Sports are about challenge, real life, sweat, and teamwork. Paranormal Urban Fantasy is a genre-busting literary novel category that is about vampires, werewolves, faeries, mythology, action, romance, mermaids, shape-shifters, and just about any other configuration of the imagination the author can invent.
Yet Sports and Paranormal Urban Fantasy have one thing in common: Archetypes. They have three specific archetypes in common that inspire us and make us fans.
The Journey
For the sports fan, the archetype of the journey is symbolized by the court, the field, or the arena. It’s the setting for the great Journey, which is the game or the season. Throughout the journey, we root for our favorite teams and players as they overcome obstacles and claim victory.
For the Paranormal Urban Fantasy fan, the journey takes place in a contemporary setting that may be familiar to every reader. Ordinary city streets become battlegrounds between good and evil as the protagonist overcomes obstacles and claims victory.
The Hero
The home team is the sports fan’s hero. The home team can do no wrong. The fans wear their team’s emblems, wave pennants, chant the team’s name. The home team is hopeful, capable, and good. The home team has players that possess superhuman powers of athleticism and grace. The home team has a destiny and that destiny is, you guessed it, victory.
The Urban Fantasy protagonist is a hero as well. In my novel The Arrow (Children of Brigid Trilogy Book 1), Fynn Kildare is beautiful, intelligent, and good. She possesses superhuman powers of archery and healing. She has a destiny that is. . . .you have to read the novel to find out!
The Monster
Every home team has a rival. This rival might be historic, or it might just be the opponent of the moment. The rival is sneaky, suspect and has an unfair advantage. When a referee makes a call in the rival’s favor, the home team’s fans complain. The rival’s destiny is to ultimately lose, but along the way poses one challenge after the other in the home team’s path to victory.
Paranormal Urban Fantasy has monsters that astound the imagination. In The Arrow, Fynn fights shape-shifting Mayhem demons, evil maenads, and a demon-hustling witch. They break her heart, her body, and at one point, her will to live. The fun (and anxiety) in reading is to see how the hero gets out of monster trouble alive.
As readers and sports fans we are inspired by our heroes. We cheer from the sidelines of the arena and page, seeing our own personal journeys reflected in the fight for victory.
THE ARROW is on sale for 99 cents on Kindle today. Click on the cover to start the adventure now.
