Paranormal romance guidelines?

Not sure there ever is a single set of guidelines for every paranormal romance... individual publishers have different ideas of what constitutes both paranormal and romance. For example, there is the concept of 'heat level' - how hot and sexy you make the sex scenes (if any) and that can range from 'fade to soft candlelight' to 'full on pornographic'

The guidelines for the anthology that 'Transitions' ended up in (which is due out next year, hurrah for blatant plugs... ) was that the story had to involve a romance between at least two couples, at least one of the members of at least one of the couples had to be a woman who was 'realistic size' (i.e. not super model thin) and a supernatural or paranormal element had to be involved somewhere in the plot (as it turned out, we all wrote ghost stories but it could have been any paranormal element). The heat level was low (so more implied sex than actual sex).

Does that help? Presumably if you are writing the paranormal romance for your own benefit to be sent round numerous publishers you can probably set your own guidelines. If looking to submit to a particular publisher, they will have their own guidelines.

The only thing I can think of is concrete and unique world-building. The paranormal genre raises expectations that an author will find a new twist on vampires, or a new way to write a strong heroine without coming across as a bad Buffy clone.

When you talk 'guidelines' you're really getting into publishers' territory. For specific requirements, check publisher pages and see if something is specified for a certain line or call.

If you're just wanting a general definition of what is a paranormal romance, that's a bit easier.

A paranormal romance will first of all be a romance. There will be a growing relationship that is the main thrust of the story and it will end in a Happily Ever After (HEA), just as it would in any other romance.

The second element of a paranormal romance is the paranormal aspect. There is a broad spectrum of creatures or abilities you can use for this, from vampires and werewolves to magic and ESP. Whatever your paranormal aspect is, it should also be intergal to the storyline. While the paranormal element is usually attached to a character, it can be a force outside the romantic leads, but some publishers prefer that one of the leads be a paranormal creature or have a 'gift.'

Specifics like book length and heat level are publisher preferences.

Does that help?

^^ What she said.

Anybody have any good links?

It might not be what every publisher wants today, but back when Tor was starting their Tor Romance imprint (our books were among the launch titles), we posted up the guidelines here.

While the imprint doesn't exist as an imprint there anymore, paranormal romances are still pubbed by Tor. Looking them over today, they're pretty close to what I see on the shelf. Hope they help.