In my recent research for a new book, I spent a great deal of time trying to find the perfect setting. I finally settled upon Morocco. It’s a beautiful and exotic place with a culture all its own.While reseraching the arcitecture there I came across a type of palace called kasbah.Here’s what the Encarta Dictionary says about the word:

cas·bah (plural cas·bahs) or kas·bah (plural kas·bahs)

noun
Definition:

1. N African fortress: in North Africa, a fortress or palace

2. older district: in North Africa, the older part of a city or town, often the market area

[Mid-18th century. Via French < Arabic qaṣbah "fortress"]

Upon further research, I found that kaspahs were a “place for the local leader to live and as a defense when the city was under attack. A kasbah has high walls which usually have no windows. Sometimes, they were built on the top of hills to make them easier to defend. Some of them were also placed near the entrance of harbours.” (wikipedia)

“To protect themselves from invaders, the Berbers (people of the Dades Valley region in Morocco) erected literally hundreds of kasbahs. The 25 Kms of good, though very winding tarmac road from Boumalne du Dades passes directly through this forest of ochre fortresses.” Morocco-travel.com

Note to self: talk dh into this for an anniversary trip…

Synchronicity

I’m pretty sure that synchronicity is one of my favorite words, both because of it’s sound and meaning. I’m a big believer.

Our good friend Merriam-Webster Online says:

1 : the quality or fact of being synchronous
2 : the coincidental occurrence of events and especially psychic events (as similar thoughts in widely separated persons or a mental image of an unexpected event before it happens) that seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality — used especially in the psychology of C. G. Jung

Wikipedia says, “Plainly put, it is the experience of having two (or more) things happen coincidentally in a manner that is meaningful to the person or persons experiencing them, where that meaning suggests an underlying pattern.”

I think that’s an excellent definition. Synchronicity is deeply personal and I personally believe that music and motion are linked via synchronicity. Something like the crescendo of a song happening at the same moment my car shifts gears or any other time the world feels absolutely and perfectly balanced. Or any time I say “that was weird.” I think it’s a hard word to explain simply because it means different things to different people. Or the perfect song coming on the radio just when you’re feeling down, happy, etc.

How about you? Do you believe in synchronicity? Have a better definition?

Being a writer and all, I often come across words that I find interesting or just wonder what they mean or perhaps where they came from. So I decided to start a new weekly feature to be posted on Wednesdays called Word of the Week.

This week’s word: paranormal

Since my first paranormal romance (Portrait of Seduction, Cobblestone Press – for those of you who didn’t know) is coming out in October, I thought this might be a good word to start out with.

The Merriam-Webster Online dictionary defines paranormal as “not scientifically explainable : SUPERNATURAL.” So we follow supernatural and find that it means:

1 : of or relating to an order of existence beyond the visible observable universe; especially : of or relating to God or a god, demigod, spirit, or devil

2 a : departing from what is usual or normal especially so as to appear to transcend the laws of nature b : attributed to an invisible agent (as a ghost or spirit)

Supernatural’s etymology: Middle English, from Medieval Latin supernaturalis, from Latin super- + natura nature (Etymology by the way means the history or origin of a linguistic form ( such as a word). Yeah, I had to look that one up too.)

Just to round out the research a bit, I’m heading to wikipedia. They describe paranormal as “an umbrella term used to describe a wide variety of purported anomalous phenomena.” Hmm… anomalous. Not ringing a bell. I just don’t like big words, especially when a simpler one will do. Anomalous basically means unusual.

Para (Greek and Latin in origin btw) loosely means “similar to” or “near to.” And in our case – paranormal – para means “beyond normal.”

Righto! If paranormal is not scientifically explainable, nor is it natural or usual… what exactly is it? Myth? Fantasy?

Referring to paranormal romance, we have shape shifters, ghosts, vampires, werewolves, fairies, demons, Gods, etc. Many of which are covered in the supernatural definition above. All of these things are outside of our “reality.” Or at least what most of us consider our reality.

All of which leads me to wonder why we love them so much. It must be strictly for the fantasy aspect ( the beyond normal bit) because many of the paranormal elements we romance readers love are what many people consider monstrous and scary. Hmm…

What does that say about us, exactly?

Perhaps, like the millionaires and billionaires that are so popular, this is why we find paranormal in stories, myths, and the romance novels we love so much. They take us to a different world where anything is possible.

According to wikipedia, paranormal covers a lot of topics outside of the above mentioned. From UFOs to Astrology. I’m sure we’ll see these in a paranormal romance very soon. For now, I’m off to work in the second book in my paranormal series, Price of Seduction. Perhaps I’ll delve into what it means to BE paranormal.

If you have any thoughts on the topic or know why you love paranormal romance so much, leave me a comment. I’d love to hear from you!