RT Convention Interview: Pamela Palmer on Paranormal Plotting

RT Booklovers Convention start on April 6th and if you’re going to be in Los Angeles, you won’t want to miss it.  We paranormal fans are getting some series RT love with several dedicated panels including PARANORMAL: The Plot Thickens: How to Keep Paranormal Fans Hooked which features Pamela Palmer talking about her Feral Warriors paranormal romance series and how she keeps readers coming back for more with her stories.  Click HERE to see where else Pamela will be at this years convention.

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ATUF: How far in advance do you plot? Chapter by chapter? Book by book? Or do you plan out the whole series before starting?

PP: When I'm starting a new series, I have to do a certain amount of world-building, both the world itself and the conflicts within it which will become the basis of the plot. The more I figure out ahead of time, the better, but I can never get it all. New things constantly crop up as I'm writing. In my Feral Warriors series, I do know things, big plot points, that are going to happen in the future, some several books out. I know which way the story is heading, but I don't know all the details or exactly how I'm going to get there until I'm writing each individual book.

 

My book plotting is similar to my series planning. I figure out the big picture as well as I can before I start the book, but new things always come up in the writing, things I hadn't anticipated. The story reveals itself as I go along.

 

ATUF: Do you find plotting in Paranormal Romance to be different from other genres?

PP: Yes and no. The process is basically the same for me--figuring out the characters, the conflict, the major turning points. But in a paranormal, I tend to have a lot more to play with. As long as I'm true to the constraints of the world I've created, the sky's the limit.

 

ATUF: There are currently five books in your Feral Warriors series (with book 6, ECSTASY UNTAMED, coming out in November). How do you maintain a story arc through the course of a series while still delivering a conflict and resolution in each book?

PP: Ha! Very carefully. A reviewer once said that I never let a happily-ever-after get in the way of telling a good story and I love that! I guess the key, for me, is to see each book as a new chapter in the overall story. Each book focuses on a different Feral Warrior as he finds his mate and falls in love, but the external conflict flows from what's happened before. I try never to wrap things up too neatly at the end of a book. The romance, yes, as well as the external conflict of that book. The hero succeeds in his mission, whether it's to find and ascend the new Radiant, defeat his evil clone, or rescue his friend. But before the book is through, something else has gone wrong and they'll have to deal with that in the next book or the one after that. The trick is to make sure these conflicts flow from the story and build through the larger conflict, which in the Feral Warriors series is the Ferals' battle to keep the Daemons from rising again.

 

ATUF: How do you handle novellas or short stories that are part of a series, for example Hearts Untamed from the anthology BITTEN BY CUPID anthology? How much can you advance the main series without divulging too much since not all readers will read anthologies?

PP: Novellas are tricky for the very reasons you state. They have to stand on their own since readers may not have read the rest of the series. But at the same time, they can't be critical to the movement of the main series. When I wrote Hearts Untamed, I considered both of these points. I had the additional difficulty of timing since this had to be a Valentine's Day story (February) and all the Feral books have taken place within a short time span in April and May. I realized that, technically, Hearts Untamed had to have taken place before the series began. Which meant that the situation in the novella could have nothing to do with the events in the series. The conflict had to be something entirely different. It was looking for that different situation that I came up with the Ilinas. Eventually, they played a key role in the larger series. And when I introduced them in the books, I made sure restate any pertinent points that I'd revealed in the novella.

  

ATUF: What are you most looking forward to at the RT Conference this year?

PP: Meeting readers! I love it when people stop me to tell me they're enjoying my books. I'm also looking forward Avon Books' wonderful Dusk to Dawn Mixer on Friday. Free food, free drinks, free books! It's a mad house and I love every minute of it.

 

ATUF: Which panel other than your own are you most excited about?

PP: Michael Hauge's Uniting Story Structure, Character Arc and Love Stories on Wednesday afternoon. I've heard him speak a couple of times and already own several of his workshop DVDs, but if I can make it, I'll be there to hear him again. If you're a writer, I urge you not to miss him.

 

I'm also doing a second workshop with Kerrelyn Sparks and L.A. Banks Wednesday afternoon on The Care and Feeding of a Paranormal Series. I hope you guys will join us!

 

ATUF: Thanks so much for stopping by Pamela.  Come back anytime!

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When Pamela Palmer's initial career goal of captaining starships didn't pan out, she turned to engineering, satisfying her desire for adventure with books and daydreams until finally succumbing to the need to create worlds of her own. Pamela lives and writes in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. with her husband and two kids. Visit Pamela online: Website|Twitter|Facebook

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