Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Are angels the new faeries?

I’m seeing a new trend in paranormal romance—angels. I love angels. They are supernatural beings with wings, some are good and some are evil. Fallen angels in particular have my interest because they are more complex than the ones that don’t give in to their dark side. I never thought of angels as kind and gentle. I always thought of them as capricious warriors of God and somewhat dangerous. Just like faeries.

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Another popular trend in paranormal romance is faeries, but I am seeing more angels lately. Angels and faeries have a lot in common. Both are supernatural beings, some good and some evil, both have wings. Faeries come in all shapes and sizes though and angels seem to be one size. The faeries I am comparing angels to are the Irish faeries, the Tuatha de Danaan. These are the human size faeries that often appear in my stories. While some faeries have gossamer wings, the Irish faeries have feathered wings like angels.

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There are some people that believe faeries are real and possibly related to the fallen angel myths. Before Christianity spread to places like Scotland and Ireland, it’s possible that people mixed up angels and faeries. Or it’s possible that Christian monks, trying to convert pagans, borrowed some of the pagan beliefs and shaped the angels to mirror faeries.

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Even in recent artwork, the line between angels and faeries is blurred.

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I just think that romance fans like supernatural beings with wings. And who could blame them? There is something mysterious and fascinating about angels and faeries.

Kelley Heckart

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7 comments:

Christine Warner said...

I've noticed the same trend with angels vs faeries...and the variety is nice. Things need to be shaken up a bit from time to time to keep any reader's interest.

I also want to comment that the pictures you chose for your blog are gorgeous! Love em :)

Katie Salidas said...

I've noticed the trend too. Angels are becoming quite popular but I just can't seem to get into them. I still prefer faeries!

Katie Salidas

Kelley Heckart said...

Christine and Katie,
Thanks for the comments.

I lean toward faeries, too, but have a soft spot for fallen angels.

Sheri Fredricks said...

Hi Kelley ~ Like you, I was brought up to believe that angels weren't the fluffy creatures some writers have written them to be. The Bible tells of angels appearing and man falling on his face in fright! Kind of makes a person wonder what the heck they saw.

I agree with you in regard to the angel trend. It all goes in waves. What do you speculate will be next?

Great Post! Great pictures!

Brenda said...

Cool post! I like angels--not the sweet type, but the emotionless type--the warrior's of God.

Kelley Heckart said...

Sheri, Great question. I wish I knew what the next new paranormal creature trend will be because then I could probably make a ton of money.

I think some of the tired trends like vampires can still be revived with some changes to make them unique.

BrennaLyons said...

I've been raised with both angels and fairies not being fluffy bunny types. I took my written angels a step further though. In my angel books, they aren't warriors of God. They are an alien rave. Since the last time we encountered them was in ancient times, I postulated that they possessed what the natives thought of as godlike powers and decided they had been sent by the gods. Shrug. It worked for my purposes.