Good VS Great

This week’s topic:  Do our own beliefs/experiences of the supernatural affect what we write?

Short answer:  No.

Long answer:  If it did, I’d be writing this blog from a padded room.

I’m going to veer off course here for this blog post and talk a little about internal conflict, the little annoying sister to external conflict. 

In paranormal romance you have action, danger and suspense.  The plots are dark and seductive, and the characters are larger than life.  It’s so easy to get caught in external motivation when writing paranormal romance.  The plots seem to write themselves, right?  Not so much.

I’m going to use Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward as an example of what internal motivation can do for a book.  Lover Awakened is one of my favorite paranormal romances, and I’m sure most paranormal fans have read it.  It’s – in my opinion – the most highly praised book of Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series.  There’s a reason for that. 

Z finds Bella.  He pulls her out of a darkened hole, finds her battered and stitched together, and takes her to safety.  He must find the person responsible for doing this to her.  External conflict

Z thinks he’s a nasty bastard.  He’s so screwed up in the head that he can’t imagine Bella would ever want to be with him.  This internal conflict is heartbreaking.  It takes his character to another level.  He’s no longer your typical tortured male.  He’s broken.  Miserable.  He’s dying inside because he loves her so much, but he doesn’t feel worthy of her love.  At one point he actually tells Bella not to be a tragedy.  He says this because he thinks that little of himself.  Internal conflict

Well…the book is largely based on internal conflict, and that’s what makes this book so compelling.  Ward gives you action and suspense.  She gives you amazing world building.  But most of all, she gives you a character to love. 

To put it simply, Ward gives you layers. 

I think that’s what separates the books we love from the books we like.  I can remember Z’s pain – and his eventual, well-deserved happiness – years after reading that book.

Internal and external conflict should compliment each other.  Ward does such a fantastic job of this in her book, you can’t put it down. 

What does this have to do with the topic of the week?  Good question. 

You can layer world-building into your paranormal until you’re red in the face.  You might write about ghosts because you’ve always wondered about life after death.  You can write about vampires because you think those mythical creatures are intense and seductive.  You can write about shape-shifters because you’re a dog lover…hell, I don’t know.  BUT!  If you don’t add depth and internal conflict to your paranormal world, the book will be just another good read. 

And who wants that?  Why not write a great book?

Internal conflict has been on my mind since I’ve been editing my latest book.  I’m woman enough to admit (publicly) that I was missing something.  I had a great external conflict…car chases…gun fights…you name it.  Lots of action and betrayal.  Unfortunately I was missing the internal conflict.  Trust me.  It’s the last thing you want to find out on an editing pass. 

So that’s what I wanted to blog about.  I hope I tied it into the topic of the week a little. 

Having said that…I’m off to write a great book. 

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