Jenna Bennett | Writing Paranormal Romance is Like Writing Historical Fiction

This past weekend was the annual Southern Festival of Books, which takes place in Music City—Nashville, Tennessee—the second weekend of October every year. (A great time is had by all, if you happen to find yourself in the vicinity in 2013.) 

This year I was the moderator for the Middle Tennessee Sisters in Crime panel—hello to the Sisters (and Misters) in Crime!—the title of which was Faraway Times, Faraway Places.

It was me and a bunch of writers of historical mystery and historical adventure, while I'm strictly a modern kind of girl myself.

In an effort to sound intelligent, I came up with a few questions I could ask, and one of them was "So how do you get into the head of someone who lived a hundred—or three hundred or six hundred—years ago? Someone to whom the idea of turning on the tap and having hot water come out must be akin to magic? Someone whose attitude towards life, and experiences from it, have been so different from yours that there's surely very little similarity there?"

And then I realized that I have, in fact, done that too, in a way.

There's this book I wrote, called TALL, DARK AND DIVINE, which was released in July.

It's a paranormal romance, or more accurately, a category length romantic comedy with paranormal elements.

The events in the book take place in Astoria, Queens, which is a neighborhood in New York City, just across the East River from Upper Manhattan. I spent a few of my formative years there, those in my early twenties. It was a great place to live: rents were reasonable and buildings were short enough that you could see more than just a sliver of sky, yet midtown Manhattan was only a short subway ride away. It was a friendly neighborhood in the middle of a big, impersonal city, full of small bars and restaurants, not to mention gorgeous Greeks. 

At one point, Astoria was the biggest Greek settlement in the world outside of Greece. It seemed the perfect place to drop a handful of the old Greek and Cretan gods and goddesses, to see how they'd make out in the modern world.

Yep, that's the premise of TALL, DARK AND DIVINE. Eros, Greek god of love, is living in New York City, running a matchmaking agency (what else would the God of love do for a living?), and hanging out in his buddy Dion's bar—Dionysus, Greek god of wine and debauchery—drowning his sorrows in too much ambrosia.

Annie Landon, the heroine of the story, is a perfectly normal woman, much like you and me. She's from Ohio, but she has been living in Astoria for the past couple of years. She has a rent-controlled apartment with a no-pets policy, and she bakes dog biscuits for a living. The story begins when Annie realizes she's tired of waiting for Mr. Right and she decides to go look for Mr. Tonight instead.

At Dionysus's Bar.

Of course, trying to pick up the Greek god of love for a one-night-stand isn't as easy as it seems, especially when he's sworn off mortals forever after his ex-wife, beautiful Psyche, left him for a Viking warrior with more brawn than brains...

Trying to get into the head of the Greek god of love—the jilted and gun-shy Greek god of love!—was a ton of fun, but also a big challenge. Eros is immortal, primordial; he was born of Darkness and Night before the earth was formed. Talk about ancient history! He's lived through every major event since the world was brand new, and his concept of time is a whole lot different from yours and mine.

Oh yes, and he's a man, too, which doesn't help matters.

But at the same time, that was the best part: getting into the head of this guy—this immortal, primordial god—and realizing that he was really just like anybody else. With a few special abilities, sure, but a lot more human than you might think at first.

In the end, I guess writing historical characters comes down to the same things that writing any character comes down to: putting yourself into the head of the character and trying to see the world through his or her eyes, with enough research thrown in to make an educated guess as to the experiences they may have had.

I'm not sure I'll ever dare tackle a true historical, but I feel a little more confident now. If I can get into the head of the immortal Greek god of love, surely an Eighteenth Century nobleman or an Eight Century monk can't be far behind? Or at least not out of the realm of possibility?

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New York Times bestselling author Jennie Bentley/Jenna Bennett writes the Do It Yourself home renovation mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime and the Cutthroat Business mysteries for her own gratification. She also writes a variety of romance for Entangled Publishing, from contemporary to futuristic, and from paranormal to romantic suspense. Her most recent romance release is TALL, DARK AND DIVINE, first in the Bagging a Greek God series.

Eros, Greek god of love, has been down-on-his-luck since ex-wife Psyche ran off with a Viking warrior with more brawn than brains. Drowning his sorrows in ambrosia-laced wine doesn't help, nor does the nagging of the assorted minor and demi-goddesses who help him run his New York based matchmaking service.

When a misguided attempt to set up cute and lonely baker Annie Landon goes awry, Eros lends her his shoulder to cry on—and a few other body parts to take her mind off things. But falling for yet another mortal is the last thing Eros needs. And thus begins his quest to win the heart of a mortal man for Annie, which will also rid him of the maddening desire to keep her for himself. It's the perfect plan ... if only Eros can bear to let Annie go.