Guys, don't be alarmed...

[naomi_jay]

... But I think I might finish redrafting Wild today. I know! I actually don't know what I'll do when I'm done. My brain will probably just implode.

Or I might just start working like hell on SILVER KISS promo. That's probably a better idea. I need to start thinking ahead to Bad Dogs in any case. I've got a rough idea for the plot, but it needs fleshing out. Although I tend not to plot ahead too much, I am thinking ahead in terms of world-building. See, so far in the Urban Wolf world, we only have werewolves. But I've left the possibility open for other supernatural creatures to be out there too. I definitely plan to bring at least one more on-stage in a future book, but I'm hesitant about more than that.

I'm not a fan of the "no paranormal left behind" movement that affects some urban fantasy series. Sure, there's no reason why you can't have vampires, shapeshifters, elves, fairies, goblins, gargoyles, ghosts, zombies, witches, demons, and angels all in the same series. I don't think that means you should. Especially if you then break it down into werewolves, werelions, weresquids, dark elves, light elves, archangels, cherubs, imps, warlocks, and hobgoblins too. It gets messy. Particularly if you're writing a "monsters-under-cover" type series, in which your various paranormal species are supposed to exist under the radar. Seems unlikely they'd manage that if every second person is a werehyena or whatnot.

The Urban Wolf novels are a "monsters-out-of-the-closet" series, with the werewolves living opening alongside humanity. I've hinted that once upon a time there may have been other shapeshifter species, and as I said, I plan to bring at least one of these on-stage later on. But do I really want to infest my happy little werewolf world with every other type of paranormal beastie under the sun? Or moon? Nah, not really.

I don't know what other people think - do you like having a whole ton of mythological races in the same series? Or does a book work better if you just focus on one or two at a time?

Comments

[dwg.livejournal.com]

I like having a whole lot of crazy going on in my stories and having a variety of creatures. But, it got to the point where pretty much everyone was something or other aside from human, and that's when I decided to divorce the faerie side of things from the main universe. But it still remains all one big world, just with multiple dimensions to it.

I think part of the problem with the "no paranormal left behind" movement is that they're setting out to have everyone know each other. Like, it's one core group of people that are in constant contact with each other, usually with the protagonist at the core. So even when the protagonist doesn't know something, there's plenty of people on hand to mansplain it in simple enough terms so that she/the reader can get it. There's never a moment of "...I have no idea." and then a montage to the library or Googling obscure Egyptian lullabies or asking if a wereunicorn really does exist outside of erotic novels. And there's no coming up stumps on it, or getting lead in completely the wrong direction and having to start over.

And I really don't think all the paranormal communities would be in communication or even aware of each other's existence quite like that. I know in the world that I've set up, vampires think they're at the very top of the ladder, but it's going to turn out that they're somewhere closer to the bottom when everythings starts to skid out of control and no amount of spin can deflect the growing attention on the weird shit. There's always going to be something out there that's bigger, badder, and knows more than you. IDK, I could be trying to keep too many plates in the air with this, but I really do want to play with who-knows-what and all the major players have pieces of the puzzle but relatively few actually figure out the big picture.

[naomi-jay.livejournal.com]

See - yes! This is it! The way they all get together and form a hierarchy and share cultural secrets with each other. I admit I'm thinking largely of the Gillian Key books, where she always has a specific paranormal on hand when she needs one. Or the LKH books, where Anita can't spit without hitting a weresomething.

Wherever I see it done, I see it done badly, whereas authors that pick two or maybe three races and stick with them seem to handle things a lot better.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

And the other thing is, you rarely see cultural clashes with all these groups, or if there are any it's because That Character Is Wrong and Should Feel Wrong -- I'm thinking mainly of Rhys and his thing against Goblins in the Merry Gentry books. Fair enough, he had his eye ripped out by a goblin, and doesn't like them, but Merry's like "well you need to get over your issues because we're all faeries." and I'm like nooo, they're goblins, they're supposed to be like that and he's a Sidhe so it fits that they're snooty toward one another. And, like, where are the vampires saying, "no, you can't hang around with a bunch of mongrels," to Anita because of how she's lupa/bolverk/whatthefuck to the werewolves, let alone with everything else? No, it's all very understanding and everyone shares their feelings and everyone gets along.

Nooooo. People -- supernatural or otherwise -- don't work that way. Which...sort of results back to the issues with the writing because these groups of supporting characters are exactly that; support, they exist only to prop up the heroine in some form rather than be treated as individuals with their own motivations. They rarely put themselves first, or withhold information for their own benefit. If they do, they get bitched at and are either thrown out or repent and everything is right with the world. Nooo, authors, noooo.

I've been working really hard on having people who don't know each other, who are in a similar line of work and have maybe one or two mutual aquaintences, and they may or may not ever cross paths. But then, I have a huge effing cast and I'd like to use different groups to show a different facet of the world.

[naomi-jay.livejournal.com]

Even when I'm just using one race, I make sure there are clashes, because it's only natural. In Wild you have hereditary wolves versus "made" wolves, and the hereditary wolves are all "you dirty mongrels, stay away from our pack!" and the made wolves are all "FU, we're doing our own thing, yo."

[dwg.livejournal.com]

Exactly! And then there's all the different types of vampires fighting amongst each other because they all think they're the best and everyone else should do as they say. At least, until the current boss gets their head eaten by a werewolf because FFFUU corpses in their territory. They should stay in the ground, where they belong. Nobody likes smart alec carrion.

[wtfbrain.livejournal.com]

I'm not a fan of the "no paranormal left behind" movement that affects some urban fantasy series.

I was just thinking about this. I'm gearing up for taking my novel off the back-burner, and I realized that I have wizards, vampires, and the fae in the story. There are also werewolves, but there are literally, like, three of them left (they were basically exterminated by the wizards, almost to extinction). I'm trying to decide if I can keep all of them in. The wizards are the bad guys, the vampires are sort of good guys, the fae are more or less neutral (and they have their own problems, so they don't really bother with the human world), and the werewolves would very much like to stay alive long enough to make more. And I keep thinking, I can take the wizards or the vampires out entirely, but that changes the whole story, and I think I may be too lazy to rewrite the whole thing. Augh.

[naomi-jay.livejournal.com]

I don't think that's too many races. Anymore than that and it might start getting messy, but I guess it's all down to execution. Like I said to dwg, all the series I can think of with multiple paranormal races are badly written ones.

[jongibbs.livejournal.com]

So long as the characters and story keep me entertained, I don't care :)

[naomi-jay.livejournal.com]

Lol, good point! Execution is everything :)

[tezmillertm.livejournal.com]

do you like having a whole ton of mythological races in the same series? Or does a book work better if you just focus on one or two at a time?

One or two at a time. Preferably one - note that my favourite urban fantasy novels are Kelley Armstrong's Bitten and Rachel Vincent's Stray, each of which feature only one species.

Otherwise novels can turn a bit "kitchen sink", if you're familiar with my crackpot theory. Like the author couldn't be arsed or couldn't think of how to pull more conflict from one species, so they throw everything in but the kitchen sink. Doesn't work for me.

[naomi-jay.livejournal.com]

I adore Rachel Vincent's series - I think she's handled her supernatural races perfectly! Can't wait for Shift.

Yeah, the kitchen sink approach... never smooth.

[yolandasfetsos.livejournal.com]

Personally, I don't mind either way--in both my reading & writing. If it all makes sense, I don't mind how many creatures of the night there are. :)

[naomi-jay.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, if the world-building and rules are consistent, it works fine. I realised last night that both Richelle Mead and Jackie Kessler have lots of different species in their series, and pull it off perfectly.