Sophia Kimble's Blog, page 12

Snarkology blog hop and giveaway! The History of Halloween

Welcome to the Snarkology Blog Hop where you can learn some spooky info and win over $130 in gift cards, and much more.

Scroll down to enter the raffelcopter, and click on over to the listed blogs, many of whom are giving away even more...so get your trick or treat on!

Boo! The History of Halloween

 

Halloween evolved from, well actually, did almost a one eighty from Samhain (pronounced SAH-win). The ancient pagan Celtic holiday was a time to celebrate the end of the harvest season, and the Celtic people believed it was the one time of the year when the veil between the living and dead was at its thinnest.














They thought spirits of the dead roamed the Earth on this night, and they would place food and drink at their front door in hopes of appeasing these spirits so they’d leave them alone. If they had to venture out of the house, they would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off the spirits.In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III, made November 1st into the holiday known as All Saints day in an effort to put a Christian spin on the Pagan holiday. He realized that even though Christianity had come to the lands, the pagan beliefs were hard for people to let go. This holiday was to honor all saints and Martyrs. The night before, October 31st, was known as All Hallows’ Eve and later, shortened to Halloween.














In Britain, on All Soul’s Day people would go door to door and offer prayers for the dead in exchange for sweet cakes or treats. In Scotland, boys would wear costumes and go door to door. In exchange for things like money, wine, and food they would perform songs, recite poetry, or tell jokes. This was known as guising.In the 19th century, when a large emigration of Scottish and Irish came to America, they tried to revive these old beliefs and practices and it turned into something of how we think of Halloween today. Though it wasn’t until the 1950’s when candy became a widespread treat given to those who went door to door. Prior to that, it was all about the trick. This was the one night of the year when young boys could pull pranks on neighbors without retribution.














Today, between costume and candy sales, Halloween is a 6 billion dollar business. Second only to Christmas.Trick or treat everyone!Which do you prefer? The trick? Or, the treat?


















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I've teamed up with the Snarkology blog for this Halloween blog hop giveaway.I'm giving away an eBook copy of Protect Her to one lucky person who answers my question"Trick or Treat?"in the comments below.Sign up for my newsletter for a chance at a $5 Amazon gift card.Enter to win in the rafflecopter for the grand prizes!
Be sure to click on all the blogs below for a chance to win great prizes at each of the blog stops!
Congratulations to:bn100, who won a copy of Protect Her.liese, who won the $5 Amazon gift card.You're prizes have been emailed to you. Thanks for playing!

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Make Your Antagonists 3D, a writing tip by Sophia Kimble

This past weekend with my local RWA chapter, Music City Romance Writers, I had the distinct pleasure to learn many things on writing from Cherry Adair. She is a wonderful person, with so much logical information on writing, and she brings all her knowledge to you with great humor.

Many of the attendees had private plotting sessions with her, and one theme that seemed to be consistent with many was a weak antagonist. Not to say the antagonist was physically weak, but they were not 3D, not fully as realized as the hero and heroine.

When planning your characters, Cherry advises to make backstory for them all.

The more important the character, the more fully complete they need to be. The protagonist as well as the antagonist need a fully developed life before your story begins.

Why are they the way they are? What happened in their lives that makes them act the way they do?

Cherry recommends picking a random birthday for each of your characters, then looking up their birth sign in Linda Goodman’s Sun Signs book.

In the book each sign has a ton of traits, pick out many and list them in your character sketch. Then pick 3-5 core traits for each character and use these consistently in each scene. Have at least one trait for each character in every scene, 2-3 if you can manage it. Bring them out through dialogue, actions, and narrative.

If the traits listed in their sun sign don’t match how you want your character to act, make something happen in their backstory that changes that trait. For example... your character is a Leo and supposedly very outgoing, but you don’t want your character to act that way. So make your character with a history of child abuse who now cowers at loud noises and shies away from men.

Keep doing that and soon you’ve got a three dimensional character before you write the first word!

Cherry Adair has taken her 30+ years’ experience in writing 43 novels, and made an incredible tool for writers, The Writer’s Bible.

I’ve purchased it, and have begun plotting my 3rd novel, and I have to tell you, it’s magic. It makes everything so organized, and once you’ve finished, the writing can flow without a second thought to what happens next.

 

You can buy a downloadable version on Cherry's website: cherryadair.com

I highly suggest getting this version as you can save it as a template and use it over and over for each book.

 

Cherry also recommends adding Donna Dixson's GMC: Goal, Motivation, and Conflict to your writer's toolbox. 

Maggie Mundy wrote a post about it here.

I'm paraphrasing only a small portion of the great advise Cherry had to offer us, but I hope it makes a difference to you.

Good luck with your writing everyone!

I've teamed up with some great authors for a Halloween giveaway. We're giving away books and Amazon gift cards. Enter below in the rafflecopter. If you'd like to read more about the other books being given away, click here

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Golden Alexander is trapped in a nightmare.

 

Trying to flee her hallucination of a demon, she runs heart first into the brooding alpha male she’s been dreaming about for years, and then her nightmare really begins.

 

Kris Pietka is done with women...he’s broken. But when he meets Golden, an overwhelming need to protect her tests everything he thought he knew about himself, and the paranormal.

 

A bond forged centuries ago thrusts them together as they search for a way to break an ancient Druid curse prophesying their demise. Racing against the clock, they travel from Vermont, to the Carpathian Mountains in Poland, and the Scottish Highlands in search of answers and a way to break the curse.

 

But something evil watches—it covets, and time is running out.

 

Will fate allow love to prevail against unbeatable odds, or will Golden wake to find it was all a delusion? 

 

Writing tips on Goal, Motivation, and Conflict from multi-published author, Maggie Mundy

 

It’s really hard to come up with only one but I will have a go. I live in Australia and a few years back I went to our annual Romance Writers of Australia Conference. The workshop was given by Debra Dixon and she presented on her book called Goal Motivation Conflict. I find these days that I have read so many books on writing that many seem to blend together. This one is different and I found it extremely helpful.

The concept can be used to look at a character, a chapter, or a whole book.

Goal: 

What is it you want to achieve?

Motivation: 

Why do you want to achieve it?

Conflict: 

What is going to stop you from achieving your goal?

 Example:

Bridget Jones Diary

Goal: 

Bridget wants to find love

Motivation:

She is getting older and thinks she might be single forever.

Conflict: 

She has a bad track record with men.

 

This is simplistic but gives you an idea. I am a plotter and apply this to each chapter and can clearly see when I am going wrong. Hope this helps anyone in finding a way to overcome any difficulties in your writing.

Find Debra Dixon:  Website

 

Maggie has teamed up with myself and fellow Soul Mate Publishing authors for a Halloween giveaway extravaganza. No purchase necessary, just enter with the Rafflecopter below and the random winners will be announced on Halloween. 

 

Maggie is giving away a copy of her dark speculative fiction romance, Unknown Protector. To find out about the rest of the titles, click here.

 

All of Maggie's titles are in the gallery below, scroll down to read the back covers and click on over to Amazon to buy!a Rafflecopter giveaway





























































































































































































Find Maggie:WebsiteTwitterFacebook

 

Two things have helped Nicole cope since the murder of her husband. One is running her detective agency, and the other is her guardian angel, Mira. When Mira is killed by a demon, Nicole accepts the help of a Ridge, a long-haired, cigar-smoking diamond in the rough with wings.

 

Things go from bad to worse when a replacement guardian cannot be found. She has to trust Ridge, which is tricky when she realizes there are no demons or angels, just parasitic aliens that humans have built the myths of these celestial beings around. Ridge isn’t an angel or a devil, but an alien half breed known as a Midworlder. He is also way too sexy for his own good.

Trent Feldor is a Seeker vampire who protects human females from Rogue vampires who would take them as mates. Kellie is a reporter who wants to make the front page of the Adelaide newspaper by finding the Parklands Killer. Instead she stumbles straight into a vampire fight and she is the trophy being fought for.

Kellie has never let anyone into her life since her mother's death, and isn't going to let the mysterious Trent get under her skin. As for Trent, he may have found the one woman he could love but he will have to stop Rogue vampires who want to kidnap her, and vampire hunters who want to kill him.

Book Two in The Seeker Chronicles. Blood Oath is a sequel to Blood Scent.

 

We discover more about the Rogue, Seeker world in Australia. This is the story of Cassie and Matt, based in Tasmania. Matt kills a rogue vampire who wanted Cassie. This sets up a course of events where the rogue’s twin has sworn in a blood oath to avenge his brother’s death. Throw in a bunch of vampire hunters as well and you have trouble. Things become even more complicated when Cassie’s sister is kidnapped as bait. The only option may be that Cassie will have to give up her own life to save them all.

In Bath in 1850 a witch is murdered in a ritual granting longevity to four men. What they are not aware of is that she has bestowed the same power to another called Seth to avenge her death. 

Cara is a descendant of the witch and fills her days with food with her Irish-themed catering business. Her nights are another matter; they are full of erotic dreams of a mysterious lover, or nightmares with mutilated bodies. So this wasn’t the best time for her Nana to tell her she is coming into her power. 

Of the original four immortals, Vincent is the only one left and to stop his own long life from fading he needs another witch to kill. Seth was meant to protect the witch’s descendants from a distance, but with Cara he can’t stay away. He has to make a choice to love Cara, or avenge the original death and possibly die himself. Cara has the fight of her life on when one man comes to kill her, and another to love her.

 

Clare gets transported from present day Florence to an alternate world, one that looks like fourteenth century Italy. The only way back is through a portal half a world away, plus the local High priestess wants her dead, and the only one she can trust is a vampire called Trevi. 

 

He is the only one who exits in this world, and she knows more about what he is than he does. He is hard to resist, especially when he saves her life. Trevi can take her home but he is keeping one big secret. She will have to be like him to survive the journey through the portal back to her world making a myth a reality.