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Welcome. Toss a blanket down, sit for a while under the willow, relax, and enjoy what's written below.

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Halloween

Halloween is a holiday celebrated on October 31st of each year. Adults and children wear costumes and go trick or treating. Costumes range from the most popular fairy princess of the current year to frightening creatures no one would want to meet in a dark or well-lit alley. Children ask for candy at each door with the familiar yell of “trick or treat” and then invariably eat too much candy on their trek home. It is also a holiday that writers love to add to frightening stories. Why?

Many towns now have their trick or treat celebrations at night. Darkness adds to the story’s eeriness. The idea of everyone wearing a costume including the maniac who lives down the street or a traveling serial killer sets a creepy scene with little backstory needed. The serial killer dons nondescript jeans and a dark sweatshirt. He slips on a scary rubber mask and mingles with the very people he wants to kill. He is anonymous, and others may even enjoy his costume or antics. That is until he chases them with a large butcher knife.


Using Halloween as a backdrop for a story adds a layer to the story before the first words are written. Graveyards and abandoned houses take on a special, scary air about them on Halloween. If ghosts do not walk the grounds every night, they are sure to be there on Halloween. The reader will feel the fear of the holiday before the addition of whatever the writer wants to add. If the writer starts with the idea of something evil happening on Halloween night, the reader is ready to turn on all the lights before the end of page one.

It is what a writer strives for, to hook the reader from the first sentence or paragraph. Horrific tales can and have been woven around other holidays, but it is fun to start with one that carries fear in its name.

Another approach is to start with a sweet Halloween story and then turn it into a paranormal or horror story. Going back to the serial killer who blends in so well with the neighbors. Perhaps he is dressed as a clown and entertaining the kids and adults alike. When one of the young moms disappear from the party without a trace, everyone may point a finger at the clown who has also disappeared. However, no one can describe him/her except for approximate height or weight. 

The beginning of a frightening mystery is set.

Working the holiday into a story is a fun way to add that additional layer sometimes needed to grab the attention of your reader. Try it with different holidays. A clown at Halloween, Santa at a Christmas party, an Easter bunny during an Easter egg hunt, or a villain dressed as a turkey at a community Thanksgiving dinner can strike fear into the reader. Want to add a touch of paranormal? Make your costumed villain a ghost. It works every time.
  
Happy Writing.


Friday, October 14, 2016

A Tale Well Travelled

A Tale Well
 Travelled
Multiple Genre, Interactive Book

Which Path Will You Choose?

Presented By
Susan Horsnell, Kathleen Kelly,
Cherry Shephard, Dzintra Sullivan

and Margaret Tanner


BLURB

When young archaeology student, Mitchell, discovers some unusual items, while digging up a paddock, he believes it could be a major find.
.
Following his instinct Mitchell risks his job and refuses to dig any further until Professor Phinneus Groves, the most respected archaeologist from the university gives him the all clear.

Will the find be significant?

What tale do they have to tell?

YOU now sit at the crossroads, YOU are in control, YOU have five unique tales to follow.

Which way will you go?

Which path will you choose?










EXCERPT

A Tale Well Travelled



Chapter One


Two more hours and I can get off the damn front loader and go for a beer. Digging dirt for a new housing development is as boring as hell and, after ten straight days
I’ve had a gut full. One more year and I’ll have my Archaeology degree and yep, I’ll still be digging the stuff but it will be a hell of a lot more interesting. Instead of moving dirt from one place to another to add to the never ending concrete jungle, I’ll be moving it to uncover the past.
A flash of white in the long grass catches my eye and I shut off the machine. You can never be too careful on neglected sites where the undergrowth can be as high as three or more feet. It could be an animal, a child hiding from its parents or nothing more than a pile of stones. Whatever it is needs to be checked out. I could never forgive myself if I injured someone.
I jump down from the loader and stride through the grass which waves around me in the wind. I stand six feet four inches tall and the grass reaches my hips. Glimpsing the flash of white again, I warily approach. Pushing the vegetation aside, I find what appears to be a rock formation but it’s not natural. It’s shaped like a small pillar, around a foot high and two inches in diameter. My gut tells me it has been placed here for some specific purpose.
My curiosity is peaked and I crouch down to get a closer look. The rock of the pillar is smooth, weathered white, almost like marble. As the grass is blown by the wind, other pillars are revealed. I stand and examine each one. They are all identical, around the same height and arranged in a semi-circle. I’m intrigued. This is something my professor at University would be interested in having a look at. Pulling my phone from my back pocket, I punch the button for his direct number and wait for his answer.
“Professor, Phinneus Groves.”
“Professor, it’s Mitchell Symons.”
“Mitchell, what can I do for you?”
“As you know, I work a front loader for Dry River Construction Company during my breaks from University and I have uncovered something I think may interest you. It may be nothing, but my gut tells me it could be something of significance.”
“Hmmm, what is it you have found?”
“I was working at clearing the plot out by the old Dry River crossing, the one at the top of the hill that looks out over the river. I’ve found six stone pillars arranged in a semicircle. They’re all around the same height, weathered white and I think they were placed here a long time ago.”
“Are you there now?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll meet you in twenty minutes.”
“Thank you, Professor.”
“Symons, what the fuck are you doing?”
Patrick Johnson, my boss, is standing over me as I crouch down having a closer look while waiting for the professor.
“I found these pillars and I think they could be archeologically important. I’ve called my professor from the university.”
Patrick crouches beside me and pushes the grass to one side. “Looks like a bunch of rocks to me. Get on with the job.”
“No, sir. This needs to be investigated. It could have important historical relevance and I will not destroy them until we know for sure.”
“I’ll take it out of your pay and if this land isn’t cleared by tomorrow evening, consider yourself out of work.” Patrick pushes to his feet and storms off. I will not miss that asshole when I finally quit.
I return to examining one of the pillars. I note small indentations and scrape marks and take photos with my phone. I hope this is a finding of some note, it will be disappointing if it proves to be nothing more than some quirk of Mother Nature.


TRAILER


CREDITS

Trailer: Maci Dillon

Cover: Dzintra Sullivan

Teasers: Dzintra Sullivan and Cherry Shephard

Beginning Chapters, Formatting and Published by: Susan Horsnell

Promotion: Cherie Cam from LLEP


PATHWAYS

Contemporary
Are the stones hold a secret from Mitchell's past?

Paranormal/Wiccan
Does the necklace might hold some magical secret?

M/C
Are the pillars are connected to the Dry River MC?
Historical
Are the stones could be cursed?

Western/ Native American Indian
Does the strange arrangement of stones have something to do with Native American Indians in the days of the Old West?



 The choice of where to begin is now yours. When one pathway has been read, visit another.
One book.
One Beginning.
Five completely different stories to solve the mystery of the arrangement of stones.
Which story will you believe?
Which story will be your favourite?


TEASERS