Fourteen.Freshieee xD. A bookworm to the extreme, a writer to the double extreme. Working on my paranormal romance/fantasy revisions. That and blogging/reading pretty much rule my life.
Hey guys, I'm Harmony B. from Harmony's Radiant Read's (www.harmonyradiantreads.blogspot.com) and I'm here to guest blog for the awesome Emily!
Go to Barnes and nobles and look at the YA section (or even your own bookshelf). Rattle off the genres. Which one is seeming to appear the most? In this industry now, paranormal romance and urban fantasy are reigning supreme over mystery, historical, commercial, and even fantasy (though FANTASY kicks major butt)
Now, a lot of people don't know the exact differences that separate paranormal romance from urban fantasy, and a lot of people don't know which one they're reading. I'm here to help!
There's a lot of small difference but the major one (and the most obvious by their titles) is that paranormal romance focuses on the romantic aspect of the story and urban fantasy focuses on the actual FANTASY part of the story.
PARANORMAL ROMANCE:
Basically, it's a romance with paranormal creatures and paranormal situations. The rules of romance novels must be followed expect for a few expectations. Most of the time, one or both of the people in love aren't exactly human and the plot is much darker and heavier than regular romance. You can't be able to take out the paranormal elements and still have a story for it to be a paranormal romance. If you can do that (which you better HOPE you can't), they're called paranormal lights. Which are like the wimpy cousins of paranormal romance. There are a lot of paranormal lights, for example (better not throw rocks at me for this) Little Mr. Twilight. It does not continue explaining the myth and background of the vampire but rather lingers on the whole 'I'm a vampire and I'm evil and why do you love me?!?!?!'
Paranormal romance can take any shape and form of genre! PR can be historical, urban fantasy, mystery, fantasy, scifi, etc.. etc.. but it will ALWAYS be categorized as PR.
URBAN FANTASY:
The setting of urban fantasy must (obviously) be set in an urban environment! It can have (and usually does) have paranormal elements but the main thing is that the romance (if it has) TAKES A BACK SEAT. Dark urban fantasy is pretty much the same thing but it focuses a lot of horror and bloody-ness and all that good stuff . If your going to write either, make sure you work on your World-Building. It's much more important in UF than in PR. In paranormal romance, the romance is the center so while the world-building has to be good and real, it will not the center of your book. This is something that is IMPORTANT to an Urban Fantasy book! Also, pay attention to the history of your paranormal-ness!
I think I named the basic differences between the two and that you have to pay attention to recognize each one.
I'm more of a paranormal romance kind of girl, though I do read urban fantasy. Good examples of paranormal romance are Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side
by Beth Fantastsky, Hush Hush
by Becca Fitzpatrick, Fallen
by Lauren Kate, Wondrous Strange
by Lesley Livingston, Wicked Lovely
by Melissa Marr. I'm not much of a urban fantasy reader but I want to fix that! In the comments, tell me YOUR favorite Urban Fantasies!It's been great guest-posting and I hope you guys at least got some book recommendation or learned about the differences between the two. If you already knew, go you!
All my information comes from this site: http://www.romanceaustralia.com/articles/urban.htm
I know you guys miss Emily so I shall take my leave.
-Harmony B.
