Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Top 10 Tips for Grabbing the Paranormal Readers’ Attention- Guest Blog by Shereen Vedam #EpicFantasy #CozyMystery



1.      Tie into readers’ emotions about your story’s setting. Abbie Grimshaw, in Death Takes a Detour, reflects my fascination with graveyards. It’s where she befriends a ghost, which sets her on her path to claim her destiny.

2.      Delight the readers with a bit of history. History and mythology are a rich mine of information to be plundered, not only in your own country, but from all around the world. One of my favourite discoveries was Mama D’leau from Trinidadian mythology. In Death Swipes Right, she’s transported to Kent, England, given a new backstory, and set free to torment my characters.

3.      Make it personal. Whatever story you’re writing, it has to be personal to the main character. In When the Magic Comes, a cozy epic fantasy mystery, Kennard, our hero, is desperate to prove his father wrong about magic, and the readers might sympathize with this familiar feeling of wanting to prove yourself worthy.

4.      Don’t break the rules. Especially not if you created them. People relate to restrictions. They live with them every day of their lives. So, place some boundaries around your magic, your creatures, and your world. When your character slams into one, your reader might not only relate, but sympathize.

5.      Readers love familiarity! This is why they buy long series and follow the same characters from book to book, and setting to setting. In When the Magic Comes, I built a whole university, which will be the playground for many of the stories in the series. You look forward to going home for Christmas until you discover a dragon’s moved into your family’s shed.

6.      Tease the reader. Readers like the thrill of discovery. The wonder of suspecting something and waiting for the big reveal. In When the Magic Comes, when someone burns one of Kennard’s students in a fountain, it’s just the very first clue of many about who might be behind this unusual crime.

7.      Entertain the reader with multiple plot lines. This is a favourite ploy of soap operas. It’s why they have so many loyal followers, year after year. I still love to watch Days of Our Lives. We can also do this by giving every character, even minor ones, a goal, motivation, and conflict. Then weave these conflicts into each other, so at the end, they all connect and resolve at a big wedding or funeral.

8.      Unravel characters as if you’re peeling an onion. Not every secret about our characters has to be given to the reader in the first chapter. Save some for later chapters. It keeps the character and the story fresh and ever enlightening.

9.      Show the reader the meaning behind the magic. Not everyone will react the same way to the same event. When Kennard’s dragonet comes to protect him against his sister, he’s proud of her and touched at her wanting to defend him, while the strange and dangerous-looking creature horrifies his sister. Same magical event, two different viewpoints, and it gives Tala, the dragonet, so much depth of character.

10.  Have fun as a writer and enjoy your “characters” as you would your family, and so will your readers. Let a dragon break some magical “wind.” Remember, not all characters are the perfect size, shape, or have impeccable manners.


When the Magic Comes
A Grimm Medieval Mystery
Book One
Shereen Vedam

Genre: Cozy Epic Fantasy Mystery
Publisher: Shereen Vedam
Date of Publication: October 13, 2026
ISBN: eBook 9781989036464
ISBN: Paperback 9781989036471
ISBN: Audiobook  9781989036488
ASIN: B0FVYCWP33
Number of pages: 240
Word Count: 62,000
Cover Artist: Suzie O’Connell from Sunset Rose Books

Tagline: Magic. Prophecy. Murder.

Book Description:

It’s been said that Kennard of Grimm is destined to be the first in a long line of warriors who battle evil with magic.

Just one problem: he teaches magic at a prestigious university, but he has no magical abilities.

What he has is a dangerous curiosity, piercing instincts, and a responsibility for a baby dragon named Tala. Normal chaos rules Kennard’s life until a student is murdered, and another is blamed. Convinced the accused is innocent, he sets out to find the real killer.

To further complicate Kennard’s life, his mother and sister visit him, sparking Tala’s protective instincts. Then things turn more dangerous when a second body shows up.

The killer’s audacity is mounting.

Kennard must stop the murderer and soothe his indignant dragonet or risk death and destruction on a much larger scale.

If you enjoy your mystery with a hint of fairy tale, you’ll love meeting Kennard of Grimm and his dragonet, and sharing in their epic adventure as amateur detectives in a magical medieval fantasy world.


Excerpt

This is who I am. I’m the widow of a knight. My father was the Baron of Grimm. I’m the eldest of four. And my brother is the first Grimm to insist he can see magical creatures. My name is Violet.

On this November day, in the year of our Lord 1312, an unusual crime was committed at Edensa University, where my brother lives. There had been no warning that this event would be life-changing for both him and me.

As Master of Magical Theory and History, he soon became entangled in the event, for it had magical undertones. I intended to keep him out of harm’s way. But then I became worried, as I wondered if his convictions were not just the result of an overactive imagination.

What if there really are invisible monsters?

* * *

“Surely magical creatures are naught but myths, sir?” Gazi spoke from a bench two rows back. “They don’t exist.”

This late-night class, the first Kennard had held this autumn, would hopefully be the last. It had made for a long day.

The lit torches shadowed Gazi’s strong features, giving him a devilish cast. He suspected the clever lad of being deliberately provocative. At fourteen, he was only seven years Kennard’s junior, yet Gazi might as well have been a mischievous child of eight, the way he sometimes acted.

Kennard addressed his students. “What do you think of Gazi’s question? Is it worthy of our consideration?”

“No!” Fanil lounged on a bench to Kennard’s left and flashed Gazi, his arch-nemesis, an over-the-shoulder smirk. “But such creatures are present in Bernada,” he added, snapping on the bait despite his avowal to the contrary.

Two vociferous rivals for the class fool.

“As if you would know.” Gazi chuckled. “You’ve never been to the sorcerers’ kingdom. No mortal has.”

“Our queen has,” Elspera countered, one of only three lasses registered for his class, and the only one of them present tonight. She sat directly across from Kennard, her favorite spot.

Her maid sat by the door, head tilted, eyes closed, and mouth half open, while releasing soft snores.

Elspera pointed at a portrait of our fair monarch on the wall. Her long sleeve slid down as she raised her arm, revealing a pale hand and wrist covered in intricately painted, darkly dotted patterns.

Gazi straightened on his bench, running a hand through his hair. “I grant, unlike us, God bestowed Queen Amity with exceptional powers. Yet, even she’s never spoken of magical creatures, not in our lands or even in Bernada.” His tone grew soft as his gaze rested on the fair maiden. “Also, this topic is about magical creatures, like ogres, griffins, and water spirits. Not sorceresses.”

“As a sorceress,” Elspera argued, “the queen could be considered a magical creature. If you seek further evidence, what about religious texts, which mention behemoths, demons, and even dragons? They do not lie.”

“My pa says it is blasphemous to discuss witchery,” a lad said from the last row. “The church forbids it.”

Though Gregory had addressed his comments to the class, his gaze lingered by the doorway. Was he hoping he could be anywhere but here? Possibly. Kennard glanced toward the doorway, where Elspera’s maid, having awoken, sat straight and blinked tired eyes. It had been a long day.

His attention returned to Gregory, who hailed from a small village in Greece. Normally, a quiet lad. Why a religious boy wished to attend sacrilegious lessons had once troubled him when the lad’s family applied to enroll him in this class.

Had the Church sent this “little bird” to Edensa to report on Kennard’s teachings, so they could smear his father’s name? For the Baron of Grimm had spoken out against the Pope a time or two.

Kennard’s fist had clenched at the possibility of his behavior being used to attack his father. In the end, he met Gregory, and his instincts insisted the lad had good in him. So, deciding an enemy close at hand was worth three in the bush, he’d admitted him. Time would prove if he’d been wise or not.

 


About the Author:

Once upon a time, USA Today bestselling author Shereen Vedam read fantasy and romance novels to entertain herself. Now she writes heartwarming tales braided with threads of magic and love and mystery elements woven in for good measure.

Shereen's a fan of resourceful women, intriguing men, and happily-ever-after endings. If her stories whisk you away to a different realm for a few hours, then Shereen will have achieved one of her life goals.











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