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It’s a mini-episode today!
Welcome,
October is such a busy month. I’ve got a soon-to-be-launched anthology coming up, my son’s fall festival is tomorrow, requiring me to locate and fix the Halloween costumes that have already been strewn around our house, and my daughter is starting Nutcracker rehearsal already! So today is a quick episode, but for this time I’m celebrating spooky season by talking with y’all about creating new danger as you continue to write and publish. One key for me helping myself feel the fear.
I have a new villain and new conflict every single novel because I write cozy mystery. And when you think about it, cozy mystery as a genre is a bit of a head trip. Could there be a killer lurking in your local PTA or down at the senior center on quilting night? In the cozy world, there could! And yet it is just so quaint and charming, so full of quirky people, that everyone stays and loves their town despite the ever-growing murder rate. It’s a mix of danger and comfort. As I’ve mentioned on a previous episode, cozy mystery allows us as readers to play with concepts of death, danger, and violence in ways that make them feel smaller, more manageable. That’s one of the psychological needs that these stories fulfill.
But as I construct this delicate balance over and over with every story, sometimes I find myself leaning too hard into the cozy cuteness of my story worlds or the clever plot twist I’ve just thought up. And so I find it helpful sometimes to stop and focus on the fear, to make sure I’m feeling that part too. And whatever your genre, you need that fear as well. October is a great time to devote a short writing session to focus on the scares.
You might not be able to conjure up a perfect stormy night for your writing session. Indeed you might not have the time or energy to write during the evening hours, whatever the weather, but you can create some spooky ambiance for yourself. Close the curtains. Light a candle or two. Try some spooky ambiance Youtube videos, with music or sounds that you can have on in the background. I like this one, this one, or this one. Set a timer and start writing.
You don’t necessarily have to write a scene, though you can if you like. I like to do some thinking on paper this way, getting into my characters’ heads and writing things that won’t make it into the book, but will help me when I write scenes later. How must they be feeling as the tension rises throughout the story? How does their discomfort manifest in their thoughts, their actions, and their physical sensations? Think from both your protagonist’s and antagonist’s perspectives. Brain dump all their worst fears and really feel them.
Then, ding. The timer is done. Phew! It was all in your imagination. Right where it should be. Turn up the lights, change the music to something cheerier, and relax until your ready to draft again and add all that spookiness you created to your story.
Consider this a bit of a teaser, next week I’ll be talking writing spooky scenes more in-depth with returning guest and author/editor buddy Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail. Maybe keep the lights on while listening to that one.
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