Why You Want These in Your Treat Bag

by Lillian Csernica on October 28, 2016

Just 99 cents from now until Halloween!

Horror can be anything from the most elegant ghost story to the total freak-out of a bloodthirsty serial killer. The Fright Factory can show you how to make the most of your story ideas. Choose the best setting. Build a better monster Learn the fine art of creating suspense! It’s all here, including an essential list of the worst horror cliches no editor wants to see.

Also just 99 cents until Halloween!

Suzie Lockhart and Digital Horror Fiction are thrilled to present 32 chilling tales of terror from some of the best authors in horror. Killing It Softly includes stories from New York Times best selling authors Nancy Holder and Elaine Cunningham, together with more shocking short nightmares from the finest award winning female writers in the genre.

 

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Don’t Cross Tinkerbell by Lillian Csernica

Cool art, Alisha! Thank you so much!

Transmundane Press

The loving, helpful fairy godmother is largely a figment of Disney’s imagination.

If you take a good look at the original fairy tales, fairy godmothers appear most often in stories written by the French précieuses, the best-known being Madame d’Aulnoy. These fairy godmothers are not the grandmotherly rescuer of Disney’s Cinderella, nor are they the well-meaning but sometimes slapstick versions portrayed as Flora, Fauna, and Meriwether in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. Fairies who choose to help human beings most often do so because it serves their own purposes. Madame d’Aulnoy and her colleagues made everyone in their stories members of the nobility, especially the fairy godmothers. Even the shepherds and maids were princes and princesses sent into hiding for their protection.

Classic fairy godmothers are willing to guide their godchildren and lend a little magic to the cause, but in return, they expect obedience and respect…

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Why Deadlines Are Your Best Friends

by Lillian Csernica on October 24, 2016

Yesterday I kept thinking I need to blog. Gotta blog today. Must write an original blog post.

And then I’d push on with the scene I was writing for my latest short story.

Between writing, research, more writing, and a few breaks to loosen up mind and body, before I knew it midnight was fast approaching.

So here I am today, showered, caffeinated, and making this blog post Item Number One on my To Do list.

I have a story deadline coming up. In fact, for this particular anthology I’m committed to delivering two short stories that relate to each other. I know I absolutely must get these stories written, edited, polished, and delivered before NaNoWriMo  begins. Once the starter gun fires and we race toward the 50,000 word finish line, I want to be focused on pouring all my writing time and energy into my NaNo novel.

People often think deadlines come at the end, when you have to hand in the homework, the article, the novel manuscript. A deadline can also mark the beginning of a project. This is why there’s #NaNoPrep, along with lots of advice on the Internet about everything you need to accomplish before November 1.

Deadlines also create accountability. If you know you’d better have something to read at your next writer’s group meeting, you’re more likely to get it written. Never underestimate the power of potential embarrassment as a motivational tool.

Deadlines keep me organized. Deadlines help me prioritize. Deadlines help me generate the creative pressure that makes the words keep coming. For me, deadlines are the surest protection against writer’s block.

Reblog: Plotting your novel like a pantser (writing tips)

(Many thanks to Sarah Zama at The Old Shelter. I’m definitely a planner, but for the first draft of NaNoWriMo, I can really use these tips on being a pantser!)

I’m definitelly a plotter… after I’ve written the first draft. But before I write it, I’m an hopeless pantser. This is how I’m preparing to NaNoWriMo

Source: Plotting your novel like a pantser (writing tips)

Halloween 99 cents Sale!

Don’t miss out! Makes a great “treat”!

Hopes & Dreams: My Writing and My Sons

by Lillian Csernica on October 7, 2016

Halloween is my favorite “howl-iday.” Since October is the month of “things that go bump in the night,” I’ve dropped the price on The Fright Factory to just 99 cents from now all the way through Halloween itself!

Horror can be anything from the most elegant ghost story to the total freak-out of a bloodthirsty serial killer. The Fright Factory can show you how to make the most of your story ideas:

Choose the best setting.

Build a better monster.

Learn the fine art of creating suspense!

It’s all here, including an essential list of the worst horror cliches no editor wants to see.

GET YOUR COPY NOW!

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Great Story Titles: 17 Fiction Writing Experts Reveal Their Secrets

(With NaNoWriMo just around the corner, many of us are probably working on titles for this year’s writing project. Many thanks to Alex Limberg at ridethepen.com )

Looking for the perfect title for your story? Not easy to do. 17 fiction writing experts offer tricks and inspiration how to come up with intriguing titles.

Source: Great Story Titles: 17 Fiction Writing Experts Reveal Their Secrets

After the Happily Ever After

by Lillian Csernica on October 16, 2016

Today is a very exciting day for me!

After the Happily Ever After: a collection of fractured fairy tales is a massive anthology that features more than seventy stories that transform the well-known and strange fables into sweeter, darker, and more fantastical tales. These certainly aren’t the stories we grew up with.

Please take a look at the gorgeous book trailer the wonderful folks at Transmundane Press have put together. On behalf of all my fellow contributors, let me say we appreciate your support!

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How to avoid a car cat-astrophe — Katzenworld

The colder months are rolling in, which means that cats everywhere will soon be looking for warm, dry places to stay when they’re outdoors. Unfortunately, cars are often prime targets. There have already been reports of cats climbing into engines this year. Back in June The Telegraph reported that a kitten had survived a 300-mile […]

via How to avoid a car cat-astrophe — Katzenworld

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NaNoWriMo Round 2

by Lillian Csernica on October 12, 2016

Back in 2014, I won NaNoWriMo by writing 50,000 words of Garden of Lies, the second book in my Flower Maiden trilogy.

I have just signed up for NaNoWriMo 2016. I hope to get to the 50,000 word mark on the third book of the trilogy. 7 pages a day, every day.

I thumb my nose at the Forces of Chaos that beset me on a daily basis. Come what may, I shall write my daily quota. By December 1, I will have at least half of the first draft of my new novel.

(Then comes the Labor of Hercules known as Editing the Manuscript, but I’ll get to that when the time comes.)

I send my best wishes to everybody else crazy dedicated enough to embrace NaNoWriMo!

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Reblog: The Idiot’s Guide to Dealing With Idiots | World of Psychology

In honor of World Mental Health Day, I’m sharing Therese J. Borchard’s post.

Idiots. The world is full of them. How hard it is for us, non-idiots, to put up with them. But to get our jobs done, our kids fed, and our pets groomed, we must deal with them. Idiots come in many shapes, forms, and types, but the ones that frustrate me the most are those who don’t believe in any form of mental illness. These creatures maintain that all mood disorders are cute, creative stories crafted by persons who enjoy obsessing, ruminating, and crying their eyes out… a wealthy bunch who can’t think of anything better to do than come up with a make-believe tale about a few neurons wandering around the limbic system afraid to ask for directions, just like Moses. We must tune out the idiots to achieve any kind of sanity or serenity. But how? Here are four ways that have worked for me. 1. Expect nothing. If you expect your cousin to understand your bipolar disorder, then you are going to be disappointed when your cousin doesn’t understand your bipolar disorder. But if you sit down

Source: The Idiot’s Guide to Dealing With Idiots | World of Psychology