W = Wardell

This was another easy letter for me, as I recently discovered Heather Wardell. She’s not new, but she’s new to me. And she’s a great writer. Earlier this year I got to read Planning to Live, a powerful book about living in the now. She recently released A Life That Fits, which will be reviewed here soon.

Heather wrote us a post for today. Enjoy!

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Why I don’t write paranormal

by Heather Wardell

As you’re all well aware, paranormal is hotter than Edward Cullen is cold. Vampires and werewolves and angels and demons and shapeshifters, oh my! But in all six of my novels to date, I haven’t written about anything more other-worldly than a house cat. (Incidentally, I have a theory that cats are actually aliens come to observe us. Stare into a cat’s eyes for a bit and see if you don’t agree.)

I could probably reach a much bigger audience with my books if I did write paranormal, or if I alternated paranormal with my women’s fiction, and I’ve even had a few paranormal book ideas. So why don’t I write them?

Because, frankly, I’m not a paranormal being and I don’t want to read about them. I love to read about real people, people like me. Marian Keyes, one of my favorite authors, does such an amazing job with her characterization that I believe wholeheartedly in those people. They live and breathe and carry on with their lives even when they’re not on the page. I want to do that with my books too, and I’m so happy when a reader tells me, “I feel like your characters are my friends.”

I have no doubt that this level of connection could be achieved with paranormal creatures as well, and I’m certainly not suggesting that authors who write paranormal don’t care about making their characters believable. For me, though, I would rather write about true-to-life situations, about things that I or the people around me have faced, and explore the depth of happiness and sadness in our regular lives.

I’ve written about:

• choosing between a husband and a returned first love (my free-to-download novel “Life, Love, and a Polar Bear Tattoo)
• deciding whether your art should be a hobby or a career (“Go Small or Go Home”)
• letting go of resentment and anger so you can move forward in life (“Seven Exes Are Eight Too Many”)
• learning to live in the present rather than obsessing over the future (“Planning to Live”, which was reviewed right here on Proud Book Nerd)
• choosing between a man and a career (“Stir Until Thoroughly Confused”)
• listening to yourself and doing what you need (my newly released “A Life That Fits”)

I enjoy putting my characters into these difficult, but still normal and everyday, situations and watching them learn more about themselves and who they are as they extricate themselves from the mess I’ve made for them. I enjoy it more because they’re real people to me. I can understand them and get into their heads, and even when they don’t do what I would have done (which happens surprisingly often – one of the big things I’ve learned in my years of writing is that the author is not remotely in charge once the story gets rolling!). I can learn things about myself from what they do and how I feel about it. I’m not convinced I could learn as much from the struggles of a paranormal being who is nothing like me.

Readers of Proud Book Nerd, I’d love to know what you think! Do you prefer to read about real people? Or is it more fun to read about the vampire or werewolf you’ll (with any luck!) never meet in real life precisely BECAUSE you’ll never really have that encounter? Or do you read both at different times, and if so what makes you pick one over the other?

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Thank you, Heather, for a great post. And now for me to answer your questions …

For me, I tend to read both. I enjoy paranormal and fantasy because sometimes it’s fun to suspend reality for a little while. With fantasy, the appeal is delving into a whole new world that I never would’ve dreamed of on my own. With paranormal (which for me means fantasy-type characters in today’s world), the appeal is having the real world without all of the rules. Exceptions to the rules. Unexpected exceptions to the rules. New experiences in parts of the world I could visit myself. For the more realistic stories, I like how very easy it can be to relate to the characters. Their day-to-day lives (especially when the books feature a bookworm or someone in the publishing/newspaper industry), their relationships. It’s neat to get inside someone else’s head, and examine things from different perspectives. Consider life in ways I might not have done so on my own. And sometimes, yes, the characters are almost friend-like by the time I’m done reading. (I hate when those stories end, but visiting with my new “friends” is one more incentive to read the book again!)

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