My Muse has been kidnapped!

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Nine books and Three Short Stories past me and I sat down to write book number Ten.

            Maybe I shouldn’t have had that reading binge right before I decided to write. After becoming saturated from Romance –all Paranormal Romances –of course, I was left reeling. All the good Plots were already wrote! Since I know I had a lot of those great ideas, too, that’s when it finally occurred to me that my Muse had been kidnapped. There was no other explanation.

            Let’s face it. The Paranormal Romance has become incredibly popular, much to the surprise of a lot of people in the Publishing world. When it first tried to surface on the writing world, there were those who said it wouldn’t make it. They were so sure readers wouldn’t want to read about blood-sucking vampires, ferocious werewolves, nasty demons, and everything else the Paranormal world could come up with.

            Ah, but they didn’t give the writers and the readers credit enough. The Naysayers forgot one important thing: Romance. Without that, all those nasty supernatural beings would be SciFi material instead.

            So the Preternatural Hero was created (and even a few heroines too!). NOW… he’s not a blood-sucking vampire, he’s a Night Warrior fighting against all odds despite his Curse. He’s not an overly hairy werewolf tearing victims to shreds, he’s a Shapeshifter with primal strength and courage, fighting the good battle and learning to control his basic animal side. The scary guys are now the ultra-handsome, too-sexy-for-their-own-good, heroes that make women sigh and want one for their own.

            How kewl is that? Oh, but wait. Here comes the ‘catch’ and the part about the ‘kidnapped Muse’. After my reading binge I was left to ponder: just how many Plots can a writer come up with and still make her story unique and stand out among all the countless other Paranormal Romances available? I panicked. Really. I started frantically going through ideas, one after the other. Only to discover everyone of those plot ideas had already been done. Every writer’s nightmare, right?

            Then, it hit me. (Either that, or the Muse had escaped her kidnappers and came running home to knock me over the head with a big DUH!) Each one of my books is unique. Each time I had sat down to write, the Plot came with the creation of the Characters. That was it. CHARACTERS. My Plot didn’t have to be like anyone else’s idea, it was all determined by those special characters.

            In HUNTED MATE, Cat Shifter Logan Cross is an honorable man with strength and passion as his middle names. He’s sexy, he’s primal. His “character” determined which direction the story would go when he’s forced to kidnap a woman and take her to her prophesied mate. Even when Logan knows he wants her for himself, he’s still honorable…to a point.

            In TEMPTATION UNLEASHED Cougar Shapeshifter Aiden Calhoun is primal and tough. Aiden faces danger without blinking an eye. Nothing can bend this incredibly powerful, ultra-sexy man. Except facing the temptation of the irresistible witch who comes into his life just when danger and death hits his family. Aiden’s “character” has to learn to trust something else besides his own power and strength. Love.

            In SEDUCING THE HERO, Colt McKnight is one tough, sexy Ex-Detective-turned-Cowboy whose “character” has been scarred by a past relationship that nearly cost him everything. Every thing he does now is based on the lesson he learned then. Enter the heroine, a vulnerable woman who needs a hero, and Colt suddenly finds his life turned upside down and all his soul-sworn promises to never love again fly right out the window.

            In the upcoming PREY FOR THE WOLF, Kane Steele is the sexiest wolf shifter a woman could fantasize about. He’s all primal male. “His character” believes there’s nothing he can’t control. Wait until he meets his future mate. She’s human and she’s as tough as he is!

            So, in retrospect, I realized it all comes down to “Character”. No matter how many –or how few –there are Plots out there, there will never be the same Characters. They make the story.

            And it just occurred to me that I came up with that resolution all on my own. Ha. Who needs Muses?

            Tell me what you think. Is it the Plot of a Paranormal Romance that catches your attention first and makes you want to read the book? Or is it the Characters that catch your attention –their trials and triumphs?

Take a look at latest Releases: UNDER A SHIFTER'S MOON, SURRENDER HER TOUCH, and SPELL-KISSED........

            I welcome all comments! Email: authorkari@yahoo.com   Please visit my site for info on all my books. Thanks! www.authorkari.com