P.W. Creighton's Blog, page 7
October 30, 2012
Intriguing Observations ~ Blood-Curdling Scream Park
The Intriguing Observations series was created to gather some of the greatest supporters and bloggers to provide their own insight on all things creative both in their ventures and their techniques. This week on the guest series is paranormal horror author, Mark Tufo.
Hello All, My name is Mark Tufo, I am the author of The Spirit Clearing. My newest release being Zombie Fallout 6: ‘Til Death Do Us Part which was released on October 1st. Why the horror genre? Hell why not? Who doesn’t like a good scare? Ever seen some of those roller coasters? They might be called amusement parks, but if they could get away with it, I bet they’d go with something more along the lines of Blood-curdling Scream Park. That would be way cooler.
Alright but I’m digressing, if you’ve read any of my books you’d know I do that a lot. There really is something about a good scare, about pulling your legs up to the rest of your body and making sure that your blanket covers you completely, (because I’m sure that will stop the sharp toothed clown with claws for hands from being able to get at the tender meat that surrounds your throat, sorry I had to) as you watch or read your favorite scary story.
The exhilaration of your heart pounding as the hero or heroine runs for their life, with the vampire (not the sparkling variety), zombie, werewolf, or even the guy with crazy knives hands chases them invariably through the darkened, wet and lonely forest. It’s always a forest maybe because of the innate fear we feel when we’re alone amongst those silent sentinels. What’s behind that tree up ahead?
Did you see it? It could be anything.
Couple that with Halloween and you easily have my favorite time of the year. The thought of curling up to a good book as I stare out my rain soaked window, leaves lazily making their way down in the cool crisp bite of autumn air I can think of no better time to relax and let a wave of fear wash over me. Maybe it’s nostalgia, I read Stephen King’s IT way back when in the days leading up to Halloween. And something took root I’ve just always associated a good scare with the fall.
So when most folks are waiting for the buds to form on trees so that they can pull out of the dark season of winter, I am briskly rubbing my hands together happy to be rid of the yolk of heat. All of my books from the Zombie Fallout series, to the Indian Hill trilogy, Timothy, The Spirit Clearing and The Book of Riley all have one common element, in one shape way or form they deal with horror, some internal, some external. They are meant to evoke feelings of tension, fear, maybe even trigger a flight or fight mechanism in you (if that happens I’ve really done my job!). I’ve had folks tell me that at certain parts of my stories they’ve had to read while they are peeking through their splayed fingers, I could think of no higher compliment with which they could tell me!
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to post on your blog and Happy Halloween!
www.marktufo.com
Review~
Image Copyright Amethyst44The Spirit Clearing is an interesting horror novel with a surprising twist at the end. I read the novel in the span of an evening, and it was definitely a read that made me want to know what happens next.
The strongest aspect of the Spirit Clearing was the overall plot of the novel. The pacing of the novel- stretching it over the span of multiple years- often times seemed unnecessary, but the overall plot kept the tension at a compelling level.
Along with the pacing problems, the only other detractor from the overall coherence and success of the book was the main character. Mike Talbot has an interesting ability, in that he can see things that aren’t there as well as auras, however he often does not react to situations in a realistic manner. When he first discovers his special ability, he seems to accept this ability without much questioning. This cannot be confused with coming to terms with his new ability, as his response is to avoid it as much as possible, but throughout the beginning chapters of the novel he is not at all concerned about the results of the car accident, his thoughts being more focused on his gradual alienation from those who surround him.
An additional characteristic of the main character, which made me feel incredibly removed from him, is his lack of agency. As a reader, I should be feeling for the main character, and even if I can’t personally understand his motivation or responses, they should feel like they fit in with the overall character. In some situations, Mike was very questioning, almost pushy, yet in others he was very accepting of everything that went on around him. As the book progresses, things start to get stranger and more terrifying, and Mike never seems to be fazed by these events. Mike’s thoughts and his reactions seem to be completely disconnected from any situation he finds himself in. For example, in a situation where he is hearing unexplainable noises, his thoughts indicate a level of fear that his actions don’t carry out.
However, after finishing the book, I began to wonder whether this disconnect from his emotions, the people around him, and his overall environment were conscious choices on the part of the author. Without ruining the twist ending (which was completely unexpected), this disconnect and lack of agency made sense.
Overall, I would give this book a 4 out of 5.
About the Author:
Mark Tufo was born in Boston Massachusetts. He attended UMASS Amherst where he obtained a BA and later joined the US Marine Corp. He was stationed in Parris Island SC, Twenty Nine Palms CA and Kaneohe Bay Hawaii. After his tour he went into the Human Resources field with a worldwide financial institution and has gone back to college at CTU to complete his masters.
He has written the Indian Hill trilogy with the first Indian Hill - Encounters being published for the Amazon Kindle in July 2009. He has since written the Zombie Fallout series and is working on a new zombie book.
He lives in Maine with his wife, three kids and two English bulldogs.
Visit him at www.marktufo.com or http://zombiefallout.blogspot.com/ or http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mark-Tufo/133954330009843 for news on his next two installments of the Indian Hill trilogy and upcoming installments of the Zombie Fallout series.
October 29, 2012
Paranormal Perceptions ~ The Hands of Tarot
The Paranormal Perceptions series was created to gather some of the most interesting authors that are using paranormal elements in their stories. Every author has their own perceptions and provides their own insight on all things paranormal, ranging from urban legends and paranormal research, to myths and inspirations. This week on the guest series is author of The Hands of Tarot, author SM Blooding.
She killed his father.
She imprisoned and beat him.
And now she thinks he’s her trophy.
Synn El’Asim will do almost anything to
prove her wrong. But he’s only proving her
right.
Queen Nix awakened his Mark of power and
inducted him into the House of Wands. She knew what she was doing. The son of the two most powerful Families standing against her is the ultimate prize.
What she didn’t take into consideration was that maybe he was too strong for her.
But the Families aren’t. They’ve been weakened and it’ll take a lot more than one young man with a powerful Mark to take on the Hands of Tarot.
Review~
The story falls into the developing genre of 'New Adult' with characters that are caught in the 'in-between' stage of discovering just who they are. SM Blooding does a good job at balancing the rather interesting steam punk world with the tone of the new adult finding their path and making choices that they stand by. The pacing was a bit slow for a large portion of the book but the visualizations, imagery and evolving characters hold your interest.
A rather interesting read with some very creative imagery...
SM Blooding lives in Colorado with her pet rock, Rockie, their new addition, Mr. Bird, who’s a real bird. She likes to hike the beautiful Rocky Mountains, and is learning to play the piano and guitar. Currently, she’s trying to MURDER them both.
Friends call her Frankie.
She’s dated vampires, werewolves, sorcerers, weapons smugglers and US Government assassins. Yes. She has stories.
She’s also an investigator with a local paranormal investigation group, Colorado Paranormal Rescue
Find out more about her at:
Facebook
Amazon – Kindle
Amazon – Paperback
B&N – Paperback
Autographed copy
Goodreads
http://www.smblooding.com/
http://www.smblooding.com/the-hands-of-tarot/
October 21, 2012
Paranormal Perceptions ~ Residual Hauntings
The Paranormal Perceptions series was created to gather some of the most interesting authors that are using paranormal elements in their stories. Every author has their own perceptions and provides their own insight on all things paranormal, ranging from urban legends and paranormal research, to myths and inspirations. This week on the guest series is author of Hidden Salem, author Kiki Howell. (@KikiHowell)
Residual haunting or place memories are something my main character, Makayla, deals with a lot in my paranormal suspense novel, Hidden Salem. For those not familiar, here are some explanations given by researchers into this sort of event.
“Place Memories : A location that captures the energy of an event (usually an emotional one such as an important birthday, a death, etc.) and later replays that event to percipients . Donald Michael Kraig” - http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/Place+Memories
“Living people release energy, especially when experiencing a traumatic or emotional event. This energy can be recorded by the environment. Some people, who are sensitive to this information, can then pick up on, read these impressions of past events and feelings which have been stored in objects, buildings, and the environment.
Place memory is an old recording. It can't react, or interact with you, the way a ghost can. There is no consciousness involved. However, it's critical to understand that that place memory is made by the living. And that means that you person who created it could still be alive and well, living in Cinncinatti. It cannot be created by the dead (although I did find one case where they used that place memory as a kind of energy store they could draw on).
Perhaps the easiest way to think of it is as a case where the environment acts like a camcorder. If the conditions are right (involving sufficient repetition, environmental factors, and/or really strong emotions), then events can get recorded. People sensitive to this information (like psychics) can later play back what was recorded, like with psychometry. In these cases, there is no ghost, simply an old rerun of the past. It won't interact with you and the story always remains the same one. Not a lot is known about the actual way place memory is stored, but the recordings themselves seem to have an electromagnetic component.” -
http://m.pamelaheath.com/faq-33.php
I like the explanation of a camcorder. This is exactly how my own personal experiences with place memories or residual haunting have worked. I step on a piece of ground, and it is like pressing play on an event that happened there in the past. Yes, a lot of the research for my Salem novel comes from personal experiences with the paranormal, fictionalized truth if you will.
In fact, my first place memory in Salem became the backbone of the first chapter in my novel. The descriptions of the place memory experienced by my main character, Makayla, are exactly as I experienced Mary on Pickering Wharf when I visited Salem in 2010. In fact, I called the person my main character saw Mary as well. Now, you might think this all a bit much, and believe me, so did my aunt and my mother who were with me at the time. LOL And, even I was overwhelmed by the clarity of this place memory in Salem, never had one played out so strong for me as in this magical place. If I wanted to try to disbelieve what happened to me, as my character often does in the book too, I couldn’t, because I got confirmation when I walked into a shop in Salem and the witch/psychic who owned the store walked up to me and simply said, “You met Mary.” Yes, I used that little bit later in the story as well.
There are other paranormal experiences as well that Makayla deals with in the novel such as scrying demons, shadow people, actual ghosts, etc. These I assure you all came strictly out of my imagination, well for the most part *winks* I don’t want to give away all of what is fiction based on life or just pure fiction. LOL
Ever since she was young, Kiki Howell has loved to listen to a well-woven tale with real characters, inspired plots, and delightful resolutions. Kiki could spend hours lost in a book, and soon she knew that creating lives, loves, and losses with just words had to be the greatest thing that she could do. To that end, she pursued her study of literature and writing, earning a bachelor’s degree in English. She then followed in a Master’s program in Creative Writing.
She has now had over thirty stories published between eleven different publishers. She could not be more thrilled or grateful to see her creations polished and out in the real world. In May, 2011, Kiki was chosen as an Ohioana Book Festival author for her novel, Torn Asunder.
http://www.kikihowell.com
http://www.facebook.com/kikihowell
http://twitter.com/KikiHowell
http://authorsbyauthors.blogspot.com
October 15, 2012
Paranormal Perceptions ~ Perceiving the Vampire
The Paranormal Perceptions series was created to gather some of the most interesting authors that are using paranormal elements in their stories. Every author has their own perceptions and provides their own insight on all things paranormal, ranging from urban legends and paranormal research, to myths and inspirations. This week on the guest series is author of Hex and the Single Witch, author Roxanne Rhoads. (@RoxanneRhoads)
Vampires: Dead, Undead, or Something Else
In most myths, legends and even in plenty of popular fiction vampires are described as either dead or undead, sometimes referred to as walking corpses.
No heartbeat, no need to breathe, no need to eat food or drink anything other than blood.
Honestly all that doesn’t make a whole hell of a lot of sense to me.
For me vampires are different and extraordinary creatures- and not dead at all. Just different.
I can understand them being described as dead in the early incarnations. Because before the Gothic literature of the 1800s romanticized vampires early myths and legends portrayed them as monsters- grotesque walking corpses. More like today’s zombies than the sexy, romantic and sometimes sparkling vampires that we often envision them to be.
I see being changed into as vampire as a transformation, not death- at least not completely. It is death and rebirth. A catalyst that transforms a person from human to Other. Changing from human to vampire is the death of the normal human life but not a true death.
I simply can’t wrap my head around the concept of a vampire being dead because of several things.
One they need to feed to “survive”. If you need to survive then obviously you’re not really dead, are you?
Another thing- rapid healing abilities. If you can heal, how can you be dead? Dead things don’t heal.
Other things I don’t agree with are the cold skin and lack of heartbeat and breathing. I think vampires are evolved and don’t need to breath as often as humans and their hearts don’t beat like ours- and the slowness of their heartbeat and breaths has something to do with the whole immortality thing.
And the cold skin… when they get cold that just means they need to feed, if they are fully fed their skin is just as warm as ours.
That brings me to the need for blood. As I mentioned I see vampirism as a transformation, a disease or mutation that changes the human body into something else, something more. It changes the metabolism and the higher functions of the body. To keep these processes going the body burns up its blood supply and constantly needs to be replenished.
The other powers of vampires- the glamour and mind control and all that, even the teleportation and shape shifting that some can do…well that goes into the magic slot.
I think vampirism is one part disease two parts magic.
In many of my stories the vampires defy the normal vampire conventions. They eat, they walk in daylight, they have heartbeats, and they breathe (usually). I try not to describe them as dead or undead and I don’t often stick them in coffins or in the ground.
In my newest book, Hex and the Single Witch, the vampires are all a little different from each other. Some have issues with sunlight, some do not, some have silver sensitivities some do not.
This is because there are many species of Others (fae, demon, shifter, witch, etc) than have interbred with humans over the centuries. When a human is turned into a vampire the dormant powers inside them become active. Most humans will never know they have “Other” blood inside them until the catalyst of becoming a vampire brings that dormant power to the surface. In addition vampires also gain some of their abilities and powers from the vampire that made them, their sire. The result is a species of vampires that have a wide variety of powers and abilities. Which is why they are so hard to track, kill or fight- you never know what you’re going up against when you deal with a vamp.
A 100% human with no “Other” blood inside will not survive the change into a vampire.
In the Vehicle City Vampire series I wanted to take all the myths, legends and variances of vampire abilities, mix them all up and create an explanation as to why vampires are so different. I hope that readers will enjoy my take on vampirism.
When not fulfilling one the many roles being a wife and mother of three require, Roxanne's world revolves around words...reading them, writing them, editing them, and talking about them. In addition to writing her own stories she loves to read, promote and review what others write.
Roxanne is the owner of Bewitching Book Tours and operates Fang-tastic Books, a book blog dedicated to paranormal and urban fantasy books.
When not reading, writing, or promoting Roxanne loves to hang out with her family, craft, garden and search for unique vintage finds.
Visit her online
Author blog www.roxannesrealm.blogspot.com
Book Blog www.fang-tasticbooks.blogspot.com
Bewitching Book Tours www.bewitchingbooktours.blogspot.com,
Facebook www.facebook.com/RoxanneRhoads
http://www.facebook.com/BewitchingBooktours
http://www.facebook.com/RoxanneRhoadsAuthor
http://www.facebook.com/FangtasticBooks
http://www.facebook.com/FlintFangFest
Twitter @RoxanneRhoads
Roxanne can also be found on Linked In, Goodreads and Google+
Giveaway
Paranormal Perceptions ~ Creating the Sary
The Paranormal Perceptions series was created to gather some of the most interesting authors that are using paranormal elements in their stories. Every author has their own perceptions and provides their own insight on all things paranormal, ranging from urban legends and paranormal research, to myths and inspirations. This week on the guest series is author of Colors Like Memories, author Meradeth Houston. (@Meradeth Houston)
Hello! Thanks so much for hosting me today! I thought I’d touch on one of the topics that is central to the characters in my book, Colors Like Memories: the Sary.
The Sary are of my own creation, so googling them probably won’t yield much, however they have their roots in several different concepts. The first of these is stillbirths. I don’t know why this caught my attention from a young age—probably visiting the cemetery that was around the corner from my best friend’s house. We would sneak in through a hole in the fence that let out right in the middle of the child’s burials. I was always struck by those children with a single date listed, and how they had died before they even had a chance to live. I couldn’t, and can’t, fathom the pain of their parents, or what that soul must have gone through.
Another underlying theme is the breath of life. This is something that comes up in a variety of religions, and make obvious sense when you think about it—without breath we are technically not alive. But if we never really draw breath, and we’re never technically alive, how is it possible to really die? Do those souls travel the same paths the rest of us do? What might make them different?
So the question of whether a being can die if they never really lived was one that I kicked around a lot. It left me thinking that maybe these souls did have another role in this world. And because I’ve always liked the thought of guardians (angels, or otherwise), the two kind of found harmony with one another. Hence, the Sary were born. They are the souls of those who died before they were born and had a choice to make: return to their creator, but never lay claim to a body, or return to earth as a guardian for those souls about to take their own life.
For Julia, the main character in Colors, it was a tough choice. The role of the Sary is not an easy one, but the ability to feel, touch, see, and experience true love was enough of a temptation that she joined the Sary. Sticking with that choice is a whole other matter J.
Inquiring minds wish to know: have you ever wondered about the breath of life? Wished you had a guardian? Speak up with a comment—I’d love to hear your thoughts!
She’s a Northern California girl. This generally means she talks too fast and use "like" a lot. When she’s not writing, she’s sequencing dead people’s DNA. For fun!
She’s been writing since she was 11 years old. It's her hobby, her passion, and she’s so happy to get to
share her work!
If she could have a super-power, it would totally be flying. Which is a little strange, because she’s terrified of heights.
www.MeradethHouston.com
www.meradethhouston.blogspot.com
https://twitter.com/#!/MeradethHouston
www.goodreads.com/book/show/13030422-colors-like-memories
http://www.shelfari.com/books/28925571/Colors-Like-Memories
http://www.facebook.com/ColorsLikeMemories
http://pinterest.com/merbear95695/
October 9, 2012
Intriguing Observations ~ Time Management
The Intriguing Observations series was created to gather some of the greatest supporters and bloggers to provide their own insight on all things creative both in their ventures and their techniques. This week on the guest series is paranormal romance author, Susannah Sandlin (@susannahsandlin)
Time Management for Whacked-Out Writers
I’m not sure exactly when it happened. This time last year, I was sitting around and twiddling my thumbs, working on my little book blog, waiting for my first novel to be released.
Everything was under control.Until it wasn’t.
I looked up six months ago and realized I had a crazy amount of stuff on my plate: an urban fantasy series being published this year, a paranormal romance series coming out this year, a blog that had gone daily, a pile of freelance commitments, book-promotions…oh yeah, and a full-time day job and a family.
I realized when I broke out in stress-induced hives, something had to give.
I came up with five ways to better manage my time so I could do frivolous things like sleep.
1. Make a Master List.
Once I committed to writing a second series, I had to sit down and take a hard look at my workload. The first step was making a list of everything I had to do, organized by date. Not just the huge things like “deadline to turn in XYZ book to editor,” but also the blogs I’d agreed to write, my own blogs, the columns I write for my publisher’s website, personal appearances, etc. Everything getsassigned a deadline, even if it’s one I set myself.
This might seem like busywork—another time-suck. But how can you really look at all your commitments if you don’t have a way of really looking at everything in one place? My list gets reviewed and updated at the beginning and end of every day. Anything that doesn’t get finished gets bumped to the next day.
2. Decide What to Let Go
Assuming my novels are my first priority, what things on my list took the most time but had the least payoff in terms of either advancing my name, improving my writing, or making money? What were the things most likely to throw my schedule off? I ended up leaving some group blogs and stepping away from a freelance copyediting job I really loved but that had a very unpredictable workload. I knew eventually, it would cause a trainwreck with my own deadlines. The other thing I’ve let slide is housekeeping, but, hey, anything for the cause.
3) Outsource What You Can Afford.
The next time-management step for me was seeing what on my master list I could outsource. At first, there wasn’t a lot because I’m such a control freak that I wasn’t willing, for example, to take on a partner for my daily book blog.
But I did find a few things to send out. I streamlined my daily blog by spending a few hours on Saturday writing posts for the entire week, then turn them over to a virtual assistant (i.e., “friend willing to work cheap”) to post them for me and dig up the artwork. I do a monthly series of columns on new book releases for the website of one of my publishers, and it is a massive undertaking but good exposure. So I have that same assistant pulling together all the raw material each month. Then I can spend two or three hours editing and assembling it in the right format. Finally, I decided to use the fabulous Bewitching Book Tours to set up my online tours for new releases, which has been a huge time-saver.
Money’s a factor in outsourcing, and you have to weigh what it would cost you to outsource against what it might gain you in time. But it’s tax-deductible J
4) Streamline.
I mentioned earlier that I do all my blog posts ahead of time and outsource the actual formatting and posting. During the week, I just respond to comments. I recycle my columns for the publisher site into four blog posts a month for my own blog. My reading time has become limited so instead of reviewing books, I do a mix of reviews and author Q&As, which take much less time.
Another thing I did with social media was join a few “Tribes” on Triberr. It’s increased my blog traffic quite a bit and reduces the amount of time I spend on Twitter, although it has to be used judiciously to avoid coming across as a spammer.
5) Maximize Your Writing Time.
Notice how in this whole post I haven’t mentioned real writing? Every author has to work out a system. My day job runs from 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. I take a couple of hours off and then work from 8-11 p.m. every weeknight on book writing, revising, or proofing. On Sunday, I usually put in about a ten-hour writing day. Unless I’m on deadline, I take Saturdays off. That routine is religion. I rarely vary from it.
To maximize those three hours, I use onlinestopwatch.com to write in thirty-minute spurts. Until that timer goes off, I can’t reread. I can’t check email. I’m also a plotter—“pantsing” is a luxury I don’t have time for, since it usually means more revisions.
I still feel overwhelmed when multiple deadlines pile up at the same time, but at least I have a system in place to manage it. What tricks can you share for managing your writing time?
A journalist by day, Susannah grew up in Alabama reading the gothic novels of Susan Howatch and the horror fantasy of Stephen King. (Um…it is fantasy, right?)
The combination of Howatch and King probably explains a lot. Currently a resident of Auburn, Alabama, Susannah has also lived in Illinois, Texas, California, and Louisiana.
Website: http://www.susannahsandlin.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/susannahsandlin
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/susannahsandlin
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5828129.Susannah_Sandlin
Indie Bound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781612183541
Giveaway
October 8, 2012
Paranormal Perceptions ~ Genus Loci
The Paranormal Perceptions series was created to gather some of the most interesting authors that are using paranormal elements in their stories. Every author has their own perceptions and provides their own insight on all things paranormal, ranging from urban legends and paranormal research, to myths and inspirations. This week on the guest series is author of Ungentle Sleep, author B. Lloyd. (@AuthorsANon)
Strawberry Hill, prime example of Gothic revival architecture and home to early Gothic literature
Genus Loci
It’s a favourite classical theme and has been adopted, recycled, re-imagined by virtually every generation since man could speak and write, from the classic haunting through cartoons and silent movies to comedic raconteur (video examples below).
One of the earliest known written accounts of a haunted house comes from Pliny, in his letter to Sura, and gave us the prototype ‘messenger’ ghost. Ever since then, visions of elderly males in clanking chains have hovered across gothic literature, culminating in that most iconic of literary phantoms, Marley, in A Christmas Carol.
There is always a reason a house is haunted: in Pliny’s Tale, there is buried treasure (another recurring element that has survived over the centuries), in A Christmas Carol, Marley comes to warn Scrooge of impending visitors (yes, well, no doubt Scrooge was too mean to hire a butler), while in Susan Hill’s ‘The Woman in Black’, the theme of revenge and longing is interwoven with the atmosphere of a house filled with disturbing, unhappy memories.
Joining the ranks most recently is an ambitious full-length novel ‘The Beaumont Bequest’ by talented new author Lynne Jones: which brings together favourite classic elements of a troubled house, a crooked lawyer, and a dead author’s works which said crooked lawyer burns; in a nice twist on tradition, the words in the books come back to haunt the lawyer – quite literally.
Be the population of these loci inquieti ever so eccentric, threatening or simply benign, there is one vital ingredient that remains ever uppermost and which links all of these together: atmosphere. Whatever opinions may be on plot or character motivation (and these vary enormously according to who is reading) the classics contain oodles of the stuff, owing to the skill of picture painting on the part of the authors; that ability to suggest rather than explain or describe, leaving the reader with a twitching head and chilled spine as dusk slowly creeps in behind their armchair.
Where does atmosphere come from? People, objects, memories… take these away and surely an empty shell is left, devoid of anything. Yet, the empty house has provided literature with as much material, if not more, than the fully furnished, to say nothing of abbeys, cloisters and castles, ruined or otherwise. These have supplied ample subject matter to poets, writers and artists and continue to do so. The Romantics added to the trend in the 18th century and together with Gothic Revival architecture they helped forge a new culture in the art of narration from which so many popular classics and derivatives have mushroomed.
Abbeys, cloisters and castles, ruined or otherwise have supplied ample subject matter to poets, writers and artists over the ages.
The idea of a building recording human life has come to form an integral part of the human psyche; where house becomes home, it becomes a part of us – a living breathing extension of our own personae, that will somehow carry on regardless long after we are gone. Small wonder that with such a belief still intact after so many centuries we often ‘feel’ an atmosphere – even when the building is bereft of those items that made it ours.
I am quite happy to imagine the Stone Tapes theory could have some foundation in fact; we can after all only record voices and images as a result of combining elements and formulae that exist already in our natural world; sunlight and silver nitrate have proven to be man’s closest allies in preserving real life for immortality. Nothing seems more ‘natural’ (as opposed to ‘supernatural’) than to be able to ‘see’ people and places no longer physically extant; as the materials we use to reproduce the real world come from nature, why should Nature therefore not be capable of recording us all quietly in the background as we go about our daily business?
Actions, voices and images recorded for eternity within these four walls. I suspect that in my case, were I to haunt anywhere, the only sound audible would be of the occasional curse and laptop keys clicking away. Like a mouse running about. Now there’s a sound to work with ….
(The history of haunted houses in film alone would fill a library of posts; I have limited myself to referring to the few classics below):
Haunted House 1908
Buster Keaton in a Haunted House (1921)
Mickey Mouse Haunted House 1929
Dave Allen with a Haunted House Tale
B.Lloyd
A Bustle attached to a keyboard, occasionally to be seen floating on a canal …
After studying Early Music followed by a brief career in concert performance, the Bustle exchanged vocal parts for less vocal arts i.e. a Diploma from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia.
Her inky mess, both graphic and verbal, can be found in various regions of the Web, and appendaged to good people’s works (for no visible reason that she can understand).
http://about.me/B.Lloyd
www.lloydanon.wordpress.com
www.authorsanon.wordpress.com
Twitter: @AuthorsANon
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6466142.B_Lloyd
Google + : http://goo.gl/pbb2E
Authonomy.com: http://www.authonomy.com/writing-community/profile/c1be064a-a4fd-4ad0-
b217-f4e29c07cfdd/b-lloyd/
Haunted House Tour Full Schedule : http://authorsanonnews.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/314/
October 3, 2012
Intriguing Observations ~ Creative Outlets
The Intriguing Observations series was created to gather some of the greatest supporters and bloggers to provide their own insight on all things creative both in their ventures and their techniques. This week on the guest series is another all-star supporter, and paranormal romance writer, Jami Gold (@jamigold)
At some point in time, most writers will struggle with writer’s block. Maybe we’re not sure what should happen next in the story. Maybe we’re not sure how to get from where the story is to where the story is supposed to go. Maybe our characters or our muse isn’t speaking to us.
Regardless, at that point, we need to do something to shake up our subconscious or walk away from the computer. Sitting at a keyboard and staring at a blank screen for hours at a time leads only to frustration.
Many blog posts have listed ideas for how to deal with writer’s block. Today, I want to focus on one technique in particular.
Giving Our Muse a Different Playground to Play In
One way to kick start our muse is to give him or her a different creative outlet. (Yes, I know muses traditionally are females, but mine is male and he made me include the “him.”) Sometimes we can jump into another writing project:
brainstorm a new story
work on a blog post
beta read for a friend
But sometimes that’s not enough. Writing of any kind has become an exercise in pulling teeth. We have no ideas—about anything!
In extreme cases like that, it can be helpful to remember that creativity is creativity, across the arts. As writers, we’re often creative in areas outside of writing. And spending time exploring those hobbies can get our creative juices flowing too.
Spending Time on Non-Writing Hobbies Can Help Our Writing?[image error]
Yes, other creative outlets can help our writing, and I don’t just mean how visual arts can help us design our book covers. *smile*
Visual arts, whether painting, photography, or computer graphics and animation, provide us with an opportunity to observe details, how a change in light or color can affect our interpretation (like how one tiny tweak can cause a domino effect in our story). Dance gets our blood flowing, and coordinating our movements with the rhythm and beat forces us to listen to something subtle (like how our subconscious can be very quiet and subtle).
Playing a musical instrument can help us see the beauty and patterns locked up inside the notes on the page, like the meanings behind the words on a page. Composing music draws our muse into a form of storytelling where emotions reign even more prominently than using words, and connecting more strongly with our emotions can help us feel our way through the block.
Beyond those traditional forms of art, any project where we have to make decisions based not on logic but on our gut feelings can get our subconscious back into gear.
Designing a garden: which flowers should go where, what color patterns do I want, do I feel like tomatoes or zucchini this year?
Decorating a room: which paint colors will be the perfect not-too-light-not-too-dark shade, should this chair go here or there, is it too cluttered?
Organizing our closet: are these jeans too out of style, will I be that size again, do I have anything to go with this shirt?
Personally, I’ve painted and decorated rooms, I’ve created faux stained glass, I’ve gardened, I’ve sewn, I’ve done landscape and home design, and on and on. I designed my own website, and I enjoy taking landscape photographs. I don’t know how to play an instrument or compose a song, and I’m too klutzy to dance in public, but I still love listening to music.
In short, I try to be open to many outlets so I always have a project waiting in the wings. Many of those projects, I’ve even finished. *grin*
Whenever we use our instinct to accomplish things, we’re forcing our subconscious to speak up. We’re asking our muses their opinion, and we’re listening to their answer. This give and take can strengthen the connection between our conscious mind and our subconscious mind.
If nothing else, we’re assuring our muses that we want to hear what they have to say. That, in turn, can encourage them to share more of their ideas. And a vocal muse might be just the thing we need to break through our writer’s block.
What other creative outlets do you have? Have you ever used them when you’re suffering from writer’s block or when you’re burnt out on writing? How have they helped? (Or have they not helped?)
After her Klutz Queen title disqualified her from the Midnight Circus, Jami Gold moved to Arizona and decided to become a writer, where she could put her talent for making up stuff to good use. Fortunately, her muse, an arrogant male who delights in causing her to sound as insane as possible, rewards her with unique and rich story ideas. Fueled by chocolate, she writes paranormal romance and urban fantasy tales that range from dark to humorous, but one thing remains the same: Normal need not apply. Just ask her family—and zombie cat.
Find Jami at her blog, Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Pinterest, and Goodreads.
October 1, 2012
Paranormal Perceptions ~ Spirits of Our Loved Ones
The Paranormal Perceptions series was created to gather some of the most interesting authors that are using paranormal elements in their stories. Every author has their own perceptions and provides their own insight on all things paranormal, ranging from urban legends and paranormal research, to myths and inspirations. This week on the guest series is author of Mistaken, author J.A. Howel. (@JenniferHowlz)
Death has always fascinated me. We all die, but then what? Where do we go? What do we do? Do we just shut off? Everyone has their own beliefs of the afterlife, and some people even come back with near-death experiences, but really, there is nothing that we can actually confirm. For me personally, I don't think that we just shut off. I believe that there is a difference between mind, body, and soul, and although our body no longer lives, other parts of us continue on somewhere out there. I also would like to think that if part of us is still needed here by a loved one, then in some form, we can remain here for them.
In my own experiences with death, losing people I loved, I have found this to be the case. I've had visits in my dreams from both my grandmother and my father after their deaths. In the dream of my grandmother, she left me at a bus station after telling me she had to go “home”, leaving behind a suitcase full of Chips Ahoy cookies. As a child, she would only ever let me have two of those cookies at a time whenever I went to her house after school. I like to think that this was her way of telling me to enjoy my life and live a little. (Though maybe not eat ALL of the cookies.) My dad's death I took the hardest, as it was sudden and unexpected. The day after I got the news, I was sitting alone at my college, crying at a computer station when I felt someone comb their fingers through my hair...but nobody was around. A few months later I began to have dreams about him every few months. He would just be stopping by to check on me. In one dream I even told him "Dad, you died." He only told me, "Yes, I know." and continued asking me how things were going. These dreams continued on, becoming less frequent over time until I moved in with the man that is now my husband. In that dream he asked "So that's him?" and he smiled, and that was the last time I heard from him in that type of dream.
Maybe these were just coping mechanisms that my brain thought up to deal with losing these important people in my life, but I like to think that it was them, that they were sticking around for just a little bit, to make sure I was okay. Someone asked me about a part in Mistaken, where the wind blows while Dillan is visiting Jamie's grave. They asked me if that was him. I only smiled and asked them, "Do you think it was Jamie?" The answer for me is, yes, I believe Jamie may have been around Dillan, as well as his brother, but I leave it open for others to interpret how they wish. Maybe it was just a nice breeze? However, in my next book, Possess, the fact that someone is sticking around from the other side is indisputable. Just like I believe that the spirits of our loved ones may stick around to care for us, I also believe they will stick around if there is something important still tying them here.
J.A Howell is an office drone by day, and a writer by night. Her love of writing took off when she was eleven years old and decided to fill a composition notebook with stories to read to her friends. Many years (and notebooks) later, not much has changed. She still loves writing and sharing her works with others. When she isn’t writing, she can often be found trying her hand at whatever artistic pursuit strikes her fancy. J.A. Howell resides in Apopka, FL with her husband and their menagerie of animal children.
http://midtown-underground.com/
http://www.facebook.com/JenniferHowlz
https://twitter.com/JenniferHowlz
http :// www . goodreads . com / author / show /1472837. J _ A _ Howell
Giveaway...
September 17, 2012
Paranormal Perceptions ~ Revelations and Fantastical Elements
The Paranormal Perceptions series was created to gather some of the most interesting authors that are using paranormal elements in their stories. Every author has their own perceptions and provides their own insight on all things paranormal, ranging from urban legends and paranormal research, to myths and inspirations. This week on the guest series is author of Apocalypse Rising author Eric Swett. (@EricSwett)
Whether you are a believer or not, the Bible is filled with incredible stories of the fantastic, and is an excellent resource for paranormal fiction. Almost as soon as I started my first attempt at Urban Fantasy, the idea of Angels and Demons walking amongst us came to mind, so I read through some passages in the bible to give myself a frame of reference to work from.
Most modern translations are the most accurate, and the easiest to read, but when you read a King James Version...well it borders on poetry. Of all the stories in the Bible, Revelations was the one that drew my attention the most. A vision of the end of the world filled with Demons, Angels and monsters with all of the mile high view of Tolkien's Silmarillion.
A couple weeks spent fleshing out the details and adjusting the setting provided a good portion of the inspiration I needed to get the ball rolling, but it was not the only source I used. I melded some of what I read in the Bible with some concepts I loved in one of my favorite books of all time, On A Pale Horse, by Piers Anthony. If you have not read it yet, you should.
In the near future world of that book you see Heaven and Hell actively trying to recruit souls. Gone is the passive game of otherworldly espionage that seeks to convert the people of earth; it has been replaced with billboard advertising and outright marketing campaigns. Heaven and Hell amongst the people, in a story centered on the Grim Reaper himself, makes for fantastic reading.
Somewhere in between the blatant openness of Piers Anthony's modern era and the occasional directness of biblical times is where I decided to stay for this first book. I am a big fan of H.P. Lovecraft and much of his writing is predicated on the idea that people are terrified of the unknown, to the point of avoiding it if they can help it. In my book, Apocalypse Rising, the supernatural exists, and hides just below the awareness of normal people. Even when confronted with the truth, most people rather turn a blind eye to the reality that worries them, than acknowledge there might be monsters in the dark.
Inspiration can be drawn from any number of places when it comes to the supernatural and the fantastic, but using it in your writing requires a certain amount of modification to make it something of your own. Who knows, maybe someday someone will list my books, characters and worlds as inspirations of their own. Whether you are a believer or not, the Bible is filled with incredible stories of the fantastic, and is anexcellent resource for paranormal fiction. Almost as soon as I started my first attempt at Urban Fantasy,the idea of Angels and Demons walking amongst us came to mind, so I read through some passagesin the bible to give myself a frame of reference to work from.
Most modern translations are the mostaccurate, and the easiest to read, but when you read a King James Version...well it borders on poetry. Of all the stories in the Bible, Revelations was the one that drew my attention the most. A vision of theend of the world filled with Demons, Angels and monsters with all of the mile high view of Tolkien'sSilmarillion.
A couple weeks spent fleshing out the details and adjusting the setting provided a goodportion of the inspiration I needed to get the ball rolling, but it was not the only source I used.I melded some of what I read in the Bible with some concepts I loved in one of my favorite books ofall time, On A Pale Horse, by Piers Anthony. If you have not read it yet, you should. In the near futureworld of that book you see Heaven and Hell actively trying to recruit souls. Gone is the passive game ofotherworldly espionage that seeks to convert the people of earth; it has been replaced with billboardadvertising and outright marketing campaigns. Heaven and Hell amongst the people, in a story centeredon the Grim Reaper himself, makes for fantastic reading. Somewhere in between the blatant openness of Piers Anthony's modern era and the occasional directness of biblical times is where I decided to stay for this first book.
I am a big fan of H.P. Lovecraftand much of his writing is predicated on the idea that people are terrified of the unknown, to the pointof avoiding it if they can help it. In my book, Apocalypse Rising, the supernatural exists, and hides justbelow the awareness of normal people. Even when confronted with the truth, most people rather turn ablind eye to the reality that worries them, than acknowledge There might be monsters in the dark.
Inspiration can be drawn from any number of places when it comes to the supernatural and thefantastic, but using it in your writing requires a certain amount of modification to make it somethingof your own. Who knows, maybe someday someone will list my books, characters and worlds asinspirations of their own.
Eric Swett started writing a story at 100 words a day in the spring of 2011 as an exercise while he worked on his novel. One year later and that exercise turned into his first novel, "Apocalypse Rising."
He is the husband of Tracy and the father of Zachary and Connor. He works in the
IT industry and is a recent transplant to North Carolina. He loves all things science
fiction and fantasy and openly claims the title of geek.
Facebook: Http://www.facebook.com/ericswettauthorinprogress
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericswett
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/EricSwett
Blog: Http://mywriterscramp.com
