to meld the intense emotional conflict with an equally as exciting external one. If either aspect is lacking, the story will flop.

Who are your favorite authors in terms of emotional conflict?

Wicked Wednesday - sexual tension

One of the key elements to a good paranormal romance is creating sexual tension. This doesn't mean the act of "making love" itself. In fact, sexual tension may never lead up to that point. This is about feeling a spark of something, that irrational pull to someone, the sizzling energy that makes your stomach flip. Sometimes it feels there are no words to describe this. Yet as writers, we have to find those words.

Tip #1: Use the senses. Make it subtle. A faint whiff of spicy cologne or the twitch of a dimple in his left cheek. Her voice might sound a little hoarse when she's aroused or her lips might taste like cherry lip gloss with that first brief kiss. Sometimes a brush of her hand against his can create a great jolt of sensation. In paranormal romances, you have the possibility of using other senses as well. A flaming up of his aura or reading his mind to know he thinks she's sexy in that dress.

Tip #2: Strong internal conflict. Use a lot of emotions here. She recently lost someone she loves and can't open her heart again for fear of getting hurt, but she can't deny her powerful attraction to him. He loves his job reaping souls and has seen too many people in love torn apart, but he can't stop thinking about her.

Tip #3: The internal conflict is made worse with the external conflict. Someone is trying to hunt her down and kill her. They're on different sides of the apocalyptic battle.

Tip #4: Put the characters in situations that require them to spend a lot of time together and a lot of time close together. Fighting, spying, exploring the ducts of an evil corporation's headquarters. These situations will fire up the internal conflicts and give you ample opportunity to torment, I mean, let your characters flirt with their hidden desires.

Tip#5: Delay gratification. Okay, yes, here you're tormenting them!

Do you have any tricks you use in creating sexual tension?