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Brain to Books Presents J.A. Brown, Paranormal Romance Author
Brain to Books Romance Genre Tour
To celebrate Paranormal Romance, we asked the question, how do your characters redefine the concept of passion? Here is J.A. Brown author of Storyteller/ Dreams Series with her answer
When I sat down to write what became the paranormal romance Dreams Series, in my mind I was focused on how to insert myself, and the reader, into a deeply personal, and intensely intimate relationship. I wanted to imagine what that kind of connection might be like, and feel it with them as they worked through figuring out who they were as individuals, and who they were together.
I have read many stories where the characters are defined for us through interactions with friends and family. I wanted Eli Solomon and Sara Siler to be defined for us only through their interactions with each other. I went further with that, and restricted the voice narrating the story to my leading man, Eli. This presented me personally with a challenge in writing the story, because everything that my leading lady Sara was had to be defined by what she said and did, or his perceptions of those actions.
Dreams starts with a Christmas wish, a secret heart’s desire expressed to a close friend, in a moment when all the walls around a heart fall back and away. She is completely vulnerable when she whispers to him, “I wish vampires were real,” not knowing that Eli is one, or that in the short time she has known him she has already become a voice in his head.
Eli’s lived a long time, but what he feels with her is different than anything he has known before, and calls into question all the ways he has measured love and friendship. It’s not that he has never loved, it’s that he has never loved like this.
Sara’s young, and deeply marked by her the life experiences. She comes in being logical about what she wants and why, but soon finds that logic takes a back seat when the heart is in play.
Together, these two characters explore what it means to open up, and trust someone with all the parts of yourself, especially the ones that you avoid looking at, because to be in, is to be all the way in. Anything less than everything is nothing to them.
The first book of the Dreams Series is about building that intimate one on one connection that happens when a relationship is new, and every action and reaction is about discovery and exploration. It is a physically intimate story, deliberately so, because when we are falling in love that physical expression of emotion is key to growing the connection we feel with another. As the series goes on, and circumstances intrude on their bubble of two, we see an expanding world with a huge story arc that pulls us into mystery, thriller, and fantasy, all of which is still set on the foundation of the love story between Eli and Sara.
I have always believed that every story is a love story. The only difference is where you come into the story, and the perspective that entrance allows you. At the center of each of us a heart, and it demands to love and to be loved. Romance is a key part of that need, and as a writer my goal is to dive all the way into what that can be like, and share that feeling with my readers.
We see the intimacy between Eli and Sara, not just in their physical relationship, but in the way he makes a point to remember how she takes her coffee, though he is unable to partake himself. We see it in how she creates new and exciting ways to play with him, reveling in his nature, perhaps even more than he does. “My dark immortal lover could find me anywhere,” she says, before heading out while he rests, daring him to come and find her.
It is the ultimate dream to embrace your nature, and share it with another completely, and fearlessly. It was my dream to create a world where love wins the day. Eli, Sara and I made this for you together. We hope you like it.
J.A. Brown, Storyteller:
J. A. Brown writes fantasy, romance, science fiction, and supernatural stories, and considers it a good day when she can tell a story that includes all of those things. She is not a fan of genres and labels, believing instead that every story is a love story, and the only difference is where you come into it, and the perspective that entrance point allows you. Her greatest influences are Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Robin McKinley, Joss Whedon, Richard Matheson and J. D. Salinger.
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