Beyond Twilight: Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy

[Valkyrie1]

Okay, so about five months ago I did a myTake on some misconceptions about romance novels: https://www.girlsaskguys.com/entertainment-arts/a27198-arguments-against-romance-novels-why-they-are-stupid

Now I want to share with you some information on my favorite romance sub-genre, Paranormal Romance (PR) and a bit on its kissing cousin Urban Fantasy (UF) in honor of Halloween.

I'm going to start with Paranormal Romance; it can be generally defined as quoted from Romance Writers of America, "Romance novels in which the future, a fantasy world, or paranormal happenings are an integral part of the plot.”

It is truly the Frankenstein of the romance genre, a mixing together elements of fantasy, science fiction, the super natural, mystery, romance, and even horror. It can range from a lighthearted romance wherein one just so happens to go furry every now and then to an intense struggle of life and death with the very fate of mankind at stake it is by far one of the largest most diverse romance sub-genres.

While it may be considered a fairly new subgenre it didn't have a name until the 90s largely popularized by the author Christine Feehan's Dark Prince PR has roots in Gothic literature and the Fairy Tales of yore. The book considered to be the PR novel is a futuristic romance called, "Sweet Starfire" by Jayne Ann Krentz. It was published in 1986 and is described as a "classic road trip romance" which just happened to be set in a separate galaxy. Creating a unique spin on the mundane is a staple of both Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy. A paranormal romance writer created this timeline but she fails to mention Krentz and Laurell K. Hamilton a UF writer I'll talk about her later.

(https://www.kierstenfay.com/history-of-paranormal-romance/)

I'm going to include some common categories of Paranormal Romances but keep in mind PR novels mix are often a mix of several:

Science Fiction or Futuristic Romance: Takes place in the future or in futuristic aliens worlds and can include hunky aliens, talking spaceships, genetic engineering, advance technology, psychic abilities etc. Mostly soft sci-fi. Jayne Ann Krentz has written many a Sci-fi romance under her pseudonym Jayne Castle. Some other examples would be Warrior's Woman by Johanna Lindsey in which a heroine ventures into space in order to find a way to save her planet which has been conquered by a barbarian alien race ends up capture by. My favorite sci-fi romance is the Psy-Changling series by Nalini Singh which is so good it warrants its own Take.

Fantasy Romance: Pretty self explanatory a romance with magical and fantasy elements essential to the plot both high fantasy and low fantasy romances exist along with the in between world hopping between the "real" world and the fictitious one.

Vampires/Shapeshifter Romance: One cannot mention PR without bring up vampires and werewolves but werewolves are hardly the only shifters in the game. There are also lions, tigers, bears, leopards, and even dragons! Name an animal chances are there's somebody who can shift into it. A good paranormal romance writer can put a unique spin on these creatures in order to make them interesting. Some paranormal romance novels contain vampires and/or shapeshifters exclusively.

Steampunk Romance: This is a new branch it refers to more of a setting than anything else it is a characterized by steam-driven technology and is typically set around though not exclusively the Victorian era or simply has a Victorian type of feel to it. Just throw some fantasy and sci-fi elements into the mixed and you get steam punk.

I'm actually reading a steam punk romance right now it's called Kiss of Steam by Bec Mcmaster.

Gay/Lesbian Romance: Another self explanatory category gay romances tend to be more common than their lesbian counterpart can be found in just about every romance subgenre. One of my English professor Lourdes R. Florido actually wrote one called A Whisper of Angels its a nice Fantasy romance that includes you guessed it, angels.

Time-Travel Romance: A fish out of water kind of romance in which one character is transported to another time period the most famous example of this is the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon which won a RITA for Best Romance in 1991 just don't tell Gabaldon she insists it isn't a romance.

Erotic Paranormal Romance: PR novel with explicit sex and/or polyamorous romance like all Erotic romances it has no category or genre limitations. Angel Knight, Lora Leigh, Bianca D'Arc, and Jory Strong are rather popular.

Paranormal Romance is really too big of a sub-genre to cover in only one myTake without being long and overwhelming. So to prevent information overload and because I think the comparison really helps with understanding I'm going to make the transition to Urban Fantasy.

Urban Fantasy is a subgenre of Fantasy which mostly takes place in the real world but with the existence of fantastical creatures. They can have elements of horror and almost always has a crime/mystery plotline. Urban Fantasy became popular at the exact same time as Paranormal Romance did the 90s though like PR the earliest forms can be traced back to the 80s.

The most influential UF writer is Laurell K. Hamilton and her Anita Blake series many of the themes in her series can be found in both UF and PR.

Hamilton had the very first kick-ass vampire hunting heroine in Anita Blake her first book was published three years before Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The important things to note about her series: It is written in first person, the plot is crime driven, first vampire love interest, an eventual werewolf vampire love triangle, and contains very graphic descriptions of gore to the extant it was place in the horror section of most books stores.

While there are quite a few other UF writers worth mentioning such as Charlaine Harris the author of The Southern Vampire Mysteries which inspired the HBO series True Blood I haven't really read UF as extensively as PR. I can mention some other big names of the sub-genre: Ilona Andrews (funfact: This is a pseudonym for a husband and wife writing team), Kim Harrison, Karen Marie Moning, Richelle Mead, Cassandra Clare, and Jim Butcher.

The two genres often over lap key characteristic of Urban Fantasy can often be found in Paranormal Romance so what sets the two apart?

Urban Fantasy novels are typically written in first person, the series will revolve around one character, and the romance is not a requirement. So generally the romance is usually considered the most determining factor.

This helpful chart can be found here as well as a helpful list of PR and UF novels rated by fantasy and romance appeal: https://www.genrify.com/2014/10/urban-fantasy-versus-paranormal-romance/

However, romance or lack there of doesn't always have an influence on fantasy appeal many Paranormal Romances have detailed worlds Slave to Sensations for example as both a very high romance and fantasy appeal its the PR novel at the top right and one series Sherrilyn Kenyon's widely Dark-Hunter series is often labeled as Urban Fantasy despite meeting all parameters of a PR series. Written in 3rd person, different couple every book, and each book has a happy ending. The way I see it a PR novel can be a UF novel but a UF novel is not always a PR novel though die hard Urban Fantasy fans may disagree with me.

"Keep your romance out my Urban Fantasy!" this is silly because genre boundaries while helpful are often blurred and writers should have the creative freedom to write whatever their hearts desire. If you didn't want so much of a whiff of romance in your books than you should have researched the author a little better. But I am a huge fan of Paranormal Romance so make of that what you will. Here's a quick video:

Related links:

https://www.heroesandheartbreakers.com/blogs/2012/05/why-has-paranormal-romance-taken-off-but-not-steampunk-romance

https://dearauthor.com/features/letters-of-opinion/the-pioneers-of-paranormal-romance/

https://thefederalist.com/2014/10/31/why-we-read-paranormal-romance-stories-and-why-i-write-them/#disqus_thread

https://www.ebscohost.com/novelist/novelist-special/urban-fantasy-for-paranormal-romance-readers

https://www.rwa.org/p/cm/ld/fid=579

https://www.irosf.com/q/zine/article/10337

https://www.writing-world.com/romance/timetravel.shtml

https://www.writing-world.com/romance/fantasy.shtml

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal_romance#cite_note-gelsomino-10

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_fantasy

https://refractory.unimelb.edu.au/2014/06/26/uf-mclennon/

https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2013/04/03/urban-fantasy/

[BellePepper]

This is really interesting! I didn't realize how much history went into these genres! It's so cool you took the time to research all this!

[Valkyrie1]

Thanks it took quite a lot of digging since people have differing opinions on how these subgenres started and there was a bias depending on which subgenre the writers prefer so I had to use my own experience and what the articles had in common. Despite the fact these are very popular subgenres no one really talks about them that much. Chances are someone right now is reading a Urban Fantasy novel and doesn't even know. Many of the popular YA novels out right now are UF. Then there are also people who think Paranormal Romances novel are only limited to vampires and werewolves or are just like Twilight which isn't true.

[BellePepper]

I agree. Urban fantasy is a great genre. I can't even think as twilight as part of the genre because its quality is so much lower.

[Valkyrie1]

Twillight is a strange it is a PR novel without a doubt but its in 1st person, has a love triangle, and the relationships are dragged out. These are UF characteristics its like a deformed mutant.

[BellePepper]

ROTFLMO that sounds about right XD

[Valkyrie1]

Never say that to a Twillight fan. I once said it was trash and they should good read a good PR novel a couple of months back on a goodreads discussion about who Bella should of ended up with. Yes they are still debating that! They got soooo butthurt I swear. I think they know its bad but won't admit it to themselves. I mean honestly if it wasn't and the ending was emotionally satisfying like a romance novel should be they wouldn't still be having that debate! Still I try not to hate on Twillight its been beat up enough as it is beside a lot of the people who hate on Twillight hate romance novels in general and just because a book is trash doesn't mean people still can't enjoy it.

[BellePepper]

Well it's not a healthy relationship so it's never going to have a satisfying ending.

[Valkyrie1]

Its a PR novel it doesn't have to be healthy at first they have slightly more leeway so long as there is character growth. Remember that link I sent you about the alphahole trope? There was no way Meyer could have pulled it off though she doesn't have the skill.

[Valkyrie1]

But Edward isn't an alphahole he's more like an old skool romance hero as described: smartbitchestrashybooks.com/.../

[BellePepper]

LOL I don't care what the genre is. I still want to see the characters happy and healthy XD I seriously do not get what anyone likes about Edward. Like there's nothing likable there.

His entire character is just all the bad relationship advice and messages young girls get.

[Valkyrie1]

You got to give girls more credit than that I was insecure and had a low self-esteem as a teenager but I never wanted a guy like Edward in real life. I knew it was just a fantasy. He's a caretaker kind of hero who takes all the heroine problems and makes them go away. I lost all the minuscule respect for him after he leaves her in book two even back when I liked Twilight I thought he was a chump.

[BellePepper]

Ah! Good for you!!! In no way do I want to diminish you or your opinions. But I feel like we owe female audiences and female readers healthy relationships because it's so hard to find them in real life let alone media.

[Valkyrie1]

Yeah for sure especially for YA in particular. I'm not defending their relationship at all. I have read of about tons of healthy relationships in PR novels I read the adult ones almost exclusively though. So I can't speak for the YA variety. Unfortunately only the bad romance novels get movie deals these days.

[BellePepper]

That's def the way it seems. Like I love Deborah Harkness' books for some reason but the main relationship is super lame. WHHHHY?

LOL well we know that Hollywood is convinced unhealthy relationships are what sell tickets.

[Valkyrie1]

That's because its run by men who probable haven't read a decent romance novel or know one if it smack them in the freaking face. How else to explain Nicolas Dickface Sparks?
I've never heard of Deborah Harkness I'll have to look into that. One of my favorite authors has a YA series that is getting film adaptation its gonna be sweet! deadline.com/.../

[BellePepper]

UGH I CANNOT STAND HIM. His books are so sappy and horrible.

Ahh! That looks so cool! I hope the series is good because that sounds like a really interesting series!

[Valkyrie1]

It's great! Kresley Cole is a paranormal romance veteran so she knows her stuff unlike the writers who have been getting all the media attention in the past five years or so. I just hope they won't screw it up.
The series site: https://www.thearcanachronicles.com/
What ticks me off most about Sparks is his ego he sticks his nose up at romance novels calling them "formulaic" when his formula is so easy anyone can do it and he compares himself to Shakespeare. Shakespeare!

[BellePepper]

LMFAOoooooooooooooooooooooooo I'm just going to sit here and laugh at the idea of Sparks being Shakespearean. Lin Manuel Miranda is Shakespearean. Sparks is a hack. I've read better fanfic than his garbage.

[Valkyrie1]

Yes! I love Lin Manuel Miranda.

[BellePepper]

Who doesn't right?

[Waffles731]

God I dislike Mrs. K Hamilton

[Valkyrie1]

Why?

[Waffles731]

Because she's not very good

[Waffles731]

Because she is just a terrible writer.
Its not that I hate her, just her work

[Valkyrie1]

I disagree but her writing style is pretty unique and when it comes to 1st person it usually is a hit or miss. Have you read her Anita Blake series?

[Waffles731]

Yeah, thats why I dislike her work,
Could she make Anita any more dislikable

[Valkyrie1]

That's why I don't like first person if you don't like the main character you're going to hate the book. Anita is a complex and dynamic character she becomes a lot less hypocritical as the series progresses.

[Jxpxtxr]

This is so informative! I love the Urban Fantasy & Sci-Fi genre for books, I even attempted to write to write a series by myself but I keep experiencing periods of stagnation so it will probably take a few years until I finish them haha ~ did you ever write any book/novel yourself?

[Valkyrie1]

I tried to and I did write a few short stories back then for my 8th grade English class but nothing since then.

[kxera]

Sounds like my type of books

[Adigelunar]

cool