Samhain Publishing Ltd Weblog

Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf

So what exactly IS sexy about a 300-pound, snaggle-toothed, hairy, hook-clawed creature of the night?

Last night, I was discussing some story ideas I’m working on with my husband. When I mentioned that one involved a shape-shifter, he looked somewhat bewildered. “Werewolf,” I translated. “I want to write a story with a werewolf. Shape-shifter romances really hot right now.”

He looked at me for a long moment, then shook his head. “What’s sexy or romantic about that?” he asked. “A big, hulking, hairy thing with teeth and fangs, running wild, killing everybody?”

I tried to explain to him that not every werewolf need be depicted like they are in the movies — films like “The Howling” or “An American Werewolf in London.” Nothing against these flicks, mind you. They were deliciously scary, with (for their respective times) good special effects. Fun movies to watch on your couch late at night with a big bowl of popcorn and someone with whom to snuggle.

But not romantic or sexy.

Today’s shape-shifters are reflective of the overall change in speculative romantic fiction as an umbrella of genres. For example, science-fiction was once a label reserved for tech-heavy stories with lots of action, lots of aliens and science and technologically advanced gadgets. Today, the genre has embraced authors with a “softer” edge, like Linnea Sinclair, whose character-driven, romantic stories have grown equally as popular as their “harder sci-fi” predecessors. (I’d also like to think that my own sci-fi thriller, a character-based drama available now from Samhain called “Tethers” is written in the same vein. )

Authors of speculative fiction tend to look beyond the stereotypes and let their imaginations develop new twists, turns and takes on old standards and classic favorites. Fantasy fiction doesn’t just involve dragons, magic and epic-but-platonic journeys anymore. Readers enjoy having a strong romantic plotline threaded throughout. The writers of the movie versions of “The Lord of the Rings” realized this, and that’s why a romance between Arwin and Aragorn — mentioned briefly but never explored in the books — became a central motivation for both characters in the films. Urban fantasies, which combine traditional fantasy themes and more contemporary settings and characters, as well as dark fantasies, are also growing in popularity among readers.

Shape-shifters aren’t just relegated to werewolves anymore — and they’re not necessarily the villain, or a tortured guy struggling to escape the curse of transformation. They’re heroes now — and heroines, too — who don’t necessarily lose their human capacities for thought, emotion and freedom of choice when they turn. And they don’t always turn into wolves. I’ve read about shape-shifters who transform into snakes, cats, birds of prey — the sky is the limit.

In fact, I think that’s exactly why I enjoy writing speculative fiction in all of its different incarnations. I can let my imagination run wild, an extraordinary exercise in the power of “What if?” And whenever I get stumped, I’m not constrained by the rules of the “real world” — I can make up my own. I can make a werewolf sexy, or a moon orbitting Jupiter an earth-like farming colony. I can make a farm-boy a prince in disguise, or a vampire long to be human. And more than that, I love to read what other authors do with these familiar but evolving storylines. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read a new premise for a speculative romance and thought, “My God, why didn’t I think of that?”

So what exactly IS sexy about a 300-pound, snaggle-toothed, hairy, hook-clawed creature of the night? I haven’t quite decided yet, but I’ll figure it out in time to start my next manuscript.

Sara Reinke
www.sarareinke.com