Melding history and paranormal

Please welcome guest blogger Donna Grant

The first romance I picked up (at 12!) was a historical. Five pages in and I was hooked for life. For years, all I read were historical romances.

Eventually, the paranormal craze took me as it has so many others. It opened doors to other worlds and other times, the possibilities endless. There are so many different paranormal ideas that can be used. People. Objects. Vampires. Shapeshifters. Witches.

The more paranormal romances I read the more I found the paranormal seeping into my writing. When I finally quit fighting it and let it flow, I was amazed at how easily my characters seemed to adapt to it.

When I sat down to write the proposal for my Dark Sword series I knew that I wanted two things. Highlanders. And paranormal. But to blend the two was not something that was well known, or done often.

I really wanted a wide, sweeping series that meshed both of my loves. Setting the stories in Medieval Scotland would add the element of the historical, and I did keep a lot of things true to the time.

Adding in the paranormal allowed me to create a vast world, hidden and magical. I created my own mythology for the series as well. Then putting my immortal Highlanders into every day life with mortals while fighting an evil Druid allowed that mix to blend well.

To add another element into the mix, I have each of my heroines as Druids with magic that can help her man – or harm him - depending on the power he holds inside him.

I was told it was a hard sell, and nothing would probably come of it.

That was from one agent. Since I was agent hunting at the time and hadn’t actually wrote the proposal, I did mention it them. There were only a few who weren’t interested. Most wanted to see it ASAP. That supposedly “hard sell” sold, with more than one offer on the table, and in just three weeks.

One of the things I’ve heard so often from readers is that they get so tired of historical heroines being so helpless. This blending of historical and paranormal allowed me to have some heroines who can seriously kick some ass. And they do. :)

So the next time you don’t think blending of two genres is a good idea, I say go with your gut and see what happens. You just never know.

Donna Grant has been praised for her “totally addictive” and “unique and sensual” stories. She's the author of more than twenty novels spanning multiple genres of romance—Scottish Medieval, dark fantasy, time travel, paranormal, and erotic. Her latest acclaimed series, Dark Sword, features a thrilling combination of Druids, primeval gods, and immortal Highlanders who are dark, dangerous, and irresistible. She lives with her husband, two children, a dog, and three cats in Texas.

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