It’s October— the nights are getting longer and colder, and thoughts turn to ghosts, pumpkins (pies or Jack-o-Lanterns or headless horsemen ), and the great beyond. If you are looking for a season-appropriate book to snuggle up with on Halloween, keep reading for places to start your exploration. Online mystery lists are a great place to find Halloween-themed stories, from the cozy end of the spectrum to the dark and devious: The Mystery Fanfare blog , run by mystery aficionado Janet Rudolph, offers a looooooong list of Halloween crime fiction (what is it about mystery writers and Halloween, I wonder?). Head over to the not-entirely-cozy Cozy Mystery List to find Halloween-themed mysteries to fit your mood , from BEDEVILED EGGS by Laura Childs and VAMPIRES, BONES, AND TREACLE SCONES by Kaitlyn Dunnett, to THE WITCHFINDER by Loren D. Estleman and TRICKS (87th PRECINCT) by Ed McBain. Nightstand Book Reviews offers up a list of 55 Halloween mysteries , some brand new and some c...

There have been several excellent posts here this month about costumes and dressing our characters, so I thought I would take a bit of a divergent path with my post today.  Have you ever stopped to think that life is so much like the bag of Halloween candy that we used to get when we went out trick-or-treating? The bag would fill up with all kinds of unknown things as we dashed through the darkness going from house to house shouting, "Trick or treat." The air was filled with electric excitement as we anticipated enjoying all the goodies that were filling our bags. Then sometimes as we walked along the sidewalk, we'd reach into the bag and pluck something out, not really knowing what we were going to get. Maybe it would be something really scrumptious, like our favorite candy bar. Or maybe it would be just a simple piece of peppermint wrapped in plastic. Or the dreaded apple. Life is like that. Often we reach into each day and we don't know what we'r...

Whether or not you write paranormals, you still have the opportunity to include a ghost or two in your book. Here are some obvious and not-so-obvious ways: Physical Description - Ghostly pallor - A way to describe when a character turns pale or looks sick. Conflict Resolution -  When a character is presented with a quandary, is there a ghost of a chance to rise above it? Is there a light, however dim, at the end of the tunnel? An Unpleasant Event - Is your character dogged by a ghost from the past? Does the memory cause guilt, despair or sadness? In The Company of Loved Ones - Perhaps your character has lost a dear one, yet the warmth of that relationship continues after that person has departed. Your character may even talk to or think about that cherished one as if that person were still alive. Play Pretend - Portray a ghost as an actual character. It can be friendly or mean-spirited, depending on the tone of your book. Halloween - When all else fails, have your charac...

Writers! Did you know that each of your beloved manuscripts has the capability of evolving into monsters? It’s true. Here’s a list to help you identify which monster(s) are lurking near you right now. Be still. Can you hear their breathing? 10. The Vampire . This is the manuscript which refuses to die. It has merit - one might even say it has teeth. It prefers to be written at night. Don’t eat steak while you’re working on this manuscript.  9. The Good Witch . This manuscript allows you to ‘go home’. It deals with familiar subject matter and may contain recipes for cookies. However, it does tend to talk in riddles and can send you down roads leading to lions, tigers, and bears.  8. The Bad Witch . This manuscript is often tied with the Good Witch manuscript. It could be the sequel or the same plot, but told from the POV of a different character. This manuscript can fly (which is good) but it also likes to be in control. Don’t drink water while you’re working on this ...

I am in bed, alone. Sleep doesn't come easy. There are creaks and groans in this old house and I am fourteen weeks pregnant. I lie awake, listening to the voices in my head and whispers from the past. I was in my crib when I first heard the ghosts whispering. Over the years, I've given the ghosts names: Saliva, Tick, Catie, and Drool. There are others, but they rarely speak to me. Once they are all gathered around my bed, the temperature drops. Even with two blankets, I am cold, shivering. "Go away," I plead. They move closer, bending low. Their faces waver only inches from my nose. "We have come for you." My teeth chattering, I manage to whisper, "It's not my time." Tick's face floats forward. Sharp metal teeth drip saliva onto my cheek. "When I say it's time, it is time." "You don’t control me." "Ah, but we do. We have been with you since you were born." I turn my head and l...

Good morning dear readers. It is now time to lighten our mental load, and sharing a few jokes is almost as good as Yoga for a stress reliever. Notice I qualified that. Practicing Yoga and deep breathing are probably the best way to relieve stress, but laughter does run a close second. If you'd like to know just how good laughter can be for your health, check out this article: Laughter is the Best Medicine. When I read Merry Farmer's post Monday about the review trolls , I was reminded of how much stress the writers' life has. I don't know about you, but Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, so I thought I'd start with a few ghostly jokes that I found on the Halloween.com site. Q . Why did the game warden arrest the ghost? A . He didn't have a haunting license. Q. Why didn't the skeleton dance at the party? A. He had no body to dance with. Q. What do you call a witch who lives at the beach? A . A sand-witch. Image courtesy of Bear Tale...

We writers are suspicious creatures. Here are 10 things which would fill any writer with horror - or maybe it’s just me.  10. Opening a copy of your new book to discover a typo in the second paragraph on page 57. 9. Realizing half way through your manuscript that you're writing a plot you’ve already employed in a different book. 8. Discovering that half your characters have names starting with the same letter. Don’t laugh. This happened to me and I now have sirens going off in my head if I think about using a name starting with that letter. 7. No coffee. 6. No chocolate. 5. No coffee or chocolate. Yes, I know I’ve written the same thing as #7 and #6; but the horror, the horror! 4. That writer that you know who is more productive in an hour than you are in a week. (And who probably lives in a house that could be on the cover of House Beautiful, but that’s another issue). 3. Discovering that your protagonist isn’t who you thought you wrote at all, but a rather in...

In honor of All Hallow’s Eve , I decided to make a list of the top ten things that make my hair bristle and chills erupt on my arms. I love horror movies, the suspenseful kind, not the gory kind. Unfortunately, they leave a lasting impact. *Courtesy  http://free.clipartof.com/ 1. Things that go bump.  I once heard footsteps in the house when I thought no one was home. I froze, petrified, until I realized school had ended and it was just my daughter rolling out of bed at a time when she should have been at school. Unexplained sounds are guaranteed to up the adrenaline. I can’t count the times I have searched the house with my flashlight/taser or a big knife because I heard a strange noise. 2. Faces in windows. When my sisters and I were teenagers, our friends thought it was hilarious to show up outside our bedroom windows at night. It was not so funny, especially after reading a chapter of Stephen King. Seeing a face you don’t expect sta...

I’ve always had a bit of fondness for stories with witches in them – perhaps I was one in a previous life! My personal interests lie mostly in herbal studies, and I expect most women marked as witches in prior days were nothing more than miscast healers. Such is the case with one of my favorite classic books by Mary Stewart, Thornyhold. During Gilly Ramsey’s lonely childhood, the occasional brief visits of her mother’s cousin were a delight, seeming like visits of a fairy godmother. Years later, when Gilly inherits Thornyhold, her house, she discovers that her cousin, with her still room and herbalist practices—and her undoubted powers—had long been known to the locals as a witch. Another favorite new paranormal collection is the Witchcraft Mystery series by Juliet Blackwell . Set in the modern day and now four books strong, the story begins when Texas witch, Lily Ivory, opens a popular vintage clothing store on the west coast. As one of San Francisco ’s resident...

Photo credit: Google Images This morning, there was a ghost of a chance I might finish the book review I had planned for this last day of the month. I'm afraid you'll have to wait until November though. My time somehow disappeared into the ethers. It's just as well, because in November we'll focus on new books published by our friends and favorite writers, to give you ideas for holiday shopping. So I'll share my favorite new thriller author in a few days. Tomorrow is National Author's Day - how cool is that? I think someone should take us all out to dinner, don't you? Add to that National Life Writing Month (life writing is what we call memoirs now) and Pursuit of Happiness Week and you see why we can think of lots to be thankful for other than just Thanksgiving Month. We'll share some of the things we're grateful for in upcoming posts, because it's a pretty good time to be a writer despite how bad the news makes it sound. We hope you...

Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak , visited our local writers’ group via Skype this month. She’s one of the nation’s most successful and respected YA and children’s authors, so we were grateful for the opportunity to chat with her. One of her many great responses to our questions included: “It’s okay to pull back... You can just let the door swing shut.” She referred specifically to sexual abuse in YA books, but I think we can apply this to horror, mysteries and thrillers as well: You can just let the door swing shut . Essentially, this lets us put the gore on the back burner and concentrate on story and character. It sounds elementary, but I’ve tried to read a lot of work recently by writers who clearly don’t get it. Couldn’t finish the stuff. I’ve been spoiled by good horror, and I can’t go back. Anyway, it’s not a reactionary idea. I’m not suggesting that we can or should return to simpler, less gory work. I’m saying it’s okay to sweep the gory details off your workben...

In keeping with our theme of "fear" leading up to Halloween, I decided to write about my fear of Twitter . Well, maybe not exactly my fear. More of my "oh, my gosh, what am I supposed to do" reaction to the social site when I first joined. I was reminded of that at a writers' workshop I attended this past weekend in Pittsburg, Texas. Yes, Pennsylvania, there is another Pittsburgh and we do spell it differently. Pittsburg is the home of the Northeast Texas Writer's Organization (NETWO) and they do a terrific conference every spring, as well as these periodic day-long workshops. There are a lot of writers in the area, and many others make the 100-mile trek from the Dallas Metroplex to attend the workshops, so there can be up to 50 attendees. Which is pretty good for a rural area with towns of less than 4,000 people in a 50-mile radius. At this last workshop, of those nearly 50 folks, there were only three of us who used Twitter. One of the presenters, Rus...

There are two ways to look at Halloween. You can make it fun with great costumes at a party with monster music. Or you can make it scary. This tribute trailer to The Shining should put you in the mood. ------------------------ Patricia Stoltey is a mystery author, blogger, and critique group facilitator. Active in promoting authors in several genres, she also helps local unpublished writers learn the critical skills of manuscript revision and self-editing. For information about Patricia’s Sylvia and Willie mystery series, visit her website and her blog . You can also find her on Facebook (Patricia Stoltey) and Twitter (@PStoltey).

'Tis Halloween when all things go bump in the night - except your writing, of course. You certainly don't want your words to cause readers to throw your pages or book on the desk (or across the room) and depart. How to make readers want to read more, rather than run for the hills like a mob chasing Frankenstein's monster? Here are a few tips to "Spooktacular" writing. 1 Don't dress up. Costumes are great for parties, but bad for your writing. Don't use flowery language or words with too many syllables. Keep it simple. Readers want to enjoy a story, not have to hunt for a dictionary. 2. Set the mood. Just as music can set the mood, so words can make a reader feel a part of the scene. Hook them by letting them use their senses to follow the character along in their imagination. 3. Give out treats. If your book is a mystery, don't trick or cheat your readers by making the villain someone who just pops up at the end of your story. Treat your readers wit...

Good Grief, Christmas decorations in the stores before Halloween! Can't we enjoy this Season first before rushing to the next one? My Fall decorations seem out of place somehow, what with all the Christmas lights popping up in the neighborhood. Soon I'll need to get my Christmas card list updated. I wouldn't want to send those cards out too late, say, maybe around Christmas. You may ask What does her griping have to do about writing? A lot. When you write, pay attention to sequence. In other words, put the action before the reaction. Don't have someone cry or laugh before first showing a reason for that emotion. Wrong: Mary wiped the tears from her eyes. The mums reminded her of mother who'd always loved flowers. Right: The mums reminded Mary of mother, who'd always loved flowers. Mary wiped the tears from her eyes. Likewise, don't give away the plot right away or you'll ruin the fun for the reader. Spread an information trail first and let the readers f...