Fiona McGier, EroticRomance Author

Keeping it real for my readers

8/22/2020

This month's Round Robin question: What elements do you include in your stories to make a story seem and feel more realistic to the reader?

I knew I wanted to answer this question as soon as I read it. And the books I'm thinking of are my paranormal romances. Allow me to explain.

Click cover for more info.

When I started to write this book, I got 2 chapters into it then had writer's block, which has never happened to me before, or since. So I put it aside to do other stuff. Shortly after that I had a dream in which a pale, tall, blond man told me that I was having trouble because I was giving her the wrong hero. It had to be him. Then he smiled, showing me fangs. I told him, "I don't do vampires--too overdone." He told me to research the Mayans, since I already knew this book involved them, along with the 2012 end of the world prediction involving the end of the 12th tonne, in the Mayan long-count calendar.

The next morning I began to research Mayans. Why? I've dreamed up story arcs before, but never had a character spoken directly to ME, the author. What I learned was that the Mayans had many rituals for their religion, and all of them involved blood-letting. The rulers would appear in public and prick themselves with knives and spears, or pull thorns through sensitive body parts, to collect the blood in containers of various kinds. Why? Well, if their rulers were vampires... The story wrote itself after that. I even used a few Mayan gods' names which I have no idea how to pronounce.

For added realism, since Keesha is a neuro-biological researcher, I knew she'd wonder what causes vampirism. I had her discover spores that are in the blood stream of all vampires. These spores can travel through space as dormant space dust. If they land on a planet with no iron-based blood-based creatures, they remain dust. But on planets with iron-based blooded animals, they can quickly invade the bodies and take them over, refashioning them into vampires who need to consume blood to survive. Gross, but the whole eternity thing is a real bonus.

This is an image from pottery from the Mayans. Look closely and you'll see that the woman is pulling a rope embedded with thorns through her tongue. The blood would be collected in a container. Not sure what the Mayans actually did with all of that blood...unless my story is more true that even I realize!

Click cover for more info.

In another dream--yes, another one! Sometimes I really look forward to going to sleep! In that dream I saw the story arc for my first werewolf book. The heroine, Saoirse Ann McColl (Sam to her besties) is also a scientist. She's a biology researcher who keeps getting fired for not producing the results the client wants from the labs she's worked at. So she applies to a private high school in a remote area of Maine. She's attracted to the principal at the first interview. And when she gets the job, she's thrilled. She gets an apartment in the big mansion that houses the school, the students, and the staff. And the huge grounds, surrounded by an electrified fence, keep everyone inside secure. She soon gets used to the howling of wolves all night--begins to find it comforting. Which is good because the principal, Diego Vargas, has a wolf living inside of him that has already chosen her as their mate. But first he has to figure out how to break it to the scientist that not all myths are untrue. After her initial shock, she decides to try to isolate the werewolf component in the blood of shifters. In other words, what is it that sets them apart and gives them a twin who wakes up when they're teenagers, then co-exists with them in their heads, content to only occasionally take over their shared body by remaking it into a wolf? Once again, a logical, scientific explanation for a paranormal being.

I guess that's just the way my mind works. I've always enjoyed reading paranormal romances, but I never thought I'd write them, because I'd want to know the hows and the whys of their existence. Hopefully my readers enjoy my attempts to do just that.

How do other authors answer this question? Head over to them to see.
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
Victoria Chatham http://www.victoriachatham.com
Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/
Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
Dr. Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-1ZR
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
Rhobin L Courtright http://www.rhobincourtright.com

Skyewriter link

8/22/2020 06:20:07 am

I mentioned in my own post how challenging it must be to create fantasy or science fiction that seems real. Having your character come to you in a dream to point the way has to be an amazing experience.

Fiona McGier link

8/22/2020 12:25:20 pm

Thanks for stopping by. And yes, it IS an amazing thing--every time it happens, I'm so grateful that my muse is able to invade my dreams. And that I remember them! But the most amazing dream was the one where the character actually invaded my dreams to speak to ME directly! It reminded me of movies where the characters ignore what's called "the third wall" and talk directly to the movie-watchers--like in Deadpool.

Robin Courtright link

8/22/2020 06:35:50 am

Interesting! Dreams explaining ways to make stories more real. Your explanation the heroine's purpose develops a reality, too.

Fiona McGier link

8/22/2020 12:27:15 pm

Thanks for popping in Robin. I enjoy reading paranormal romances, but I've always chafed with questions about how they can even exist. I guess that's why my muse made me write stories with logical explanations. It's how I think.

Fiona McGier link

8/22/2020 12:28:02 pm

Please add another author to the ones you visit:
Connie Vines http://www.mizging.blogspot.com/

Beverley Bateman link

8/22/2020 04:06:11 pm

Interesting post - and your mind does work in unusual ways.

Fiona McGier link

8/24/2020 12:57:36 pm

I think it's because I'm so strong in the right brain part--the science, math, and logic part. That's not what I'm interested in, so I got my degree in teaching English. But math was always easy for me, so I guess I think more logically than most writers. Maybe?

Bob Rich link

8/22/2020 06:23:23 pm

Yes Fiona, the scientific mind is a blessing. I (and therefore my protagonists, and even my villains) have a NEED to understand. So, this was the part of your post I found fascinating.
A bloodsucker or an internal wolf are much more believable if there is a scientific-sounding explanation.
:)
Bob

Fiona McGier link

8/24/2020 12:59:16 pm

Thanks for stopping by, Bob. Yes, I think so too. In fact, I resisted writing paranormals for that reason--there was never a logical explanation for how/why the creatures existed. Now that I've supplied one, I may write more "in their world."

Diane L Bator

8/23/2020 07:15:47 am

I love that you get ideas in dreams too. The whole Mayan research project sounds fascinating. I've always been interested in them. I haven't read any of your books, but that one definitely intrigues me!

Fiona McGier link

8/24/2020 01:01:44 pm

It's definitely an interesting book. There are young and old vampires--and one who is so old he looks like a mummy. There is violence, mostly done by the heroine to herself, when the mummy invades her mind to stop her from thinking so logically. And there is hot sex, as Yuri bonds Keesha to himself in as many ways as possible, because he's tired of being alone. Eternity seems so much longer if you have to spend it by yourself. Thanks for visiting.

Victoria Chatham link

8/23/2020 03:07:13 pm

I have just had a similar experience with a character in my WIP! The love interest I had linked her with just wasn't working. Then she told me it was because he was her brother!! So I had to come up with another character which is now working out. Can't say I've ever actually dreamed a book, but know several writers now who do.

Fiona McGier link

8/24/2020 01:03:58 pm

Thanks for coming by Victoria. Yes, our characters definitely make us write what THEY want us to, not what we want to write! And her brother? Yuck! Incest is not something I'd ever want to explore in a romance novel! And I'm glad I'm not the only one who dreams up stories.

Judith Copek link

8/27/2020 03:02:24 pm

Really enjoyed this post and learning about the Mayans. Sometimes our characters (most undexpectedly) do talk to us. That's usually when interesting thing s happen. Provocative post.

Fiona McGier link

8/27/2020 03:49:24 pm

Hi Judith--thanks for stopping by. I enjoyed learning about the Mayans also. And yes, I really enjoy when characters talk to me. Makes being by myself and thinking so much more interesting--because I'm never really "by myself."

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