Guest post by Dana Michelle Burnett

After reading her wonderful book Spiritus I asked author Dana Michelle Burnett if she wanted to do a guest  post on my blog. And I'm Happy to tell you that she said yes!! So here is her post about the normal place she chose for her book Spiritus. Enjoy Reading!!

The Normal in Paranormal

                I get asked all the time about why I chose Corydon as the setting for my novel Spiritus.  It’s like I broke some rule because I didn’t use a fictitious town or some place that wasn’t so ordinary (Forks, WA anyone?).  I think it’s the normal, everyday quality that made Corydon the perfect choice.  It’s so normal, it could be anywhere!

                Part of the lure of paranormal romances in my opinion is that anything is possible.  In paranormal romance, vampires can sparkle (Twilight) or wear pink (My Blood Approves) and a werewolf can imprint on a newborn (Breaking Dawn) or go on blind dates (An Alpha’s Path).  These are amazing novels and the setting is just as much a part of the story as the characters themselves.

I wanted my own novel to have a location that was an intricate part of the story, not just the place where things happen.  To drive that idea home (literary), I wanted to use a town that is like so many other towns across the country.  I felt like it helped the reader believe that the story was possible because although it might be some town she never heard of, Corydon wasn’t so different from any other small town in America.  I wanted to put the paranormal in the readers own backyard.

                My goal was to find the unusual in the normal.  Everyone wants to believe that there is a mystique to their surroundings and the truth is, if you dig deep enough, there usually is.  If you’re a writer, you use this to make your “world” seem as real as possible.  It’s pretty easy since it is actually based in reality.  I love being able to make the ordinary world seem like a mysterious place where ghosts can walk the earth and the paranormal is possible.

I’m definitely not the first writer to use this tactic.  Anne Rice has make vampires and New Orleans synonymous, Stephen King has made Maine the mecca for all things creepy, and then there’s little old me turning Corydon into ghost territory.

So what skeletons are lurking in your hometown?  Are there ghosts there with a story to tell?

Thank you Michelle for your great guest post! If you want to know more about the author or her books you can visit her website http://www.danamichelleburnett.com/