What’s Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk. The goal of this hop is to help connect writers on their writing journey. You can find out more about the blog hop here.
What I’m Reading
I just finished reading a few books for my criminology classes. I’ve also finished a few horror novels: The Pendel Curse by Catherine Cavendish and Island of the Forbidden by Hunter Shea. I’ve also finished reading Better Left Buried by Belinda Frisch, a YA contemporary novel. I’d recommend all of those titles – the plots were great, and the characters engaging. Next up on my reading list is Still Water by Maynard Sims. I’ve been in a horror mood as of late, so if anyone can recommend a good horror stories (preferably featuring ghosts) then I’m all ears.
What I’m Writing
I’m working on a few different things. I want to finish the first draft of Ghostslayer, but as of now, I’m stuck. I need original ideas for hauntings and creepy things that can happen in haunted houses. I don’t want the book to exist of one cliché after another, but finding an unique way for ghosts to scare people is near impossible. If anyone has any ideas of things that haven’t been overdone, I’d love to hear them! My cast exists of a bunch of college students stuck in a haunted manor for a “paranormal weekend”.
I’m also working on the first draft for a horror novella, and going through edits for the first book in the Allegro Academy series. Well, I say edits, but revising would be a more suitable word. I wrote the book more than a year ago, and it needs some work.
What Works For Me
Getting inspired by TV shows. I watched an episode of “Paranormal Witness” yesterday, and it inspired me to write a horror novella. Earlier on, I watched “The Librarians”, and got some inspiration from that too.
What Else is New
I have a YA novella I’m currently querying, but finding a publisher who accepts novellas of 15k words is tougher than I thought! When did the novella word count rise up to 20k, even for YA? If you know any publishers accepting novellas below 20k, please let me know!
I’m also busy editing some projects for clients. I have so many projects I need to finish before the new year that December will probably fly by. But I don’t mind, I love work!
Your WIP sounds very interesting. I wish I had some inspiration to throw your way, but I read so few ghost stories that all the cliche things are still super interesting to me. 🙂 I just read The Screaming Staircase, which inspired me all over the place, but again, I don’t know if that’s because I don’t know what else is out there or because it was actually fresh. I’m sure you’ll figure it out though. I hope you have a great week!
Thanks so much for your response! I read The Screaming Staircase too. It’s so original, and I absolutely loved it. It was inspiring too, but I don’t want to take away too many ideas from one book.
I hope you have a great writing week as well!
TV shows can definitely be inspiring 🙂 I might need to check the Librarians out, I was wondering about it! Good luck with your novella and cheering you on for your different projects 🙂
Thank you! The Librarians is great, I loved the plot and quirky characters. Plus, most of it takes place in a library, so what’s not to love? 😉
I know Month9Books takes novellas, though I’m not sure they’re currently considering novelettes. Entangled also takes novellas, but 20K seems to be their minimum point.
I love a good ghost story. Maybe you could have one of your characters offend or annoy a ghost, and get cursed with bad luck.
Thanks for the publisher recommendations! I’ll take a look at both of them. I’ve been wondering if I should expand the book, since it’s a first in a series, but I’ve ended it on a cliffhanger, and on what seems to be a good point to end the story, at least for now.
Oooh, I like the idea of getting cursed with bad luck. 🙂 I’ll definitely keep that in mind, it would be a nice spin for one of the secondary characters. Good luck with writing this week!
Ooh, a ghost story sounds amazing! Good luck with the writing, revising, and querying 😀
Thank you!
I get inspired by movies. I loved Regarding Henry and Overboard so much, that I felt I just HAD to write an amnesia book!
I love how we can all get inspired by different things 🙂 Inspiration is such an amazing thing!
I read a horror YA called Creed that just came out last month I think. No ghosts, though. It’s actually all real life stuff with no supernatural elements. The ending is what I think makes it truly horror, though you could potentially label it suspense.
I love seeing what everyone is up to and reading! Nice to meet you through What’s Up Weds.
I read “Creed” too! I liked it. When I started reading, I thought it was going to be a story about kids getting stranded in the middle of nowhere, and then some crazy family targeting them (like you see in those horror movies) but it actually was a lot more realistic than that!
Good luck with your ghost story!
Thank you!
It can be really hard to think of original idea for ghost stories – it’s one of the reasons I’ve never been able to write a paranormal ghost novel, though I’d love to! Good luck with it! 🙂
Hope some awesome ideas for your ghost story pop up when you least expect it! It’s great that you’re striving to make your story unique. Good luck with the drafting and querying! 🙂
Thanks, Erin! It’s hard to stay original in a genre that’s been written about so often, but I have to keep on trying 🙂
Now, that you say it, coming up with original ways for ghosts to scare people would be hard. But it sounds like a great story! They want 20 k now? Wow. Novellas are getting thicker 😉
Yep, definitely. I thought anything 10k plus qualified as a novella, but guess not.
I hear you on trying to come up with unique ways to spin your story. I’m trying to avoid clichés in my own WiP and it’s tough! Hope you come up with some awesome twists. I had no idea that YA novellas were supposed to be 20K now. Geez, at that point you might as well keep on going and just write a full-length novel, right? Seems sort of crazy. Hope you have a wonderful week, Majanka! 😀
I feel exactly the same way! I wanted to write a novella because I wanted something short and sweet and action-packed. If I have to write beyond 20k I’ll probably just keep going to 50-60k and turn it into a full-length novel.
You have a wonderful week too! 🙂
I’m usually a bit of a wimp when it comes to horror, but if you haven’t read Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House then I highly recommend it. 🙂
I think it’s awesome that you’re actively trying to make sure your story is original, and not ‘just another ghost story’. You have the right attitude, so I’m sure some brilliant ideas will find you soon!