Either alongside Legends of Windemere: Allure of the Gypsies or to cushion the delay, I’m hoping to release a horror novella on Halloween. I wrote up the blurb and was hoping to get some feedback. Also, I’d appreciate any volunteers to post about this book’s release on Halloween. I’m going for minimal marketing again because I have to save money for Allure of the Gypsies.
Here is the blurb:
Jeffrey Miller hates his life of failure and mediocrity. Darla Ravensford hates her life of fame and attention. Separately, they are two miserable people who depend on their loved ones to remind them why they should be happy. When trapped on an elevator together, Jeffrey and Darla begin to realize that misery doesn’t always love company. With the screams of death and chaos echoing from outside the elevator, they find themselves slowly slipping into a depression that they may never recover from. All the while, something is terrorizing the convention going on outside and turning the guests and celebrities into psychotic monsters.
Enjoy this experiment into the genre of gory horror and psychological torture.
Legends of Windemere 
Sounds horrifying. Claustrophia for 2 with torment of when “they” will come a knocking.
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Thanks. I had fun writing this novella earlier this year and it’s my first attempt at horror, so I’m really hoping it works out. Total experiment with fingers crossed.
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Sounds like a perfect Halloween read!
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Thanks. 🙂
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Sounds great, Charles! I love knowing there’s horror happening outside the elevator while the two sit cozy inside, protected from whatever is causing the terror. Perfect piece for Halloween!
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It’s a weird combination of events that I’m trying to pull off. The first half of each chapter focuses on the two miserable and angry strangers in the elevator. Then it jumps into the chaos outside with new characters each chapter. Like I said, a big experiment in a genre I’ve never dabbled in.
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Reblogged this on Dean'z Doodlez and commented:
Check out Charles’ upcoming Novella! A great read for Halloween! 😀
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What is the title for the Halloween Novella? I will do a post.
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Catalysts
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Don’t hate on me, I had a different opinion but it’s sounds more like an incredibly depressing book upon first read than a horror tale. Is there some way you can more emphasize what they have to overcome or perhaps something to hope for with the reader? I’m not seeing what the stakes are in this segment. Miserable people get trapped in more miserable situation is what I’m seeing. Maybe a “life worth living” sort of tease or tease about working together they can be happy, only if the creatures don’t kill them first. That sort of thing. Obviously this is just my opinion, you’d know your story best.
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That’s the awkward part. Their misery is key to the plot and it is supposed to be slightly depressing. Hard to really explain without going into spoilers. The chapters are divided between the miserable duo in the elevator and the mayhem going on outside, which they’re not really aware of.
Though, I do see your point. Maybe cutting down the depression. I’m a little lost on this because they’re the only consistent characters throughout the 6 chapters while the other sections have new characters trying to survive in different areas of the hotel.
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I’d say figure out what the stakes are and see if that leads to new insights for the blurb. There’s nothing wrong with having miserable characters. You’ve just got to show readers why reading about them will be enjoyable. Take Lemony Snicket, for example. His whole shtick is about misery and misfortune, yet it works for him. Maybe that kind of approach?
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I’ll give it a shot. I royally hate writing blurbs. Been staring at it for an hour and I’m not sure what to do.
The stakes are if they’ll stay miserable or come to terms with their lives. The carnage in the convention outside is really secondary and symbolic of what they’re going through. Basically, their misery is unknowingly the source of the chaos and it shifts depending on their mood.
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That sounds tough. Because on the surface it’s like you could be saying, read about miserable people who might stay miserable. But it sounds like there’s so much more than that to it. I wish I had more advice to give. I too loathe the blurb/query/summary. Not an easy task. Best of luck… I’m sure you’ll come up with something though. Keep on thinking. 🙂
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I wonder how the traditionally published authors do it. Someone once told me that the authors don’t write their own blurbs, but that sounds odd to me.
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They probably have their editor help. Do you have a writer’s group or something to turn to?
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Not really. I joined the local one for a bit, but I was the lone fantasy novelist among poets and memoir writers. I felt a little out of place.
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I would kill the first three sentences and start with “Trapped on an elevator together.” I think this is the action line that will draw interest and things progress well from there. I don’t think the reader needs to know why they were miserable or how they might be opposites to get interested in the book—let them read and find out. Just my 1.5 cents (advice is on sale today). 🙂 Sounds interesting; I’ll check it out when it gets here.
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Short and sweet might be a good idea for a novella blurb. The detail of set up might have been throwing me off and removing that would clear up the full sense of misery that Jae mentioned.
Not sure about calling it an experiment at the end.
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I missed the end line the first time. I would probably omit that line, too.
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I totally forgot about it until now. Wrote this back in May.
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Hi Charles – I like it, and count me in for a post!
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Thanks. I’ll let everyone know when and what to do. Probably when I post the cover art, I’ll ask for volunteers again.
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Looking forward to it – if you need reviewers, I’d be happy to do that, too.
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Thanks. I can send you an early copy if you want. It’s gore-filled horror if that’s okay.
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Works for me (I love Douglas Preston/Lincoln Childs Agent Pendergast series – the early stuff was gory and horrific and fabulous!
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I’ll send the Word file over then. Unless there’s a different format you want.
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Word is lovely. This is perfect – I was in need of something to read!
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Sent. Now back to editing Book 4 of Legends of Windemere.
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Sounds great – I’m happy to help promote if you email details etc, and we doublecheck the difference in our timezones again so I actually schedule it to post at the right time!! 🙂 🙂
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Once I get final cover art and fine tune everything, I’ll let you know. If Allure of the Gypsies goes live the same day then I’ll ask to push that instead.
The different timezone is fine. I realized last time that having promo posts go up throughout the day worked better than having them all hit at the same time.
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Cool! 🙂 🙂
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can’t offer much here… not a big fan of the horror genre…
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Same here, which is why I’m in the dark.
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