Halloween Theme Party Tips

The main problem I see with Halloween parties is people try to do too much everything and the décor ends up looking like The Nightmare Before Christmas projectile vomited in your living room. Why not choose a specific ghoulish theme and really dig into a set genre? Once you do, you’ll be surprised at how a single idea can branch out in so many unexpected ways.

Take the latest theme party I attended, hosted by my most amazing friends. They’re particular, they love details, and they throw one hell of party. Our last theme night was all paranormalville (for details see my post as Judith Graves on the Wolfy Chicks Blog), this time, the party theme was magic. DISCLAMER: No offence intended to those who practice the craft – this was purely a night to celebrate magical stereotypes and popular culture.

Witchy Woman by the Eagles was playing in background as guests arrived. Tip #1. A theme soundtrack is a must!



Black cats, green-skinned witches, caldrons, brooms and wizard wands were scattered around the house. Bookcases were transformed into the shelves of a mystical apocothery and a library of magical spell books and grimoires. Tip #2: Stash your “non-theme” related stuff in a spare room so your Star Wars figurine collection doesn’t stifle the mood. Unless you’re having a SW theme party, of course. ;)

To dine, the menu featured: Dead Man’s Toes (chicken fingers), Bat Wings (chicken wings), Fungus Cubes (cheese cubes), Pickled Brains (pickled cauliflower), Entrails Dip (salsa for taco chips). For dessert: Death Brownies (lol…not magic brownies!) and Graveyard Grahams (graham square cookies with chocolate icing, a cookie tombstone and green-dye coconut grass). For more ideas on gravely good desserts go here, because they have pictures – and I can’t make a recipe work without pictures.

No party is complete without mood lighting and a few games. We played Harry Potter Scene It?, had a crazy-funny tarot card reading from Madame Esmeralda (we called her “Ezzy”), a little 5 in 10 (eg. Name 5 famous witches in 10 seconds), movie quotes from witchy/magical films (eg. “I’ll get you, my pretty! And your little dog, too.”) and my favourite game – name that tune (play the first 10 seconds of theme related songs: I Put a Spell on You, Bewitched TV theme song, Abracadabra, etc). Tip #3: Put a little effort into theme games, be creative and never try to bob for apples after a few sips of Essence of Dragon’s Blood brew.

Tip #4: This Halloween, have a zombie theme (the walking dead are all the rage this year), a twisted fairytale theme, a Rest in Peace – graveyard theme, a shapeshifter theme – but make your party one of legend – get focused. For added fun, check out the cool Halloween candy at The Candy Warehouse. The black candy selection looks hauntingly delicious. And now I think I have to get my hands on a copy of Saundra Mitchell's YA ghost story, Shadowed Summer. Looks like an awesome read!

Celebrating October with a Ghost Story

Since it's October and Halloween is just around the corner, I thought it would be a great time to sit down and have a chat with Saundra Mitchell, author of the YA ghost story, Shadowed Summer.

First off, here is the description, courtesy of BN.com:

Iris is ready for another hot, routine summer in her small Louisiana town, hanging around the Red Stripe grocery with her best friend, Collette, and traipsing through the cemetery telling each other spooky stories and pretending to cast spells. Except this summer, Iris doesn’t have to make up a story. This summer, one falls right in her lap. Years ago, before Iris was born, a local boy named Elijah Landry disappeared. All that remained of him were whispers and hushed gossip in the church pews. Until this summer. A ghost begins to haunt Iris, and she’s certain it’s the ghost of Elijah. What really happened to him? And why, of all people, has he chosen Iris to come back to?

Here are a few questions Saundra was so kind enough to answer for us. Thanks again, Saundra!

1. What gave you the idea for Shadowed Summer? And did you always intend to write it for the YA audience?

Saundra Mitchell: My original intention was to write a book that would make readers feel the way Annette Curtis Klaus's THE SILVER KISS made me feel when I was a teen. However, I actually wrote this book thinking it would be for adults (the original draft was twice as long as the final book you hold in your hands!) One of my beta readers told me, "This is a YA novel!" and re-reading it, I realized she was right. I think it speaks to the level of lunacy some writers experience when it comes to their own work. I wanted to write a book like a YA novel I loved when I was a teen... but somehow, I had no idea I'd written a YA novel. Go figure!


2. When you first decided to sit down and write Shadowed Summer, did you know you were going to write a ghost story? Were you inspired by any ghost stories you knew from your childhood?

I definitely knew it was going to be a ghost story. Hauntings and ghosts have fascinated me my entire life. Even in my first novel, which was straight-up historical fiction, I included a ghost story as an aside in the text. And I'd have to say I was probably inspired by all of them! But I think you can see Betty Ren Wright's THE DOLLHOUSE MURDERS and Zilpha Keatly Snyder's THE HEADLESS CUPID in the DNA of my novel.

3. I love the setting of Shadowed Summer. It almost feels like a secondary character (I felt as if I could see the grave yard and like I had been inside the Red Stripe Grocery). Was it hard to develop the setting so that it lived and breathed for your readers? And how much research went into researching the area?

Thank you very much! I've never been to Louisiana, so there was a lot of research involved! Fortunately, I have family who live in Baton Rouge, and my best friend lives outside Atlanta. Georgia doesn't have the same culture as Louisiana, but visiting in the summer there was an *excellent* reference for the weather. My best friend and I both grew up in very small towns, so that's something I think is universal. There's a lot of Gem, Indiana and Ila, Georgia in fictional Ondine, Louisiana! Making sure all the language was authentic the hard part- and in fact, I've asked my editor if we can make a few tweaks in the second edition. Somehow a very Yankee "soda pop" slipped into my text, disturbing good Southerners everywhere.

4. What is your writing routine like, as far as schedule and what is your writing area like?

When I'm working on a book, I write 1000 words a day, every day, until the book is done. I can write *more* words if I want to, but my count still turns over at midnight. I start at 8.30am, after my daughter is off to school, and I work until 8:00pm or so. The weekends, I try to get my 1000 words done early so I have some time to myself! But this schedule keeps me focused. If I'm lenient with me, I tend to goof off.

As for my surroundings, my desk is a wreck right up until I start writing a book. Then I get reallllllllllly interested in cleaning everything off. But once my area is pristine, I have no more excuses, and then I start writing.

5. Since we're celebrating October and Halloween on YAedge this month, what was your favorite Halloween costume you've ever worn (as a kid or an adult)?

I have to admit, my favorite Halloween costume is my RenFaire costume. At your service, milady!

Thanks again Saundra for taking the time to answer our questions!

For all the readers out there, if you haven't picked up your copy of Shadowed Summer yet, it's your lucky day! We'll be giving away one copy to one lucky person! All you have to do to enter is comment in this blog post. Contest ends Sunday night (10/11/09) at 9pm PT.

Good luck!

Zombie Mania

I saw Zombieland this weekend and was blown away by the witty, well delivered script. Woody Harrelson - amazing as a zombie-killing redneck. Jesse Eisenberg’s performance of an unlikely geek hero ROCKED. You felt Emma Stone's determination as the gritty, suspicious girl, looking out for her younger sister. And Abigail Breslin proved to be as full of gumption as her Little Miss Sunshine character back in 2006. In fact that’s one of the reasons I loved Zombieland – because of the dysfunctional family the characters become (similar to LMS).

Zombie movies really commit. I mean, they're not satisfied with giving you a localized scare. No creature killing off a few schmucks in a small town. Nope. Zombies want us to fear for the world. And in this age of global warming, mutating viruses and a bottle of hand sanitizer beside your sunscreen - so we should.

In the meantime, why wait for the real thing when we can partake in zombie mania while we still enjoy pizza over human flesh? With the big H around the corner, I thought it fitting to point you to a few zombie related sites. Get out your hair mousse (makes great ooze)!

And if you’re really adventurous, find out if your city/town/angry village is participating in World Zombie Day this October 11th. Check out the Myspace page for more details: http://www.myspace.com/worldzombieday


Go Get Zombified!

http://zombies.tomwalsham.com/costume.html - great tips on zombie costume making

http://www.zombiemaker.com/ - cool zombie costumes / props

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DzAwvJCHI0 – instructional video on how to create your own zombie makeup. For those who like to watch. ;)

Happy October!

October is my favorite month of the year. Not only does it include my birthday, but also Fall is upon us. The leaves are changing, the air smells fresh and the winds are blowing. That can only mean one thing...Halloween! Like Tracy, Halloween is my favorite holiday. There's something about piles of candy, cool weather, leaves on the ground that make me excited.

This month, Tracy and I have fun things planned on YAedge: Contests, interviews with a few paranormal YA authors and much more. Please come celebrate our favorite month with us and maybe win a free book or two! And did I mention candy????

Get Your Ghoul On

Whoot! It’s my favourite time of the year. The leaves are turning colour. The wind is crisp. Coyotes howl in the woods behind our house. The sun is low and the moon is huge in the sky.

But best of all - Halloween stuff is showing up in stores!

For everyone else this is a time to purchase creepy decorations they’ll display for a few nights of the year. For me, it’s a time to hunt for more cool spooky items to beef up my office’s macabre feel. What can I say? I write paranormal young adult fiction – I have a thing for atmospheric settings, this one just happens to be a spare room in my house that could pass for a vampire-inhabited crypt. It’s filled with iron-work, a hulking, dark-stained desk, fake tombstones and skulls, as well as antique coloured-glass bottles and vials.

But it can always use more mood, right? Last week I found a particularly impressive fake tombstone. It features a Victorian woman’s portrait (a holograph) that shifts from fair lady to gruesome ghoul as you walk by.

Now, I cheated and purchased all my scares. But there are some incredible DIY projects out there that someday…..I’m going to get my husband to do. ;)

Here are a few you might like:

http://www.hectorturner.com/halloween/celtic.html - super realistic tombstones. And Celtic!

http://www.halloweenmonsterlist.info/ - an old looking website, but the projects! A 13 hour clock. A flying ghost. One of these days my hubbie’s going to be very busy. ;)

If you’re planning a theme party and are going to invest some moola in your ghoula, check out this fab site: http://www.darksidedisplays.com – special effects, costumes, props – I basically want to live here.

Enjoy!

Building Your Main Characters

I'm currently working on building my character profiles for my WIP, Parlor, and thought I would talk about the process in which I'm going about doing that. I've started off with the basics of what he looks like. When doing that, I like to flip through magazines (usually Teen magazines to get the right age group) and get a sense of hair, eyes, clothes, etc. One thing I stay away from, celebrities. I don't want a celebrity's manners, personality, etc. to rub off on me when building a character, specially my hero/heroine. I want him/her to flourish and become their own person. My goal is to get a good picture of what my character looks like and I usually start to set up a character board with pictures from the magazines.

Once I have the look of the character, I can start to picture him/her in my head. A lot of the character's personality should come from the story. How would this person deal with the situations I throw them into? Do they want to be the hero, or are they reluctant to start on the journey I've set them? A lot of times, just thinking of the plot of the book and what the character will have to go through helps to shape them. Thinking about what they like/dislike, what they are comfortable in (clothes wise) and what they're hobbies are also helps give you a better idea of who this person in your head is.

I think what rings true in a book is when the author believes in their character. This person a writer has created has to be comfortable with the character living in their head for the duration of writing the book. I'm not saying you have to love your character at all times, but you have to respect them for who they are even if you might not agree with a path they want to take.

So I ask you, what exercises do you do to build your main character?

From Dictionary to Delete Key

I was doing some writing last night. Late. Like after 10pm. I’m a morning writer, usually, getting up between 5-5:30am. Early, I know, but I go to bed at exactly 9:07pm so it works for me.

But now I know why writing at 10pm on a Sunday is not my norm. I read over the meandering paragraphs this morning and quickly hit the delete key before my cat could read the words over my shoulder. Cats can be so cruel.

There was one good word in the 400, however, and that word was: mandala. The context of the sentence was something like: Paige’s hair glowed around her like a mandala.

You see why I deleted the rest?

Anyway, I basically pulled that term from the depths of my mind – reaching back to an art history class I took about ten years ago. I had a vague idea of what it meant - the amber glow around the heads of religious icons as seen in religious paintings. But after deleting my night time ramblings, the word stuck with me. I had to be sure I’d used it in the correct context in a sentence I’d wiped from my screen. (I’m a bit anal, eh?)

So it was off to www.dictionary.reference.com. Clearasil ads aside, this site is my go to source for quick definitions, synonyms, etc. They even have audio buttons you can click to hear the word pronounced properly.

And what did I discover? That I hadn’t really used the word properly. I was describing a simple halo – while a mandala is a sacred circle that encompasses the entire figure.

Ah….saved once again by the delete key and by a handy online reference source. What online reference tool has your back? Wanna share? I can always use more online tools.