Note: All the lighting in panel rooms were extremely heinous. Though for a paranormal themed panel, almost intentional?

WE’RE NO ANGELS: The Leading Ladies of Paranormal/Urban Fantasy was a panel fit for fantasy romance enthusiasts and potential writers alike.

The core of the discussion dealt with how to write in such a specific niche field where creatures like vampires, shapeshifters, angels, etc. all have historical connotations but also require the writer to be able to craft these worlds in their own frame of reference and bring new context to these characters. They have to be authentic by some aspect and allow the characters to have the same vulnerabilities and limitations as any living substance.

Let’s be real here, at least half the audience had to be here for Charlaine Harris. Her Sookie Stackhouse series is a major television show and she has been a top New York Times Bestseller on more than one occasion. She could’ve just showed up with a folding fan in wicker chair and been silent if she felt like it.

But of course she became the Latrice Royale of the women (or Sophia Patrillo if you prefer), punctuating her points as quick witted one liners that made everyone laugh. When the group was discussing the “Mary Sue” generic character debacle, some authors were talking about how they’d never let their audience influence their plot and depths of artistic grandeur, Charlaine Harris said “As long as you buy my books, you can call her whatever you want.” That’s not to say she’s swayed by the fickles waves of readers’ whims because she has to be the overall judge of the story’s intent, but she keeps in mind that this is not a self-indulgent exercise and her books are meant for her readers.

Christina Henry was cute as a button though, as a Chicago writer who out of the whole panel, does not write about vampires and the other in vogue topics for the genre. She writes about angels, ghosts and a gargoyle here or there. Henry provided that other voice to keep the authors from being unified in the same subjects, she is still very much in the paranormal romance world, but she knew that vampires weren’t her thing and wanted to find something different that was still fantastical. Also knowing that if a zombie apocalypse broke out, locking yourself at Costco is the way to go.

Karina Cooper was like the spunky kid of the group, I think she reminded people on the motive of sensuality which was interestingly left out of the title of the panel when all of them had romance within their books as a main element. I don’t say that to limit them as romance novelists only out to get their readers hot and bothered, but they are women writing predominately for women and sexuality is another inherent part of the living condition. Admitting her husband as her sugar daddy probably garnered her extra respect among the audience.

Pamela Palmer offered a certain rationale to her being an writer. She hadn’t intended to be a writer, which people who do often start off with the identity of their own creativity as an artist comfort blanket persona; she was an engineer who sought imagination in a tangible world. But she became an author anyway in realizing her impulsive need to tell stories. Something about this background probably influenced her stories and their primal settings.

Jeaniene Frost is also a NYT Bestseller so she had a good pull among the crowd as well. Frost brought out the horror element of the topics and how readers would send her letters asking if her characters were some type of wish fulfillment of her main character who completely slaughters people on a regular basis. She seemed to fill that stereotype of adorable women who end up writing the most gore out of anyone else. She didn’t need a black cape or anything.

Is it weird to say Kerrelyn Sparks was having some Grace Under Fire moments? A goofy mom who sort of stumbles about when they write, finding their own path to make it there. Y’know, minus the husky voice and alcoholism. Sparks was the most cavalier of the group, admitting when she gets stuck in her work she just fakes it until she makes it. I feel like she could have her own local coffee talk show.

Chloe Neill is the definition of site specific writing, the John Cusack of paranormal-urban-fantasy-romance-in-Chicago-with-humor. I think l’m making half this stuff up as l go along but l haven’t had any caffeinated tea. Anyway, Neill’s work has by far the most reference and reverence to Chicago as a haunted city with it’s own noir vibe comparative to NYC or Boston. Her books are the epitome of urban fantasy as they are a tribute to the lesser-known sites of Chicago.

She helped emphasize the research aspect of the paranormal/fantasy genre because it has such a well-known reputation in culture from Shakespeare to Dracula to Leslie Nielsen as Dracula. A great question was asked about how to deal with these types of historical limitations of the paranormal while keeping the story with it contemporary. The answers ranged from picking and choosing what you know about the creatures while using some kind of unifying factor (environment, vampires sleeping during the day, etc.).

A lot of it was very girl power pow wow and saying things that seem self explanatory to the writing process but sometimes people need the affirmation of professionals to clarify what they already knew.

“You and me. Midnight. Abandoned cemetery smothered in fog. Keep wearing that shirt you’re not wearing, I won’t tell my husband.”

• Tags
• C2e2
• Charlaine Harris
• Chloe Neill
• Christina Henry
• Jeaniene Frost
• Karina Cooper
• Kerrelyn Sparks
• Pamela Palmer