Good morning and thank you, Dayana, for having me here today. For someone who grew up reading Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mary Shelley and, of course, Bram Stoker, it should come as no great surprise, I edit for the dark side of the Garden. It was perhaps, five or maybe ten minutes after I came to The Wild Rose Press that I ended up on the Black Rose line.
Today, I’d like to talk a bit about the darker side of the garden where werewolves howl, vampires lurk and strange things go bump in the night…right alongside love and romance. The point I’d like to make is that despite Black Rose being the home to the darker creatures, it is nonetheless also a romance line. It is a subtle distinction that many miss.
Too often in our jobs, stories come to us that include a preternatural creature with a little sex thrown in, and the writer believes it is enough. Likewise, a romance story may be submitted with a preternatural creature tossed in as an afterthought. Do these stories work? Not typically. If you don’t love romance, if you don’t read romance, it's will difficult to write a great Black Rose story. If you don’t love creatures such as vampires, werewolves and ghosts, it will be difficult to write a great Black Rose story.
If, on the other hand, you are a great fan of romance and creatures that go bump in the night, then I would ask you to do three things. One: write a great story. Two: put in it tip-top shape. And, three: send it my way!
Happy writing.
Rene Stephens
Editor, Black Rose Imprint
The Wild Rose Press
rene@thewildrosepress.com
How much fun it must be to see all the darker stories come in, and then find a winner that you want to publish. What a great job you have, and from what I hear you're fantastic at it.
ReplyDeleteI love dark paranormal romance. There's nothing hotter than a sexy Alpha were or a handsome and bloodthirsty vampire. They're very sensual creatures, too, which makes for steamy love scenes ;). I enjoyed your post, Rene!
ReplyDeleteHelen
I love paranomal romance, the darker the better. If the romance is central, can the writing lean more to the fantasy-style? Just a thought that occurred to me.
ReplyDeleteI too love reading the dark paranomals. As you said, Rene, some writers don't get the really dark part. (Maybe they are actually writing a Feary Rose?) But the steamy sexy hero-- a vamp, a were, or one with demon aspects--I say bring them on!
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