The Curious Case of Crafting my Creatures in Courting Demons

Please welcome guest blogger Kerri Nelson

One of the things I love the most about writing fantasy and paranormal is that you have pretty much free reign over what your characters look like, what powers they possess, and what they can and cannot do in the world you’ve built for them. Your rules are the rules.

Want them to be immortal? No problem.

Defy gravity? Easy peasy.

Live off the sap of trees in the darkest forest? Why, sure they can.

But how does one go about crafting your very own creatures such as these? How do you make sure that your own creations will really stand out in such a competitive genre?

In Courting Demons, there are several baddies that I created who could be both potentially scary and at the same time humorous. My first trick was to make up their names. Here are a few of my creature creations:

Phlebo (the blood draining demon created from the word “phlebotomy” or persons trained to collect or draw blood from humans)

Felinsky (the shapeshifting cat demon created from the word “feline”)

Canibus (the werewolf created from a play on the word “canine” not the other kind of canibus!)

Now, obviously, you can see the humor behind these names but that fits with the world I’ve created for my “Mom’s world of demon mayhem”. So, that’s my first step. Then what?

Now, I try to give them some kind of unique characteristic. For example, one of my demons speaks with a lisp, one looks like a GQ model, and one is even a “little person” (yep, a dwarf and he’s one of my faves). All these characteristics add yet another funny element to my characters’ own internal world.

Creatures are typically crafted to be either scary, sexy or both but in this book you can’t help but smile at them.

And while ultimately the may not be the stuff legends are made of—I can be sure that they are all mine. I built each one from the ground up (or the underworld up) and by putting a nifty name and a unique spin on each one, I hope they’ll be remembered by readers.

Who knows maybe my demon dwarf will get his own story in the future. Just wait ‘til you meet his wife.

What are your fave type of paranormal creatures and which ones are you most tired of seeing in books?

Thanks for hosting me here at FF&P and I hope you’ll continue to follow along on the blog tour through the end of October for a chance to win an Amazon Kindle!

© Kerri Nelson 2011


Giveaway for the day:

Leave a question or comment to be entered to win a signed, print copy of Courting Demons.

Then, enter to win my book tour Grand Prize Kindle by following me on tour and e-mailing me the answers to each question of the day at the end of tour. The more questions you answer, the more entries you gain.

Question of the Day:

What is the name of the hot Detective on the case of Paisley’s “missing” hubby?

Details on how to enter to win the GRAND PRIZE Kindle at the end of my “Dark Days of Demons Tour” located here:
http://kerribookwriter.blogspot.com/2011/09/courting-demons-blog-tour-win-kindle.html


Kerri Nelson discovered her love of writing at an early age and soon became a columnist for her local newspaper winning the Outstanding Young Journalist of the Year Award for her efforts.

After a fifteen year career in the legal field, Kerri fulfilled her lifelong dream of publication and is now an award winning multi-published author of nearly every genre under the sun (and moon) and also writes young adult fiction under the penname K.G. Summers.

A true southern belle, she comes complete with a dashing southern gentleman and three adorable children for whom she often bakes many homemade treats.

Kerri is an active member of Sisters in Crime and Romance Writers of America as well as numerous chapters including Futuristic Fantasy & Paranormal Writers and her Presidency of Celtic Hearts Romance Writers.

Read more about Kerri’s books at her website: www.kerrinelson.com
Follow her on Twitter here: www.twitter.com/kerribookwriter
Visit her industry blog here: www.thebookboost.blogspot.com


Courting Demons

Paisley Barton was already having a bad day before she turned her husband into a rat.

First, she was fired by her boss and then came home to find hubby in the shower with a naked blonde chick. They say that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned but this break-up may just unleash hell on Earth when Paisley casts a spell of vengeance against her philandering husband.

After her spell casting inadvertently opens a portal between dimensions, Paisley finds her family home transformed into a nightly courtroom for settling disputes between demons of the underworld and she’s the judge! If that’s not enough, she’s got to deal with a charming, ancient demon named Camden who wants to be her personal bodyguard while trying to explain her husband’s sudden, mysterious disappearance to sexy police Detective Dalton Briggs.

But Paisley will show them all that an everyday working mom is better equipped than most to deal with the mystical mayhem…and with a tempting demon hottie and a flirtatious young detective vying for her affection, she soon learns that being single again isn’t so bad after all.

“When a wronged wife turns her cheating husband into a rat, you know you have to keep reading! Kerri Nelson offers up a lot of fun and wild magic in Courting Demons!” --Bestselling author Linda Wisdom, Demons are a Girl’s Best Friend