Happy Halloween (Books that go bump in the night)

I was that kid who scared her babysitters. They'd come over on Saturday night and I'd ask to watch Creature Features. I loved Dracula, and all the scary movies. Vincent Price, anyone? My babysitters did not appreciate my taste in television. Me? I wasn't so scared.


Bela Lugosi as Dracula

Fast forward about 10 years. A date took me to see Halloween at the movies. Good scary movie. Especially when, after the movie, we went to pick up his sister from work. "I'll go see if she's ready," he says to me (while creeping around the car and then jumping out at me on My side with a resounding BOO). Yes, I jumped. Yes, I was scared.

I also loved reading Stephen King novels. I might have started with The Shining, although I can't say for sure. 'Salems Lot, The Stand, Dreamcatcher, The Dead Zone. My son evidently inherited my appreciation for Stephen King. He's read more of the novels than I have.

After watching the movie, The Haunting, I was compelled to read the story, The Haunting of Hill House. Loved them both.

But the one book that actually did creep me out? The Amityville Horror. I couldn't be in the same room with that book when I finished it.

I've watched Night Gallery, One Step Beyond, Outer Limits--all of those scary shows--and rarely got scared. Except for that one time while I was babysitting...

What scary books stick with you?

Sometimers moments

There are days when my brain just seems to skip out on me, I get caught up looking at fall colors or watching an animal scurry around and the next thing I do is “disengaged.” I forget everyday things. Muscle memory tasks. These are what I refer to as “Sometimers moments.”

Recently, the Big Guy and I went to the grocery store.  Nothing unusual or out of the ordinary, but I daydreamed for the one mile it takes to get there. In the parking lot, I went to unbuckle my seatbelt.  But wait! Where’s the release? I reach down blindly and can’t find it. Feel around with my hand. LOOK for the release. Where’s the release?

The Big Guy looks over at me. “What are you doing?”

“I can’t release my seat belt.” And of course, once I say it out loud I realize my problem.

The release is on the other side.

And the Big Guy, in his infinite wisdom says, “ I’m worried about you...”

Me too, Big Guy. Me too.

On the left, on the left

Hallow-Thanks-Mas

I was in our local WalMart the other day and wouldn't you know they're already stocked for Christmas? And Halloween, and Thanksgiving. I'm one of those "one holiday at a time" kind of people.

With that being said, I've been working on a "Hallmark-type" story that I want to share for Christmas, so I suppose I've been skipping holidays myself. I'm pleased to announce the story is queued up and ready to go. More details in my next newsletter (are you subscribed?). There's a fun little reference in the story to marzipan pigs, which confection I saw at the Christkindlmarkt one year. Of course, they also had marzipan angels and reindeer, but pigs? Too fun to ignore. 

More in keeping with THIS holiday, while I've been out and about I've seen numerous decorations for Halloween, which I have been documenting on my Instagram page (do you follow me there?) I went to the doctor's office last week to get my flu shot and even THEY were decorated, including "Welcome My Pretties" and "Laboratory" signs on their lab. They also had a witch's hat and shawl positioned over one of the chairs.

Which (witch?) reminds me, my new novel will be coming soon! {wink wink}

Write What You Know

One of the things you hear most often when asked for writing advice is "write what you know." But what does that mean exactly?

Expertise
I've covered this topic in the past, and writing what you know doesn't mean that if you're a grocery store clerk, you have to write a story about a grocery clerk. However, since that is one person's experience, I'm sure there are a thousand stories a grocery clerk could share. Examples of this line of thinking are John Grisham - a lawyer writing legal thrillers. The law is his area of expertise, and he's able to weave exciting stories based on that.

Personal knowledge/trivia
Let's take this to the next step. Are you a history buff? Maybe there's a moment in history that would make for a great story, using that history as a backdrop. Do you know baseball inside and out? A story based on baseball, or a baseball fanatic applies to "write what you know."

What you read/what you love to read
Then there's the concept of "write the book you'd love to read." If you read sci-fi, you're more prone to think along those lines, to be familiar with the rules for the genre, which means writing in that genre.

What NOT to do
There are folks who think this gig is easy, that "anyone" could write a certain type of book. Romance gets targeted most often. "Anyone can write that drivel." Guess what? Not as easy as it seems. Case in point (one author's experience). "I have the background to write xxx. I know the subject matter. I want to write a story like that." All well and good, and falls into "write what you know." But you also need to know the market and the genre. If you don't, even if you *think* you know what you're writing about, it will fall flat.

For my part, I read a lot of historical novels. Love them. Can I write one? Not to save my soul. Not even going to attempt it. I hated history when I was in school and I didn't do well in it. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate those authors who are steeped in it, know the ins and outs and can write it flawlessly. I've heard author friends complain about the details that "neophyte" authors make when they start out, how they "think" they know the subject matter but end up getting the historical details woefully wrong. Let's take this one step further. In a world that has evolved through the course of history, romance readers don't want to read about oppressed women. They want to read about women who conquer the stigma associated with being "the weaker sex" or "the fairer sex." How does a historical romance author stick to accuracy in a history steeped with oppression and still appeal to their readership? I'm here to tell you, some of them have done this flawlessly, while others have tried and failed.

But I digress.

I've recently made a foray into "I could write for that market." Guess what? I couldn't. I was fully in "write what you know" territory, but missing some of the fundamentals. So for me, I'm sticking with my niche. *This* is what I write. *This* is my voice. Forcing it is not only uncomfortable, it doesn't work.

Romance anyone? With a side of supernatural? And don't forget the suspense.

GMC deconstructed

The most important part of writing is giving characters goals, motivation and conflict. That's what attracts the readers. Susie wants X. What motivates her to get it? What gets in her way?

Except it isn't as simple as that.

Quite often, when I start out a new novel, I set my characters GMC. It's perfectly clear to me, I mean we all have goals in our lives, right?  And motivation? For a lot of us, the motivation is a mortgage payment, or mouths to feed. But is that enough for a storybook character?

At my very first writing conference, I went to a session with a conflict grid, but I only saw that as conflict (silly me) and while I found it very thought provoking and helpful, I missed the more important aspects. I got it, I understood it, but did I really?

The thing the character wants is best presented as diametrically opposed to the way it works out. Something stands in her way, and here's the important question that often gets overlooked.

Susie wants X. What happens if she doesn't get it? The audience needs a reason to get behind Susie's goals, to root her on. This goes to her motivation. She HAS to succeed, or else. I mean, we all want to succeed, right? But what are the stakes?

Conflict? Add a few speed bumps. Anything that can go wrong will. Just when she thinks she's succeeded, something gets in her way. Trouble is interesting. People don't talk about all the things that are going right in their lives, they talk about what's going wrong.

Here's a classic example of GMC. Merida wants her mother to change, for her mother to understand who Merida is without forcing her into who they want her to be. She's being forced into a marriage she doesn't want, so she seeks out a witch's help. The witch offers her a spell, and her mother does change - into A BEAR! While that's bad enough, the one thing her father HATES is bears. So when Mom comes home all furry and growly, Dad is going to shoot that bear dead! Wait! This isn't what Merida had in mind! She can't tell anyone what she's done, and she can't let her father shoot her mother, thinking she's actually a bear. How does she fix this? Sound familiar? I thought it was the perfect example of GMC and conflict.

With that in mind, I'm off to think about the next book while I wait for my editor on the current one.

What stands between you and your goal?

Newsletter Contest Winners

Happy October!

I ran a contest for my newsletter subscribers, and 

sent notifications to the winners via email this morning!

Here are the lucky winners. 
Each of them will be getting a copy of my new audiobook!

Lynda O.

Alfreda

Michelle F.

Dorothy B.

and "BookLady"

Check your email, ladies!

Didn’t win? You can still get your copy here