How to make the Supernatural into Natural Thrillers

Making the Supernatural seem Natural?

Turning the supernatural into the super-believable? That, as I see it, is the challenge to all paranormal thriller writers. Making supernatural elements fit into a thriller story so seamlessly that the reader accepts them without question, is not easy.

After all the vast majority of readers who enjoy this kind of fiction are perfectly reasonable sane individuals who do not necessarily believe in ghosts, spirits and things that go ‘whooo’ in the night. But just like sci-fi readers, they want to wonder and ponder the unanswerable questions. Just for the time it takes to engage with the story readers will willingly believe if we give them a good reason to.

That’s not to say that once the book is read the reader will believe any of it but just for that book the reader suspends disbelief. This, of course must happen with all stories but it is so much more difficult when dealing with the paranormal.

Of course, making the world the characters inhabit detailed and colourful and having the characters themselves rich in human traits and emotions (even if they are spirits or whatever) helps. If the people in the story believe in the other-worldly elements and do so right from the beginning as a matter of course, then the reader will too. Events follow in a normal and accepted way and lo! - the supernatural becomes the natural for that story.

For me the furthest I will go into using the supernatural is to introduce elements of ‘what if’ into a story. What if someone’s soul/spirit does not die with them but carries on in someone else’s body? What if a spirit wilfully inhabits someone else’s body and makes them do things they would never normally do? What if someone has the power to read certain people’s minds? What if this power is hereditary and a child is unaware they have it? What if someone believes that if they preserve a person’s body after death they will gain power over life and death and eventually become immortal themselves? (See The Afterlife of Darkmares ). What if a person really does have a double and the double/doppelganger bends the person’s will to make them murder their own child?

I know, I know. All of these have been done before but not by me and my imagination. I had fun with these stories and will continue to use similar scenarios in my writing. But apart from the paranormal additions my plots have conflict, suspense and follow normal storytelling rules and my imagination, with the help of my muse, adds width, depth and a sprinkling of magic – at least I hope it does…

Happy Writing!

Do you read paranormal thrillers?

 

'The Witcheye Gene' - Thrillers and Auras

 Writing Thrillers and using Auras

When I was writing my second book ( The Witcheye Gene) I thought it would be interesting to use the paranormal-type phenomenon of auras. I was quite surprised when my research turned up the fact that it was not strictly true that it is entirely a paranormal/supernatural occurrence. My dictionary defines an aura as “an atmosphere or quality of air considered as indicative of a person or thing” but I think that meaning is not quite the same thing. After all, I think we can all recognise that an angry person can exude a certain aggressive-kind of vibe. This person could be said to have an aura about them.

The other meaning of auras is to forewarn of impending epileptic attacks or migraines etc. They indicate the brain is signalling to the sufferer that it is about to happen. These auras can take different forms such as certain smells, sounds or tastes that are experienced by the individual. So an aura in this case can be an important early warning system.

But the kind of aura I am talking about in supernatural thriller writing is the kind of aura where a person is said to have a luminous radiation of light or energy around them that can actually be seen by people who have special powers. There is lots of controversy about this phenomenon but in the land of the paranormal it is exactly the kind of thing that adds flavour and mysticism to a story. And allows a great deal of license in designing credible plot line… I think I used it to good effect when my character – who had a measure of supernatural power – could seea very dark aura around a character.

There are said to be 7 layers to an aura with each layer relating to different human characteristics, and each layer has different colours and different frequencies. So the light wavers and changes colour. Attributing characteristics or using the aura to highlight true motivation is also a useful plot device. For instance an aura could be red signifying suppressed anger or blue signalling calm and rationality. It could be orange for health and vitality or yellow for inspiration and intelligence. Black, of course, would be about evil intention or death… These are simply suggestions but I’m sure you can see how it could be used for good effect. Or maybe not…

In real terms, it seems that we all have an aura – even worms and insects have them – for they are simply magnetic energy fields. It’s just that most people cannot see these fields with the naked eye. Makes for juicy story lines, though… Don’t you think?

 

The Devil of it is...

"Beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man."

Fyodor Dostoevsky

In the Manichean struggle the Devil is the ultimate villain. No small wonder then that many supernatural stories feature this deity as a consummate character. Whether you believe in the existence of a god or his opposite, most people are fascinated by the idea of a being who has all the most undesirable characteristics of human frailty. In many cultures that being is the Devil.

The Devil (or Satan), in Christian culture is always supposedly the fallen angel, Lucifer. But according to the bible the devil has many names (including Amadeus and Mephistopheles) and all associated with much evil doing. “What is thy name? My name is Legion, for we are many.” Mark 5:9

‘The Satan’ first appears in the bible as a messenger sent by God. He was used as a catalyst in the story of Job where he acted as a tempter and accuser. In the story of Adam and Eve he is described as a ‘powerful wicked angel’ who led the plot against humankind by tempting Eve. For this act God threw him and his henchmen out of heaven and thus he became known as 'the Devil who rules the kingdom of darkness and subsumes all evil powers'. He tempts people to evil doings and is also known as ‘The Great Deceptor’ for appearing disguised as an angel of light.

 Despite the murky origins of this so-called fallen angel we do also find the devil appearing in other religions too (in Islam he is known as Shaitan). Whatever the truth (or your own beliefs), everyone understands the significance of good versus evil and the Devil (Satan or whatever) has come to be known as the personification of evil in this world.

So, what a fabulous plot device to use in a story? The ultimate antagonist. And because none of the origins or the stories around the entity can be verified you can use him howsoever you wish! Such brilliant fodder for creating conflict and suspense… And a great adversary for the hero/heroine of a supernatural thriller story…

Have you used the Devil in your stories? Do you think it is still acceptable in this day and age of technology to use an ancient deity?

 

Creepy Crawly Jiggery Pokery

The Unfashionable Flavour of the Occult

Nowadays Occultism ( the study of the supernatural)  is a subject that is rarely seriously discussed. The horror genre has moved on - in the sense that much of the horror story telling today is set in everyday life - and the tales tend to express the fear of the unknown in ways that many of us can relate to.

The word Occult is described in the dictionary as ‘secret, mysterious and supernatural’.  A meaning that signifies to many the ‘practise of the Black Arts’. That, in itself, is a term that has fallen out of fashion nowadays.

Many believe in the power of good and evil and the eternal struggle between these two extremes of our human condition but the Devil himself and the pseudo-science of demonology have long since fallen by the wayside for most people. We no longer live in the superstitious dark ages of magic, mayhem and witchcraft.

However that does not mean that many of the paranormal aspects of the occult have disappeared. Indeed, they are alive and well in many good stories today.  For example vampires, monsters and other worldly beings are in full flavour at the minute. 

For me the use of ordinary people - rather than devilish, vampiric, evil monster/villains -  gives a much greater feel of horror. After all it could be me or you trapped in a modern horror story… (A La Mr King).

But the Occult is still very useful in a modern horror story, as there are lots of subtopics within it. The influences of things like astrology, ESP,  numerology, clairvoyance, telepathy, telemetry, premonitions, doppelgangers and hypnotism – to name but a few – are still with us and can be used to good effect in a good thriller/supernatural story. Everyone knows what these things mean even if they don’t believe in them.  But…. Haha, you say… You just never know…

That, I believe, is their power. As Shakespeare said in Hamlet:

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

Do you enjoy a story with some supernatural-type elements in it?

 

The Ticking Clock of Timely Thrillers

The ticking clock is a plot device that I love to use when outlining my novels. Not every time, I must admit but if it lends itself to the plot why not use it?

For one thing it gives urgency to a thriller plot line that adds to the suspense for the reader. For another it is quite a useful aid for the writer too as it can provide a kind of framework which helps to keep the plot on target. Thirdly for me it is quite exciting and indeed, fun to do…

There are as many different ways of adding the time element to a story as there are for actually writing the story. The time element may mean that a future event is driving the story line and readers know the story is heading there. But, most importantly, they will not know the twists and turns of the plot along the way and it ma7y be that there are penalties that are time linked. For instance, the use of the ‘what if’ element as in ‘what if a protagonist doesn’t get to the scene on time?’ or what if he can beat the odds and rescue something before….whatever hyappens.

Another way I have used the timeline is delineating chapters and passages to show that one plot action is happening at the same time as something else.  I find the use of switching from point of view helpful in using this one.

I think it is very important to keep mentioning time if it is a plot device in the story. It subliminally reminds the reader that time is important and the ticking clock is a great way to raise the stakes and keep suspense going page by page. In my own writing I try to use shorter sentences and paragraphs to try to keep the sense of urgency and as the story reaches towards the climax, it should be mostly action and little information giving, meandering or asides.  Short sharp plot points resolved as time tacks relentlessly by.

I guess, in its broadest sense, it is the pace of a story that counts but that does not always mean it should be at breakneck speed – just the pace to suit the timeline.

Do you work time elements into your stories?

Lightbulb Moments on Dark Themes

Lightbulb Moments on Dark Themes

So where do the ideas come from?

It is a question I often get asked - as does every other writer. But for the writer of horror/supernatural stories the questioners are even more fascinated by how or why the ideas strike. The answer, of course is they come out of my imagination but they may have been sparked by something I have seen, heard or experienced. Or sometimes tiny nubs just appear from apparently nowhere… But I don’t believe they are apropos of nothing, they have just oozed up from my subconscious.

Perhaps I can give an example of how it worked for me with one project.

The original idea for my latest book “The Afterlife of Darkmares” came to me from apparently nothing?? I had been tossing around some occult-type ideas that might seem fairly believable when the thing suddenly presented itself. It was simply an image and I can still clearly remember the  ‘eureka’ feeling it gave me. The picture in my mind was of a 12 year old boy standing rigidly in a graveyard, hands by his sides, his glossy black hair - pageboy style -  gleaming in the sunlight.  His clothes were old fashioned – as if he’d stepped out of the pages of some 60’s magazine. He wore a buttoned up paisley shirt, a hand-knitted waistcoat and  smart black trousers.  There was something very off centre about him…

Where that image came from, I have no idea, but it must have arisen from something in my subconscious mind.. The scene was so vivid I used it as a jumping off point for my story. At that point I had no idea what my story would be about but I knew I had to use that scene somehow. The boy is called Grif and he is central to the story and the entire plot of the supernatural thriller “The Afterlife of Darkmares.”.  

I then used free writing to further explore and develop the idea.  As I did this and the plot began to identify itself I became more and more excited and enthused by my slowly ripening story. For me this is the best part of writing a book. The creating of the story!!.

So what is your favourite part of writing a story? Do you dream up ideas or characters first?

Murdering Mama's

Murderous Mothers

I have always been fascinated, yet at the same time repelled, by some of the classic narratives about mothers who kill their children. As a mother myself, and possibly because of my child protection background, I have long been interested in exactly why some mothers can murder their own offspring and why writers would want to write about it.

Writers who have used this theme litter the history of narratives and whilst child murder – indeed any murder - is unacceptable to society there is something so shocking about the phenomena that it has always had shock value and therefore been of interest to writers.  In classic literature there is the tale of Medea who murdered her children to exact revenge on their father. In modern literature there is the story of Beloved by Toni Morrison and countless stories which involve some measure of Fabricated Induced Illness (F I I). This can include mothers who smother their babies so making the death seem like natural causes e.g. cot death. These women are generally emotionally unstable or suffering mental illness but their concern for their children is very believable. These women appal people but maternal instinct is sometimes no match for deadened emotions or thwarted personal ambition.

But why are mothers who kill their children, seen as so much more repulsive than fathers who kill? The evolution of mankind has always required a mother or mother substitute and without that connection to a nurturing person during the defenceless time of infancy, the human race would not have survived. Jung says that the mother archetype is an inbuilt ability to recognise and form a certain relationship – that of mothering. The issue of trust and dependency therefore becomes an important one and I believe this is the reason why we are so repelled by women who go against the archetype and kill the very people they are supposed to be protecting.

I believe this theme makes for some of the most compelling drama and story telling I have come across. Modern day writers have used F.I.I. in their plots and there are many books and films depicting this condition although it is still a hotly debated topic.  Crime writer Patricia Cornwell uses it in her book ‘The Body Farm’ The murdered victim is an 11-year-old girl and the suspect is a serial killer but it turns out that she was killed by her own mother. The screenwriter M Night Shyamalan also uses a similar scenario in the 1999 film ‘The Sixth Sense’. Even ‘The X files’, ER and Law and Order have all featured episodes around women who kill their children (FII). These stories reflect today’s society where the awareness of mothers killing their children is both growing and yet controversial.

It makes for challenging drama but also reflects some of the darker corners of our society.

So, could you use controversial issues like this in your writing?

Supernatural or Superbelievable

 Making the Supernatural Natural.

Today I am re-posting a blog article I wrote some time ago! I enjoyed writing this one and thought it deserved another outing...

Turning the supernatural into the superbelievable? That, as I see it, is the challenge to all paranormal thriller writers.

Making supernatural elements fit into a thriller story so seamlessly that the reader accepts them without question, is not easy.

After all the vast majority of readers who enjoy this kind of fiction are perfectly reasonable sane individuals who do not necessarily believe in ghosts, spirits and things that go ‘whooo’ in the night. But just like sci-fi readers, they want to wonder and ponder the unanswerable questions. Just for the time it takes to engage with the story readers will willingly believe if we give them a good reason to.

That’s not to say that once the book is read the reader will believe any of it but just for that book the reader suspends disbelief. This, of course must happen with all stories but it is so much more difficult when dealing with the paranormal.

Of course making the world the characters inhabit detailed and colourful and having the characters themselves rich in human traits and emotions (even if they are spirits or whatever) helps. If the people in the story believe in the other-worldly elements and do so right from the beginning as a matter of course, then the reader will too. Events follow in a normal and accepted way and lo! - the supernatural becomes the natural for that story.

For me the furthest I will go into using the supernatural is to introduce elements of ‘what if’ into a story. What if someone’s soul/spirit does not die with them but carries on in someone else’s body? What if a spirit wilfully inhabits someone else’s body and makes them do things they would never normally do? What if someone has the power to read certain people’s minds? What if this power is hereditary and a child is unaware they have it? What if someone believes that if they preserve a person’s body after death they will gain power over life and death and eventually become immortal themselves? What if a person really does have a double and the double/doppelganger bends the person’s will to make them murder their own child?

I know, I know. All of these have been done before but not by me and my imagination. I had fun with these stories and will continue to use similar scenarios in my writing. But apart from the paranormal additions my plots have conflict, suspense and follow normal storytelling rules and my imagination, with the help of my muse, adds width, depth and a sprinkling of magic – at least I hope it does…

Happy Writing!

So what do you think? Do you have a favourite genre? Do you read paranormal thrillers?

The Afterlife of Darkmares - kindle edition.

Yay and Ta Da!!! My new book is now in kindle form!
The Afterlife of Darkmares is a supernatural thriller set partly in 16th century England and partly in contemporary modern life.  Here is the back cover blurb:

When single mum Kate Linden’s disabled daughter dies unexpectedly she is stunned to find she is under suspicion of harming her. But Kate still has a 12year old son, Grif, who refuses to speak and is grappling with issues of his own – not least of which is his attachment to a supposedly imaginary friend. Kate’s relationship with her son is fraught as she struggles to make some kind of connection with him and also deal with her own intense grief.

Unbeknown to Kate, in 1665, a disastrous event - the plague - in a small Derbyshire village - has consequences that stretch into the 21^st Century and she is blind to the fact that her son (feeling estranged from all around him) has unwittingly allowed an evil entity to awaken and threaten them all.

 Kate must now fight her own demons and accept help from unlikely sources if she is to save her son from a fate worse than death. The help finally comes from a sleep therapist, an elderly bereaved lady and Jeremiah, an old man who hovers between life and death on a life support machine…

Please forgive my plug - I don't usually push my books on here other than mentioning them from time to time...
So if you feel like reading something a little different give it a go!!

Also availble on kindle is my book "The Witcheye Gene".

So there you have - it my offerings plugged!! Hope no one is offended?

Do you plug your books regularly on your blog or only when they are first out?

The Afterlife of Darkmares

Nightmares, Darkmares and Demons

What a wonderful, fascinating  place the world of dreams appears to be. But an even more extraordinary place is the world of nightmares.

For the stuff of nightmares - or night terrors, as they are often called in children - is where many horror/supernatural stories appear to emanate from.  Of course, the scientists amongst us know perfectly well that nightmares or bad dreams are simply the subconscious mind making sense of scary, worrying things that happen to us. They are no more a precursor of bad things to come nor an evil sign of impending doom than dreams about fairies or paradise are harbingers of marvellous happenings. Ah, but here’s the rub – no one can actually prove that and so the workings of the subconscious mind remain a wonderful fertile ground for paranormal thrillers.

Nightmares in and of themselves are basically bad dreams that often can and do cause much distress. But the nightmare has it’s origins in folklore. The night part is easily explained but what of the other word mare? What is that? In Norway the Mare is a female shape shifter who can take the form of an animal or dwarf and who can change into a wind that can slip through windows and keyholes to get to intended victims whilst they are sleeping. By day the Mare is a normal woman but at night the urge to find and control victims is strong. The Mare enters a person’s bedroom and sits on their chests, causing tightness, troubled breathing and horrible dreams. In American folklore this Mare spirit eventually became the nightmare of which we are all familiar.

For myself, I used this motif in my latest book but called the nightmare a ‘darkmare’ as the character was not only troubled at nighttime.  My book - "The Afterlife of Darkmares" by PJ Newcombe - is now available from http://www.lulu.com/

Have you ever used folklore/mythology to garnish or deepen your stories? Have you ever used nightmares as a major part of your story?



Zombies or Vampires?

Hi folks!
I've been away from blogland for the last week - a much needed break away from home, lying on a sunbed!!! But now I'm ready to get going again... My last a-z post is beckoning...

Z – Zombie

I find Zombie to be a strange word… My dictionary defines it as “a person appearing lifeless or apathetic”. Or in the case of horror stories “a corpse supposedly brought to life by supernatural means”.

A Zombie appears to be first mentioned in voodoo culture in Haiti and does refer to someone coming back from the dead. In popular culture zombies have been used to great effect in many horror movies. They are traditionally half rotted corpses with physical resemblance to people and ability to physically move but their brains and therefore any emotions or cognisance has gone. I think this may be why they are so scary when used in films and books. There is just no reasoning with them so they might as well be aliens!

I think nowadays, they are monsters who have become so caricatured that, in and of themselves, they do not scare so much, rather like Frankenstein. We are rather more sophisticated today and know that there are much scarier things than zombies. Besides, they have been overtaken by vampires, in this day and age…

But despite falling out of fashion, all monsters and superhuman beings can be scary if used in the right way, and as part of a rollicking good story, they can still be useful scaremongerers.

Do you think Zombies are past their sell by date? Do they scare you?

The Afterlife of Darkmares

Hip hip hooray! My new novel  "The Afterlife of Darkmares" is now out!

Today I'm going to ski-p my A-Z posts in favour of telling you about my latest publication. So I am officially anouncing my new thriller here...

The novel is available on http://www.lulu.com/ at present ( at a reduced price) but will soon be out on amazon too ( full price).

For anyone who is interested here is the back cover blurb:

When single mum Kate Linden’s disabled daughter dies unexpectedly she is stunned to find she is under suspicion of harming her. But Kate still has a 12year old son, Grif, who refuses to speak and is grappling with issues of his own – not least of which is his attachment to a supposedly imaginary friend. Kate’s relationship with her son is fraught as she struggles to make some kind of connection with him and also deal with her own intense grief.

Unbeknown to Kate, in 1665, a disastrous event - the plague - in a small Derbyshire village - has consequences that stretch into the 21^st Century and Kate is blind to the fact that her son (feeling estranged from all around him) has unwittingly allowed an evil entity to awaken and threaten them all.

 Kate must now fight her own demons and accept help from unlikely sources if she is to save her son from a fate worse than death. The help finally comes from a sleep therapist, an elderly bereaved lady and Jeremiah, an old man who hovers between life and death on a life support machine…

So, does the cover say 'spooky' to you or not?

All opinions very welcome...

Dead or Alive? Re-birth of the soul

 

R - Reincarnation

"I am confident that there truly is such a thing as living again, that the living spring from the dead, and that the souls of the dead are in existence."
- Socrates

Reincarnation actually means re-birth of the soul in successive bodies but people often use the word when they mean a re-launching of something in a different way.

In my kind of thriller writing, it is of course a very interesting concept that allows much artistic license. No one knows what happens to us after death so no one can actually deny the existence of re-incarnation. Along with tales of the afterlife, zombies, heaven and hell and many other similar concepts, the notion of returning to this life (in some form or another) is a very strong belief to dismiss. I guess this is why it fascinates so many of us.

It is not a new idea either as Ancient civilisations believed in the idea too. Perhaps it is the arrogance (or the fear) that this life could be all there is that drives some to believe so fervently. Most religions have a central tenet that there is life after death – although not all believe in a life reborn here on earth.  But the Hindu religion, especially, has embraced the idea of life after death since time immemorial.

Along with the idea of simply being re-born is the debate of who or what one would come back as! Some believe that a good life would be rewarded and one would come back as something better (whatever that means) or for those who have done bad deeds they would come back as lowly creatures! I would guess that many do not subscribe to this but it is certainly a fun notion to play around with in devising stories.

Whatever your belief, it is an intriguing subject to deal with and it most definitely appeals to those who write and read supernatural stories.

So what would you come back as, if you had a choice? Do you believe in reincarnation? Would you use these kinds of beliefs in your own writing?

The Manichean Struggle

M - Manichean

(The fight between the powers of good and the powers of evil e.g. God and the Devil)

 The world of horror writing is tied up firmly with the world of suspense writing. And, for me, every tale of horror should ultimately be about the struggle between the forces of good and evil. This struggle can be outside ourselves, as in the fight between the Devil and God (or whatever your beliefs deem him/her to be), or inside ourselves as in the fight between the good and bad in all of us.

In my opinion, this Manichean tussle is the essence of all supernatural thrillers and not the gore and senseless bloodlust you see with many ‘horror’ tales.

Some of the best horror writers in the modern era have used fear and suspense so skilfully that readers go to bed with one eye on the curtains! And yet they use no actual violence. Because ultimately fear (emotion), is in the mind of the reader. 

Horror writing, I believe, is more than mindless violence based on screams and monsters. It is the human experience woven into fear of the unknown and fetched up from the darkest corners of our minds. The world of horror writing for me is essentially the world of the everyday but with twists (maybe paranormal?) thrown in that seamlessly take the reader on a journey of ‘what if’s’ and hopefully scare the pants off them because somewhere in the deep primal subconscious we wonder ‘could it be possible?’ 

First of all horror writers must aspire to produce good fiction with all the requirements that entails, i.e. conflict, suspense, good characters, rising tension, meaningful settings, and proper resolution. Then the curtain can go up and the terror can start…

My latest book 'The Witcheye Gene' deals with the theme of good versus evil, in that the main character is fighting a very evil man who's only intention is to cause death and destruction to her family. He aligns himself with what he deems to be the devil, so he can ultimately gain more power for himself.

So what do you think? Do you prefer blood and guts or more subtle tales of terror?

Horror Fiction or Psychological Terror?

H - Horror

“Any horror element is as much psychological as special effects.” Christopher Eccleston

The above quote is probably as true a statement as one is likely to find regarding the finer points of writing horror thrillers, or indeed producing films.

For myself, I believe the psychological effect of the fear which is engendered in the reader, is what makes a horror thriller horrible! And scary…

It is when the everyday things that we are all familiar with turn to something unfamiliar and uncomfortable. It takes lots of real, normal, everyday detail to write good horror fiction – and then the horror comes when something doesn’t quite gel. When ordinary life is infiltrated by the extraordinary or inexplicable, that is when horror happens.

I think that is what makes horror and/or supernatural thriller writing so fascinating and so rewarding. We can (or at least we ought to) generate that psychological effect in the reader – i.e. make he/she feel scared when just one single mundane thing turns into something unexplicable. Stephen King and Dean Koontz are the masters of this style of horror story. Although, that is not to say there is no blood and guts in their stories... Just that they do not rely on the gore and mayhem to make their stories scary.

Blood and guts and so-called ‘slasher’ stories are all well and good - and many people love reading and watching that kind of thing - but they do not make me feel scared. Most of them simply make me wince.

The true horror story for me is the one where the psychological element is elevated to fearful heights; where the tension is ratcheted up to unbearable levels because the reader is waiting with bated breath for the really scary part - made all the more scary because the setting is a normal every day one.  

Of course it is all in the imagination of the reader – or is it?

 So, do you think horror is scarier when it is set in the ordinary, everyday world?

Scary - or what? Ghosts and Other Entities

G – Ghosts (and other entities)

“Now, about those ghosts... I'm sure they're here and I'm not half so alarmed at meeting up with any of them as I am at having to meet the live nuts I have to see every day.”
Bess Truman

As a writer of paranormal thrillers, the world of the occult fascinates me.  On looking at the dictionary definition of the word occult, I can see that it can mean esoteric knowledge, secretive mystery and supernatural.
To me the world of occult is mainly associated with the supernatural. It can include such things as Extra sensory perception, spirits, special powers, demons and devils, doppelgangers, possession and special powers ( such as telekinesis, telepathy etc). All these things are great fodder for the supernatural thriller writer. However one thing that is uppermost in my mind when I write is that, irrespective of the supernatural elements, the story must still hold together as a well plotted tale with good, believable characters. It must have the elements of a thriller with rising tension, conflict and suspense and a character in jeopardy.
I also do believe that stories centred on the occult world should grip readers and the supernatural element should be unnerving, scary and even a little terrible. Readers of these kinds of stories expect to be transported to an alternate reality where supernatural abound and yet are still pretty scary.
In the readers mind a little voice poses the question, at least for the duration of the story,”could this possibly happen?”
Suspension of disbelief is what keeps horror and supernatural writers going, as well as the enjoyment of heightened sensations if the story scares as much as it should. The fear, I believe comes from the not knowing.
After all, we really don’t know what awaits us in the afterlife and the possibility of spirits, ghosts etc is not that unbelievable to many people. And lots of perfectly rational folk do indeed believe in the Devil and Demons (for that matter many religions do too). I guess it is this notion of belief and the outside possibility of these things actually happening that captures the imagination of so many supernatural thriller readers – including me!

 

 So, does the occult world scare you? Or are you more scared of the nuts you meet every day?

ESP - what can we see?

C - Clairvoyance

In supernatural thrillers and horror stories one of the parapsychologies will usually figure somewhere along the way.  Clairvoyance is one of these.The dictionary says clairvoyance is ‘the ability to perceive things that are usually beyond the range of normal human senses’.  But I think many people associate it with the power to ‘see’ into the future.

Second sight or ESP is one area of clairvoyance and it can be a particularly helpful plot device; remembering, of course, that we are talking about fiction and a willingness on the part of a reader to suspend disbelief.

The idea of being able to ‘see’ (or sense) something that is not within the bounds of normal is not a new one. It has been used from the early beginnings of the written word and tales from the classics and mythology are steeped in them.

The main areas of second sight seem to be Remote Viewing, where a person can ‘see’ something that is happening a long way away, Precognition, where a person can ‘see’ and foretell something that is about to happen, and Visions where a person simply ‘sees’ something (it may only be a flash image) but has no idea if it’s from the future, past or present.

Telepathy, premonition and telekinesis are also closely related to second sight.

Of course the scientific community does not accept any of this stuff as it requires proof that is just not available. The various researchers into the area are of the view that most of it is fraud, self-delusion and guesswork. But that doesn’t stop the believers and it certainly doesn’t stop the notion of second sight being fertile grounds for the imagination in fiction writing.

I used the notion myself in my latest book 'The Witcheye Gene'. (Now available on Amazon kindle) The main protagonist had a latent hereditary gift of second sight.

One does not have to believe these things to enjoy a good story that uses any these ideas. If you asked the population in general how many believed in the paranormal you would get a much lower number than those who read the fiction books and watch the films. This is what suspension of disbelief is all about; in that, just for the period that you are immersed in a good story, you are willing to step into a universe where all things are possible. This is the nub of all good plots and fiction in general. How else would we enjoy Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings?

The other interesting thing for me is that if you have one character who believes in the paranormal and one that doesn’t then that sets the story up for even more conflict and tension, quite naturally without having to work at it.

What do you think? If you make a world ‘real’ enough for the reader, can you suspend disbelief?



Such Powerful Connotations...

B - BLACK IS BLACK...

What a simple but emotive word ‘black’ is…

Because of my favoured writing genre I associate it with the supernatural, the ‘Dark Arts’ and all things evil. But of course, first and foremost, it is simply the word we use to describe an absence of colour.

Oh, how the English language loves a simple word that can be twisted this way and that. I looked in the dictionary expecting to find the straightforward definition but no…. There are many more definitions - more than I could cope with. From being banned or boycotted to villainous, funereal and sable.

And then there are the add ons… Blackmail, blacklist, blackout, black death, black widow, black market, blackboard, blackleg etc. The list is endless but one thing that stood out for me is that many of these terms and words have such negative associations.  No wonder that the black community has for centuries hated the word. Although nowadays, the word is embraced and proudly used by those whose ancestry is African or African American, one can only wonder at the origin of the word. An absence of light and colour and the night sky must have been pretty scary to ancient peoples.

I defy anyone who writes supernatural thrillers to not use the word somewhere in their Manuscript. It is a word that conjures up all that one would wish when used in association with this type of writing. In any one picture or description, if it is meant to be scary or eerie, the colour black is always used. In my book "The Witcheye Gene" the antagonist has an aura which is totally black and I don't think I had to spell it out to the reader that this signified he was evil. Especially when others' auras were a variety of colours.

Such an interesting word with such powerful connotations...

For the rest, I leave you to ponder…

Do you use the word black often (apart from describing a colour) and in what circumstances?

From ghoulies and ghosties and long leggetty beasties...

All Hallows Eve

As a supernatural thriller writer, I could not let Halloween pass without making some kind of blog post so here goes.

For those not aware of the fact, Halloween is short for All Hallows Eve or 'All Saints' Eve, meaning it is the day preceding the 1^st November which is celebrated in the Catholic church as the day when the Saints in heaven are remembered and prayed for. The following day, 2^nd November is 'All Souls' day when the Catholic church prays for all souls, even those in purgatory. Halloween is also linked to the Celtic feast of Samhain, which was celebrated at that time. back in the annals of time, Samhain was originally a festive gathering and the setting for supernatural encounters.  

No one is quite sure of the origins of the custom of Halloween itself but it is inextricably linked with ghosts, spirits, monsters and the like and is enshrined in folklore as the one night of the year when supernatural entities thrive.

As a horror/thriller writer I cannot imagine a better night to read a supernatural novel with all the suspense and scary stereotyping it may bring. Great fodder for the imagination, even if it is all hokum! Of course, it also helps that it keeps the notions of good and evil, ghosts, monsters and things that go bump in the night truly alive in readers’ imaginations… And it doesn’t hurt to know the next generation of horror readers are keeping the tradition alive with their scary costumes and trick or treating on that one fright night of the year.

So Happy Halloween everyone!

Do you enjoy the customs and traditions of Halloween?

Are You Scared Yet?

“There is no fear in a bang, only in the anticipation of it.” Alfred Hitchcock.

That is sooo true! But how do you build that anticipation?

How indeed...

Why, by creating the best suspense and page turning quality that you can. This is the basic ingredient of all good thriller stories and certainly the foundation for any scary story.

I have to say that scaring people is one of the satisfying aspects of my writing life!!

Sorry about that uncivil statement but it is true… I get a real kick when people tell me they were scared reading my stories. It is such a difficult thing to get right, I think. After all you want definitely want readers to be scared a little - but not so much that it overcomes their inclination to read on.

Raising the hairs on the back of my neck or causing me to break out in goosebumps is scary enough for me. Blood and guts kind of scary is not my cup of tea – although I know it does it for plenty of other readers… So how scary is scary for readers of paranormal thrillers?

For me, it is setting the imagination in play. A few well placed suggestions can get readers wondering and if they wonder then all things are possible. Witness a group of people quietly playing cards late at night. One says, “shush - did you hear that?” Everyone stops and listens carefully. Then another person hears a noise and someone else says it sounds like the creak a coffin lid opening might make…. Suddenly everyone’s heart beats a little faster. Then the lights go out… Now one of the players screams as he imagines something touched him…

But what has actually happened here? A fuse has blown and a door creaked slightly as it moved in a draught. But what has really happened is the imagination has exerted its full force and - as perceptive as we humans are – such things as atmosphere and sensing fear from another person is as infectious as laughing and yawning. We are all victims of our own imaginations in the right circumstances. It is this fact that all paranormal thriller writers trade in and has given rise to some of the scariest stories ever without spilling a single drop of blood!

I must apologise for the clichéd scenario but I’m sure you get my drift…

Do you use fear subliminally? Without being as clichéd as this, of course…

Can you be scared by the use of suggestions and atmosphere?