Writing Paranormal with Jacqueline Paige

I am so happy to have Jacqueline Paige here today.  

You can see my reviews of the first two in her Magic Seasons series here: 

From Beltane Magic Review

The Solstice Heat Review

And don't forget to enter her Awesome Contest!

Writing Paranormal

~~Jacqueline Paige

It did not come the way I thought it would.

My plots seem to take on a life of their own.

I knew I wanted to write paranormal romance so that’s what I started out doing and then characters with evil purpose appeared between paragraphs and events that I hadn’t even thought of in any way shape or form were suddenly in front of me on the page.

Magic seemed to be something I needed to put on the page, Witches of the modern age doing fantastic feats.  I thought this would be my contribution to the paranormal genre but it seemed my muse needed just a little bit more than that.  In the case of the Magic Seasons books my witches needed to stop a killer.  No one could have been more shocked to read that on the page in what started as a touching scene of bringing my characters together.  I didn’t start out to write what is now published but the magic took over and the end result couldn’t please me more.

After that I strayed into curses with my witches and I’m still in awe that a curse is that hard to solve and break.  My characters have their work cut out for them.  Of course a cursed pirate ghost ended up on the first page claiming the main male character in another story that came out of my very unpredictable imagination. 

Where could this possibly lead to I had to wonder when I sat down and started writing Twice Cursed.  Obviously the name came after the plot appeared on the page.  On the final page of the final chapter I sat back and thought of the adventure my characters had taken me on.

I am delighted with Maddy and Colin’s story – and of course with whiskers involvement as well.  I didn’t expect many to be intrigued by my own tale, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

My biggest challenge with my stories to date would have to be writing Mystic Perceptions.  In all of my writing I’m able to relate to my main characters in one way or another, but Jac in Mystic Perceptions was a little harder to connect with.  Her strength and sarcasm were easy enough to relate to, even writing about her ability came without a struggle.  The part I spent weeks trying to grasp was the fact that she can’t have contact with most people and even a large number of items.  To not be able to just reach out and touch someone or even rest your hand on a railing going down stairs, that was something I had to really work on to get it right.

Can you imagine how hard it would be to avoid getting too near to another person?

It seems writing paranormal has opened a whole new world of possibilities for me and its always an adventure to see just where my characters are taking me.  In the case of The Solstice Heat, I can’t even begin to explain what it was like writing Kasey’s scenes.  I’d love to go into lengthy detail, but then it would ruin the story for everyone.

Here’s a new preview of a Kasey scene...

Kasey watched him silently. She had to move. She had three weeks and then was homeless. It made everything she’d said last night seem even more of a reality to her. Here he sat in this house, sipping coffee, not looking a bit disturbed by the fact he’d gotten someone to pay her off quietly so she would find somewhere else to live. Kasey sat back and looked over at him again. “Make sure you bill me accordingly for your time.” She would not fall apart in front of him. She let out a hushed breath.

His angry eyes met hers. “I didn’t do... it... for... the...money,” he said, pausing on each word.

Kasey lifted her chin higher. “That’s fine, but I’m sure it took time away from more important things you had to do.” She crossed her arms and sat back, wishing she could melt into the chair.

Dade hissed out a loud breath and sat back. “Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve about had all the light brunch conversation I can stand.”

Several heads nodded in agreement.

Kasey stood up. “Why don’t all of you go relax on the terrace, and I’ll clear this up.” She began picking up dishes and stacking them.

“Enough!” Chris bellowed as his closed fist slammed on the table hard enough that the dishes rattled.

Kasey turned and glared at him, her hands on her hips. “Oh, I don’t think so!” she spat.

Chris shoved his chair back and stood.

She flashed a hand out at him, and an unseen force sent him flying back into his chair and sent it sliding back three feet. “Don’t!” she practically growled.

Chris flicked a hand, and all the dishes from his end of the table went crashing onto the floor.

Everyone scrambled back from the table as he slowly stood again. “Do. Not. Slap. Me. Back. Again,” he grit out in a low voice.

Dade ran around the side of the table and stood beside him, his hands out to his sides. Chris didn’t even turn to look at him. “Stay out of it.”

Dade lifted his hands and backed up a few feet.

Kasey’s chest was heaving with ragged breaths. “At least I slap at you with something tangible instead of taking cheap shots with words, Christopher Larkin!” Her fists were clenched at her sides. She opened them, and the table shook with a force she’d never used before. The dishes lifted up, and then they dropped down hard enough several shattered. Kasey watched the glass and china scatter everywhere and then looked back at Chris. “Take that out of the payoff money you’ve swindled for me!” With that she ran out of the room.

~ * ~

Chris stood there feeling every bit as angry as she had looked. He wanted everyone to go away and leave them alone. He started to step towards her and then stopped and clenched his hands at his sides. His knuckles were white.

Leena went to go after Kasey and smacked up against an invisible wall. She felt her hand over it for a second, then turned and looked at everyone in the room.

The Book:

The Solstice Heat –

Book II in the Magic Seasons series

By Jacqueline Paige

Check out the book: Goodreads | Class Act Books

Passion and magic that burns

Kasey is a woman that exudes energy and brightness; she is as equally passionate when angry as she is when she’s happy. The energy she carries from life comes through in all her magical workings with spells and stones, giving them great magical strength. She is a dreamer and often wishes she could re-write her own story so that she was charming and sophisticated enough to be with a certain wealthy male lawyer she wants more than anything else.

Chris is a force of strength and experience that is carefully hidden behind the easy mannerism he has adapted so carefully.  There is nothing he cannot do where magic is concerned and he has tried all manner of things, whether right or wrong.  His fortune has left him wanting for nothing else in life, except the one thing money can’t buy him, the woman he feels too unclean to approach.

Separated by two different life styles yet their passion and magic ignite sparks hotter than the Solstice heat.

Can they work out a way to be together as they try to stop a killer from striking again?

The Author:

Jacqueline Paige is a world class multi-tasker being a mother to five adventurous and unpredictable children, a cafe manager and having a colossal imagination that allows her to step outside of reality into a world of paranormal romance —with just a touch of suspense.

Jacqueline lives in Ontario, Canada and avoids the ever changing weather of the region she lives in by creating other worlds to fall into in her stories of all things paranormal.

Her first book was published in 2009 and since then has published ten. She is always writing and currently has more than a dozen stories in one stage or another of the writing process.

Connect with Jacqueline:  Website | Facebook | Twitter