Marketing a book can be a challenge especially if that book does not fall under the guidelines expected for an average book in its genre. What if it doesn't have a genre? And even more complicated is a situation where if you explain much about the book, you give away the enjoyment a reader should find in reading it.
That's what I have been facing as I do the last edits, after my beta reader and editor also read it. When Fates Conspire, will be out February 1. Writing blurbs about it and creating its trailer have been challenges as I want to give the reader a heads up, especially if that person might not be interested in alternative ideas about spirituality.
So I call it a paranormal romance even though its story goes beyond the usual concepts for romances. It is though about soul mates-- but what does that actually mean?
The word paranormal covers a wide swath of books like time travel, which doesn't necessarily have a spiritual dimension as it explores the question of physical reality-- or not. Paranormal novels can also be about vampires, werewolves and shape-shifters which are all physical beings but with what most would consider super-normal qualities-- that is unless you regularly turn into a wolf at night and then it would seem very normal.
Mostly when I write a book, it comes out of my own thinking. I might have read something or heard a story, but the plot will be coming from something I've acquired during my days. Once in awhile though I have had one that comes from out of what feels like nowhere.
If you've ever worked with using a dream for a book, you know it doesn't give you a whole story. What it can be is the start for one-- and take you somewhere you hadn't intended to go in writing.
The dream, which was the genesis for When Fates Conspire, was complicated, had a lot to it; but in the end, there was an intense image within and a conclusion so strong that it left no choice in the writing. It was up to me to make it seem possible for those readers who can accept all is not what you see in front of you.
The ring above is one of the images I saw in that dream. I only wish I could really find a way to depict it. it was so vivid that I can see it now clearly. If you want to know how it fits into the story, you need to read the novella.
