Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy discussion

Ok ladies and gentlemen, it's that time of the year--time to start thinking about which old challenges we really enjoyed, which we hated, and any new ones that we can think of.

So let's hear your thoughts, please

Thanks for doing that challenges again this year. They have all been fun. There were none that I hated, but my favorites from this year were:
Color challenge
Alphabet challenge
10 different series
Creature challenge
Have I read this one before
TBR clean up

Two challenges that we have done in passed years that were fun:
Cover hunt challenge
Smorgasbord of power

I can not remember any specific challenges names but ones where we had to read new to us authors or use the GR listopia were fun too. I'll try and remember what they were called.

read a whole series

I think the Creature Challenge sounds fun!

The Cover color is alway fun
as is the Alphabet
I like the 10 different Series
I will look back to see what others were my favorites.

I however do not like Novembers, it is driving me crazy. maybe it is the particular word, but they actually didn't go with as many as it sounded like they would.


Ann, Thank you for the work you put into this, we appreciate it and you!!!!

I don't participate in spell out only challenges, so of course those are least favorites

I haven't participated in all of these as I wasn't a group member all year, but -

Like:

Paranormal Creatures October
June Wedding Theme
May Mother's and grads
April Color Challenge
Feb themed challenge/list

other fun ones from the past

~ January, Feb and March 2014, too long to post but they were all fun and different, a crazy mix of things that related to each month.
~ The Power of Three challenge
~ August 2014, Leos, heat related & beach related
~ Paranormal Creatures October from 2014, I liked better than 2015
~ The one from November 2014 with all the god and goddesses, like the one from this February.

I really enjoyed the following:

The Goddess Challenge from February
The Colour Challenge
The Alphabet Challenge
The 10 Different Series
The Read With Friends Challenge

Also, I was not a fan of The Have I Read This One Before Challenge.

Thanks Ann! I have not participated as much as I would have liked this year, but I have to put in a vote for my fav challenge, which is Read with Friends. Every time we do that one I add a few new friends, which I love!

I only joined half way through the year but I really enjoyed

The alphabet challenge
The 10 different series challenge
The paranormal creature challenge
The read with friends challenge

I don't like the one with weddings but if you alter the wording to allow mating ceremonies as weddings too that would be OK

I'm really struggling with the one from this month, it was surprisingly harder than I thought it would be to set the exact word match

Is there a challenge that requires us to read a book from either 10 new authors or series because I think that would be really fun

Keep up the good work and I look forward to the challenges next year

Possible 2016 PNR-UF challenges as suggested so far.

1) Colour challenge—the cover of the book must have the specified colour in it.
2) Read with Friends—you must choose a book from a friends shelf—this can be on either their TBR shelf OR their already read shelf, since many people are like me, and their tbr pile is too big to bother putting onto GR, so all they put up is the books that they have read.
3) The Goddess challenge—read a book associated with the specific Goddess (Feb. 2015 challenge, for those that want the particulars)
4) Creature Feature—read books with a specific creature in them
5) Alphabet challenge—the author, hero or heroine must have a name that starts with the specified letter of the alphabet. So, for ABC you could use Dana Marie Bell, Anita Blake, or Adam Hauptman
6) Clean up the TBR pile (this one is guaranteed to be in the challenge, just because I like it so much. And it will occupy its usual December position)
7) 10 Different books from 10 different series
8) A book by an author that is new to you
9) The Power of 3—author has 3 names (or a SINGLE initial, so Laurel K. Hamilton would be ok, but J K Rowlings wouldn’t be), the third book in a trilogy and finally a book with a title with 3 words in it (and, if needed, “The”, “A”, “An” at the start of the title can be skipped in the count)

Any more suggestions? We still need more in order to have 1 a month.

What about cover hunt- read books that have only men, only women, couples or no people on the cover?

Thank you so much Ann! You do a fantastic job with these challenges and keeping us all motivated and participating.

I liked all the ones you listed for 2016 LOL!

I also like the Cover Hunt idea/challenge that Drea just listed.

My least favorites so far were:
This November challenge, it's proving quite difficult so far.
Or August's challenge with the heat and leos.

But as a whole, the challenges were great :)

Drea wrote: "What about cover hunt- read books that have only men, only women, couples or no people on the cover?"

This could be fun, if we do each kind as an individual or groups of 2 maybe
Man without shirt -
Man in leather -
Woman in tank or halter top -
woman in leather -
man with sword -
woman with sword -
man with gun -
woman with gun -
magic symbol or ruin on cover -
shifter on cover -
Some ideas

I like the July or August hot for the summer one,
with heat related titles/covers
beach or water related titles/covers
something about Leo and or Virgo
If it is in July it could also be red white and blue, fireworks or an American Flag, picnic or BBQ, even though members are from more than just the US, it would add a category

Maybe a twist on the alphabet challenge would be that Author's name instead of the MC name or we could do that as a second one. But may have to group the letters differently, or allow Q anywhere in the name, as with X & Z.

Maybe something with precious stones and metals
a list of jewels and metals, and they have to find 5 in the title and 5 in the cover color or image. But let people pick how as long as they are only used once in each group of 5.

I know those aren't completely formed ideas, but maybe someone can run with my quick brainstorming.

I like the idea of the precious stones and metals but it may be hard to get 10 books.

Maybe if you make it a list of 5 gems/metals that can be either in the cover art or title and add the 5 elements to fill out the other books (earth, air, fire, water and spirit).

This may make the challenge a bit easier, and it would probably be easier if you gave a larger list of gems and metals or allowed readers to choose any as long as they are each different?

What do you guys think?

Danielle wrote: "I like the idea of the precious stones and metals but it may be hard to get 10 books.

Maybe if you make it a list of 5 gems/metals that can be either in the cover art or title and add the 5 eleme..."

I like this idea

Danielle wrote: "I like the idea of the precious stones and metals but it may be hard to get 10 books.

Maybe if you make it a list of 5 gems/metals that can be either in the cover art or title and add the 5 eleme..."

I like it

Ok, revised list of possibles as of 11/27 is:

Possible 2016 PNR-UF challenges as suggested so far.

1) Colour challenge—the cover of the book must have the specified colour in it.
2) Read with Friends—you must choose a book from a friends shelf—this can be on either their TBR shelf OR their already read shelf, since many people are like me, and their tbr pile is too big to bother putting onto GR, so all they put up is the books that they have read.
3) The Goddess challenge—read a book associated with the specific Goddess (Feb. 2015 challenge, for those that want the particulars)
4) Creature Feature—read books with a specific creature in them
5) Alphabet challenge—the author, hero or heroine must have a name that starts with the specified letter of the alphabet. So, for ABC you could use Dana Marie Bell, Anita Blake, or Adam Hauptman
6) Clean up the TBR pile (this one is guaranteed to be in the challenge, just because I like it so much. And it will occupy its usual December position)
7) 10 Different books from 10 different series
8) A book by an author that is new to you
9) The Power of 3—author has 3 names (or a SINGLE initial, so Laurel K. Hamilton would be ok, but J K Rowlings wouldn’t be), the third book in a trilogy and finally a book with a title with 3 words in it (and, if needed, “The”, “A”, “An” at the start of the title can be skipped in the count)
10) Cover hunt only men, only women, specific body parts, no humans
11) Gemstones/minerals and elements for a possible one. So perhaps Amethyst/purple, Emerald/Green, Silver/gold and I liked the Earth, Wind, Water, Fire and Spirit idea as part of this challenge.
12)

Ann aka Iftcan wrote: "Ok, revised list of possibles as of 11/27 is:

Possible 2016 PNR-UF challenges as suggested so far.

...
8)A book by an author that is new to you...."

So, #8, would we need to read 10 books by authors we have never read before?

Or maybe can we add something to that one.
5 from new authors you have never read before
5 from series that are new to you??
Or
5 from new you have never read before
3 from series that are new to you
2 I was going to genres other than Paranormal & Urban Fantasy, like Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, Horror, but maybe not....hum?


For another, what about something relating to All Around the World?
4 books set in a country/continent other than the one you live
3 books with MC from other culture or country/continent
3 books with the cover the colors of a flag from somewhere else or a country flag

Again they could use some revision, but just a little crazy brainstorm.

Hum Alison, that's an interesting idea. We've done that one before, and it had to be ALL new to you. But, I've been reading the genres we all love for a very long time, and am starting to have trouble finding new authors, so I like your idea of adding the "new to you series". Will give your ideas some thought, before I come back with the list for everyone to vote on.

As a twist it might be fun to do a spell challenge with character names.

I think with the Creature challenge you can also do something like:

Shifters:
Choose a book where the shifter was scratched, bitten, or born this way

Vampire:
Choose a book where the vampire was new, old, half breed

The PNR/UF genres has some pretty interesting ideas on each creature. New rules and worlds to discover.

Ann aka Iftcan wrote: "Hum Alison, that's an interesting idea. We've done that one before, and it had to be ALL new to you. But, I've been reading the genres we all love for a very long time, and am starting to have trou..."

Totally, I know I could find 10 new Authors. So many new ones on Amazon and other places each day. However it would make me sad to have to put all my current favorite authors on hold for a month.


PepperPot ~ What do you mean spell change with the characters names?

♥ ♥Lynn ♥ ♥ ~ that would totally fit in this genre, I like the concept. But at the same time it would be a challenge to find the different concepts of the supernatural. So, not too easy.

@Allison -- maybe we're spelling dangerous hero but instead of book titles or author initials it would be the character name.

a=AsherWarrior's Heart 11/18 - 4stars
b=BrantOne in a Million - 11/30 4stars
c=CallieHe's So Fine 11/27 - 3.7 5stars
d=Dylan Agent N6: Dylan 11/23-3stars
e=Elijah For the Good of All 12/2 - 3.75stars

it would no doubt need to be a longer challenge like the one ♥ ♥Lynn ♥ ♥ is suggesting but it might be different or fun and allot for the other genre's we read.

Ok, I've been mining the past challenges, and this is the list of possible challenges that I currently have. We will need to vote on this by December 15, so that I have time to get everything sorted and ready for posting the January challenge. Some of the old ones I put down links--either for the previous thread or for the Listopia we would be using. Any more suggestions or ideas? I am giving you all until Dec. 10 for more suggestions so that I have time to get everything ready for the vote.


Possible 2016 PNR-UF challenges as suggested so far.

1) Colour challenge—the cover of the book must have the specified colour in it. This one has been done several times in the past. It’s a fairly easy one to find books to fit. Remember that you MUST link your cover for this one

2) Read with Friends—you must choose a book from a friends shelf—this can be on either their TBR shelf OR their already read shelf, since many people are like me, and their tbr pile is too big to bother putting onto GR, so all they put up is the books that they have read. If you are short friends, everyone in this group is more than happy to accept a friend request from you.


3) The Goddess challenge—read a book associated with the specific Goddess (Feb. 2015 challenge, for those that want the particulars)

4) Creature Feature—read books with a specific creature in them. Werewolves and vampires and ghosts, oh my. We can list which creatures we want for this during our vote.


5) Alphabet challenge—the author, hero or heroine must have a name that starts with the specified letter of the alphabet. So, for ABC you could use Dana Marie Bell (author), Anita Blake (character), or Adam Hauptman (character).

6) Clean up the TBR pile (this one is guaranteed to be in the challenge, just because I like it so much. And it will occupy its usual December position)


7) 10 Different books from 10 different series—these can be either new series to you or books that are in a series that you are already reading. You must give the title of the book, author’s name, name of the series, and what position it occupies in the series. Ex. Witch World by Andre Norton (Witch World, book 1)

8) A book by an author that is new to you/series that is new to you. When we did this challenge originally, several years ago, it was ONLY author new to you, but, well, many of us read so many books that finding a new author is difficult. So, if you vote on this one, we are including new series to make it easier.


9) The Power of 3—author has 3 names (or a SINGLE initial, so Laurel K. Hamilton would be ok, but J K Rowlings wouldn’t be), the third book in a trilogy and finally a book with a title with 3 words in it (and, if needed, “The”, “A”, “An” at the start of the title can be skipped in the count, so if you read The Black Lung Captain (Steampunk) then you could drop the word “The” from your count. But ONLY when “The”, “A” and “An” are the first word in the title)

10) Cover hunt -- only men, only women, a couple, specific body parts, no humans, specific items (veil, apple, boots, gemstones, cross etc.) This one has been done in the past as well. If we do this one, you must show your book cover, as with the Colour challenge. A link to a thread where we did this one before https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...


11) Gemstones/minerals and elements for a possible one. So perhaps Amethyst/purple, Emerald/Green, Silver/gold and I liked the Earth, Wind, Water, Fire and Spirit idea as part of this challenge.


12) Countries that are different from where you live. Or possibly specific countries. I’ve read books that were set in the U.S., various South American countries, Middle Europe, the Baltics, The British Isles, Germany, France, China, Australia, and New Zealand. Even 1 book that was set on the African continent (can’t be more specific about which country because: 1) it was an alternate world, and 2) it was an HISTORICAL alternate world, so the names were not exactly the same as for us. For enquiring minds, it one of the books in the Temeraire series. His Majesty’s Dragon was the first book in the series.) Can anyone come up with more countries?

13) Always a Bridesmaid—this was suggested by Nikki back in 2013, and I enjoyed it.
Something Old—2 books by authors that you have read before
Something New—2 books by authors that are new to you
Something borrowed—2 books that you “borrow” from a friends TBR pile
Something blue—2 books that have the word blue in their title or the colour blue on their cover
Bridal jitters—2 books that either feature wedding wear on the cover or have weddings in the story.

14) Instead of different countries, 10 books set in 10 different cities or states.

15) This one is from the past.

Using one of the lists in GR's listopia feature, we are going to read 10 books from the Best Paranormal Romance Series. https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3... is the list we will be using. One book from each of the first 10 pages. Any book in the series will be allowed. List which page number the book appears on. (Preferably in order)


16)

this seems like a comprehensive lists and I hope there's something for everybody here.

would these all be monthly challenges or would some be longer?

The ones that I would really like to see next year are 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15. They all look like fun.

Sees like a lot of great options, a few of them overlap a lot, but with 15 options that gives three extras.
Are we voting like Drea did?

Yes, we are voting like Drea did.

And the challenges run for one month only. We (the group) tried a longer challenge, but it didn't work, so we decided to just stick to our monthly ones.

So, let's hear it, which numbers do you all like, and what modifications, if any, would you like to suggest?

I select challenges 2,4,5,7,10,11 & 13

They all sound like fun but my faves are

1,2,4,5,7,8,9,11,15

1) Colour challenge -OR- 11)Gemstones/minerals & elements
2) Read with Friends
3)The Goddess challenge - good for February
4) Creature Feature - maybe let people pick 10 different creatures from this list. List of Mythical Creatures
5) Alphabet challenge
6) Clean up the TBR pile - good for December
7) 10 different series -OR- 8) A book by an author that is new to you/series that is new to you -OR- 15) Using one of the lists in GR's listopia feature, read 10 books from the Best Paranormal Romance Series
9) The Power of 3 - is always fun
10) Cover hunt - could be a challenge, but also fun
13) Always a Bridesmaid - good for June
14) Instead of different countries, 10 books set in 10 different cities or states. I like this one better than #12

I know that is only 11, SO.... not sure where to sort of double up, but I think they need to be far apart. Just my two cents

Well, since no more people are responding, I'll make up the list from the choices of the few people who did vote. I'll be posting it in a few days, after I've had time to clean up the descriptions and make it pretty. :o)

Thank you Ann
You ROCK this

I like the sound of a cover scavenger hunt challenge. Tattoo s, daggers, guns, ships, etc.