Urban Fantasy/Paranormal writers

Anna Iguana said:

Hi, TT. Yes, you are not alone. Consensus opinions usually deserve close listens. But there are so many people, so many tastes.

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Jan74 said:

Twisted-I could have written your post. So many conflicting opinions on blogs. Do this don't do that, no prologues etc.......it drives me crazy.....BUT I've learned a tonne from various blogs about words to avoid, cliche's etc. Personally I like prologues and epilogues, I'm not sure why some are so against them. Congrats on finishing

S.Eli-Good advice on the NA. I'm not even sure if I'll end up with a YA. I'm teetering since it feels a little restrictive.

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Oh thank goodness I'm not the only one! At first I took everyone's suggestions as absolute fact, then realized too many were conflicting. No wake up scenes.....but many successful books open with the MC waking. No prologues.....but many sci-fi/fantasy has prologues to engage the reader. No backstory.....but so many books provide backstory so the reader is familiar with the world, especially in UF. The whole thing made me question my entire novel (my fault, not blaming or complaining), so now it's sitting next to me all printed out with a red pen sitting on top. When I feel like I've kept the advice I like and discarded the rest I'll begin editing. But I won't let myself wait too long or it'll never get done - lol

And thank you @Jan74 - it felt really awesome to know I was as done as a first draft could be Don't get me wrong, it's riddled with errors, but every idea I wanted to put in the book is in the book, and that was the biggest hurdle. (I say that now, ask me again what the biggest hurdle is when I don't want to get rid of any words I wrote!)

TwistedTyping said:

Eeep. Mine is definitely not YA because there is drinking and drug use (not a lot, just a taste), and my characters are 24 years old. I found the description on the Pitch Wars website: "Submission Guidelines:
Only Middle Grade, Young Adult, New Adult, or Adult manuscripts will be accepted." Then I looked up New Adult and viola - found a fit for my book. But....but.....but....if agents aren't taking them....I'm stuck I'm not going to completely re-write my book to fit in a specific genre/category so that's out.

Does anyone happen to know what category to use instead of NA?

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You could simply use adult--but i'd just say that aging up or down characters in an MS is more common than you might think

Write what you want and then worry about it later. I was just telling you because submitting NA sometimes isn't what you think it is lol

+1 to what S. Eli said.

S. Eli said:

You could simply use adult--but i'd just say that aging up or down characters in an MS is more common than you might think

Write what you want and then worry about it later. I was just telling you because submitting NA sometimes isn't what you think it is lol

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I appreciate it I've never submitted anything so I have no idea what the agents find current or relevant.

I get jealous easily, so i don't follow eeeeveryone on twitter (book deal announcements, daily word count tweets, cover reveals--they all drive me insane) but I do have a lot of agents bookmarked in and out of what I write. Usually on twitter they'll give gems like the NA thing and other agents will reply or favorite or agree and I file it away for future reference. It might help if, when you begin submitting, you research and basically twitter stalk a few of these guys for a little while honestly

S. Eli said:

I get jealous easily, so i don't follow eeeeveryone on twitter (book deal announcements, daily word count tweets, cover reveals--they all drive me insane) but I do have a lot of agents bookmarked in and out of what I write. Usually on twitter they'll give gems like the NA thing and other agents will reply or favorite or agree and I file it away for future reference. It might help if, when you begin submitting, you research and basically twitter stalk a few of these guys for a little while honestly

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If I may bother you with some more questions......how did you find the agents on Twitter? Did you find the profiles on Query Tracker or somewhere? I need to get following some
Anyone else can answer too - how did you find the agents you liked?

I usually use books I like, books with writing that's similar to mine, or books in my genre. In the acknowledgements section, if the author has an agent they will thank their agent there, and I copy down those people and research them, find their profiles on things like Query Tracker and Literary Rambles. Also, sometimes my twitter feed will introduce me to an agent--someone I know retweets something that I agree with or believe in (a POC agent tweeting about diverse authors, for example, will get a bookmark from me). I also use Publisher's Marketplace (if the agent is listed there) to see what other books the agent represents that I enjoy.

Sometimes they are agents I don't read the books of but they're generally helpful. Thao Le, for example. I don't really read YA fantasy anymore and from what I've researched about what she represents, we aren't a good fit. However, when I heard about her I followed her because her pages are useful. On twitter she tweets and retweets a lot of agent-related threads and updates her opinions on the current state of MS's she recieves. She has a wishlist tag on her tumblr that's very detailed with aesthetics and concepts, and she answers questions semi-consistently. She isn't an agent I would submit to, but it's a great resource.

Jan74 said:

How is everyone?
I'm struggling with my characters, but I'll figure it out, I need to really figure out my plot and story line also.

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I just found out yesterday that the most important scenes of my climax don't make sense anymore with everything I've discovered about my characters' backstories.

This is going to take some time to figure out.

I wouldn't call myself a UF or Paranormal writer, but I do write in that genre a bit.

I dredged up a MS I wrote a few years ago that is squarely UF and have been editing it for the past few days while I wait on the next book I ordered to arrive.

Jan74 said:

Interesting, is it like X-men where the rest of society that is non-magic views them as a threat?

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No. In my current wip, there's two different paranormal groups and they currently have the US and Canada (and presumably the world, tho i've not handled the whole world in my wip) portioned up into demesnes run by families. Humans are generally the workers and servants, since they have no paranormal powers and therefore weren't really given any political power. It's a trend in UF/PNR that i like and i've taken my wip in that direction. Frex:

Becca Andres does that sorta thing in her Final Formula Series. People with magic hold all the real power in that world. Those born with power are the elite. Those born human can become alchemists, but they're looked down on, generally, by those who are born into powerful families.

Anne Bishop's humans are second-class citizens of a sort in her novels of The Others--such a unique take on shifters. The humans police themselves, but the others are their landlords. Humans constantly resent the others, but they're outclassed, since elementals such as Ocean and Winter are there to make sure people don't destroy the environment or take any more of the world's resources than the others deem their due. The others often say that they'll only keep humans around as long as they're manufacturing things that the others enjoy using and as long as they don't become more trouble than they're worth.


Nalini Singh's Psy/Changling series has, in effect, 3 different political systems that work in tandem in each area--the humans govern themselves, the psi have exclusive say over their people, and the changlings keep to their own territories and police themselves. The psi weren't *always* a separate group--they separated themselves when they decided to condition themselves out of all emotion.

In Thea Harrison's Elder Races series, the paranormals were never in the closet, so their leaders had an important role in the world's history. Their rule superimposes over human's geographical areas, and humans rule beside them in each place--New York, frex, is the shifter center of political power, but humans run the place, generally. The king of the shifters handles shifter affairs and is a CEO of his own conglomerate.

Tho i do like me some super-powers novels, too.

S. Eli said:

Sometimes they are agents I don't read the books of but they're generally helpful. Thao Le, for example. I don't really read YA fantasy anymore and from what I've researched about what she represents, we aren't a good fit. However, when I heard about her I followed her because her pages are useful. On twitter she tweets and retweets a lot of agent-related threads and updates her opinions on the current state of MS's she recieves. She has a wishlist tag on her tumblr that's very detailed with aesthetics and concepts, and she answers questions semi-consistently. She isn't an agent I would submit to, but it's a great resource.

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Holy moly! I went to high school with Thao. Never knew she had a particular interest in literature back then. Always had her pegged for a math and sciences gal. Small world, eh!

Anywho, I just mosey'd on down from the SF/F Cantina because I've been working on an urban fantasy. Talk about serendipity, though. How is everyone doing?

CathleenT said:

And while we're here and on the topic, I have trouble with one of my antagonists in Hans and Greta. It's nice to have foot soldiers who can be slaughtered in numbers so your heroes can shine. I originally used kobolds, but I've become increasingly dissatisfied with that choice. Kobolds were really more neutral, kind of like brownies who were cranky because they needed coffee and couldn't get any.

So the obvious choice is goblins, but I've already made some nods toward Tolkien (this novel was set in the Thirties, and they read the Hobbit). I think if I used goblins it would cross the line into too derivative, even though the story is nothing like Hobbit or LOTR, but people tend to focus on details. The traditional boggart would probably be perfect, even down to my description of somewhat neanderthal, but Rowling has already corrupted that. I don't want someone to look for Harry to whip out a wand and say "Expecto Patronum."

I've considered spriggans myself even though it would require some rewriting, but they seem too formidable to slay in numbers. The solution I'm currently toying with is to change spelling slightly and call my evil foot soldiers bogards or boggards. Any thoughts on this?

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Hope it's ok to put my 2c in now--i'm late to this conversation, but i'm reading it and fascinated.

So if you're still on the fence about your needed cannon fodder, what about redcaps? http://www.mythicalcreaturesguide.com/page/Redcap

and from another site: http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/scotland/folklore/red-caps-dunters-powries.html

"The Red Cap is one of the most dangerous supernatural creatures said to haunt the castles and watchtowers of the border regions.
In appearance they are short and wiry, with ragged pointed teeth and sharp claws like steel. They wear a red bonnet on their heads, and are generally bearded with wrinkled aged faces.

Red Cap: by D ParkinsonThe Red Caps are murderous, and kill by rolling boulders or tearing at people with their sharp claws. They then proceed to drink the blood of their victims and dip their hats in the blood, giving rise to the name of Red Caps.
In particular they haunt castles with a reputation for evil events in the past. In the folklore and legend of Hermitage Castle in Roxburghshire, Bad Lord Soulis, a man with an evil reputation is said to have had a named Red Cap as a familiar.
Dunters & Powries are virtually indistinguishable from the Red Caps, as are the Dunters, who haunt castles with the constant sound of beating flax.
It has been suggested that these spirits are the memories of foundation sacrifices, a custom that was practised within written history; see Church Grim.

Tepelus said:

And I get what you're saying about outlines. I don't outline because I too have to get into the story to know where the story is going, which leads to inconsistencies and other such things I later on in other drafts have to weed out or fix. The first draft is to get the story written, the other drafts are to fix it to have it make sense.

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::shakes head:: doesn't make a difference. I do outline, and i still wind up discovering things mid-chs about my characters, my world, my plot that call for drastic changes to be sifted back through to the beginning. ::shrugs::

S. Eli said:

I get jealous easily, so i don't follow eeeeveryone on twitter (book deal announcements, daily word count tweets, cover reveals--they all drive me insane) but I do have a lot of agents bookmarked in and out of what I write. Usually on twitter they'll give gems like the NA thing and other agents will reply or favorite or agree and I file it away for future reference. It might help if, when you begin submitting, you research and basically twitter stalk a few of these guys for a little while honestly

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Agree. But wait until you're almost ready to dive in, imho, 'cause things change and you want the latest info, right?

S. Eli said:

I get jealous easily, so i don't follow eeeeveryone on twitter (book deal announcements, daily word count tweets, cover reveals--they all drive me insane) but I do have a lot of agents bookmarked in and out of what I write. Usually on twitter they'll give gems like the NA thing and other agents will reply or favorite or agree and I file it away for future reference. It might help if, when you begin submitting, you research and basically twitter stalk a few of these guys for a little while honestly

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Or you might be like me and end up with an agent who has almost no online presence. Good fit via Twitter does not always mean good fit for your MS. (I actually have a story about that, but this is not the right thread for it.)

My novella trilogy is a bit of paranormal (Southern Gothic/Horror) but not particularly UF, although the middle book takes place in a city.

Jan74 said:

I'm just wondering as a Canadian if I need to keep my search here, or do I venture south to the states, is everything done via email?

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Well I'm in England and my agent is in the States, it's not a problem. Stuff mostly happens over email, with the occasional phone/Skype call when there's something important to discuss.

*comes out of lurkdom*

I'm currently working on a YA urban fantasy, set during the French Revolution and featuring a Jewish protagonist. Just started the third draft, and the research is still ongoing with no end in sight (I like the period, so that's why there's no end in sight. I'd be reading these books anyway). Part of the reason the research is taking so long is because there doesn't seem to be anything in English that's still in print about Jews in Paris during that time. I have found some French-language books, but my French is such that I'm a horribly slow reader.

Research issues aside, I've been having fun with this WIP, and I'm hoping to have it ready to query later this year.

Jan74 said:

Is it really cliche to kill off the parents? They really don't fit into my book. I have to think about this aspect of my book.

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The parents in my book are dead It might be cliche but it's also necessary sometimes.

Jan74 said:

Rachel-Glad you left lurkdom welcome. Your wip sounds interesting, if happen across anything I'll pm you.

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Thanks!

Jan74 said:

Is it really cliche to kill off the parents? They really don't fit into my book. I have to think about this aspect of my book.

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I've got one dead parent and one missing parent in my WIP.

Happy Annivesary Jan!

Jan74 said:

Happy friday everyone! Today is my 16th wedding anniversary

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Happy 16th! Do you want a virtual silver flask or virtual silver locket? Or my protag could give you her silver boot tips and double-headed dragon clasp that she uses to hang her boots over her shoulders when she's climbing.

Jan74 said:

Happy friday everyone! Today is my 16th wedding anniversary

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Happy anniversary!