Soulmates
How do you feel about the concept of soulmates in romantic fiction? Generally, I'm not wild about it - not in contemporary romances anyway. The idea that there's only one person you're destined for . . . it kind of negates the whole "free will" thing in my head. I think people make choices - especially in relationships - and romantic fiction is no different. If you're open to new experiences and people you'll find the person who's right for you. Does that make them your soulmate? I don't know. I think it makes you lucky.
The whole soulmate thing seems to come up more in paranormal romance than any other subgenre that I've seen. And ironically, I'm okay with it here. Probably because in paranormal fiction the hero or heroine are enough outside the realm of "contemporary normal" for me to buy into it. Yesterday I happened to be looking up when Kresley Cole's newest paranormal will be released and saw a discussion thread about soulmates. The title was "Soulmates In Romances - I'm Sick of Them!" Turns out the original poster was sick of them, but the majority of people who responded said if done well, they enjoyed them.
I found the whole discussion sort of fascinating because I'm in revisions on my para RS and I've taken a strange twist on the whole soulmate thing. Yeah, I included a soulmate element, but not in the traditional sense. To me it works, but it will be interesting to see what my CPs and agent think when they read it.
So how about you...do you like soulmate books, not like them, really don't have an opinion? I'm curious.
The whole soulmate thing seems to come up more in paranormal romance than any other subgenre that I've seen. And ironically, I'm okay with it here. Probably because in paranormal fiction the hero or heroine are enough outside the realm of "contemporary normal" for me to buy into it. Yesterday I happened to be looking up when Kresley Cole's newest paranormal will be released and saw a discussion thread about soulmates. The title was "Soulmates In Romances - I'm Sick of Them!" Turns out the original poster was sick of them, but the majority of people who responded said if done well, they enjoyed them.
I found the whole discussion sort of fascinating because I'm in revisions on my para RS and I've taken a strange twist on the whole soulmate thing. Yeah, I included a soulmate element, but not in the traditional sense. To me it works, but it will be interesting to see what my CPs and agent think when they read it.
So how about you...do you like soulmate books, not like them, really don't have an opinion? I'm curious.
Labels: Paranormal, Research, Writing
posted by Elisabeth Naughton at 10:49 PM
2Comments:
I love twists! Twist away. Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat Pray Love) was on Oprah. She had a soulmate from before she went on her Italy-India-Bali year-long journey, and they were making each other miserable. She met Richard, a Texan, in the Ashram, and he told her soulmates are there to teach you lessons. (Or something like that.) That's another twist. :)
I'm the same as you about it. I buy it better in paranormal than in contemporary. I'll be interested in seeing your twist.
Soulmates? I don't believe in them. I beleive in feeling a connection with a person and making a decision whether or not you will act on it, but the soulmate thing just doesn't work for me. Not sure it would in a paranormal other than the characters in those are 'out there' which is kind of how I feel about soulmates.
PS: I like the changes. ;)
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