February 2012 Blog Posts (8)

What links 'The Artist' with a real life dandy?

Find out at:

http://graceelliot-author.blogspot.com/2012/02/great-seducers-dandy.html…

Unless you’re the prude of your generation, everybody likes a humorous story. Some light-hearted anecdote to bring a smile or a gentle chuckle.

Many authors will insert humor into their stories, even if the subject matter is serious or the tone is dramatic. Humor gives the reader a rest, a small break before diving back into the deep end. My favorite example comes from the Hitchcock movie “Topaz”. The entire movie concerns spies. However, the one small moment comes near the…

LASTEST BLOG POST ALERT! The Great Seducers (part 3) - The Ideal Lover. The first two parts of this series looked at the siren (who masters by manipulation) and the rake (adores but unable to commit). Today's post and our third type of seducer, is 'the ideal lover', who in theory should be less threatening to our composure, but in reality is every bit as dangerous. The ideal lover feeds off people's dissatisfaction and in a world of disillusionment he or she is gifted in the illusion of…

What is the scariest creature you've ever dreamed of? Or have you saw one with your own eyes? In this book you will learn of many creature that will both scare and inspire. Inspire? Yes, absolutely. They will inspire fear.

Have you ever heard of a painting that comes to life? What if you saw it with your own eyes but it was too late? What would you do if you saw a weird worm in your toilet and right before your eyes it grew…

A soft thud in the night. A creak in the hallway outside your bedroom. A lonely road cutting through a dark forest. All of these can cause fear. However, fear need not be felt in these creepy, eerie locations. One can experience fear when going in for a job interview, on the first day of college, or even writing your first novel. We fear the unknown. What made the thud upstairs? The creak in the hall–just the house settling or something else? What if the car stalled on the road? You wonder…

As the first anniversary of the publication of Night Shadows approaches (February 16), I want to present two blogs regarding fear.

I once read an article stating how fear is an acronym for False Evidence Against Reality. The article went on to discuss how most fears aren’t as devastating when the reality of the situation is revealed.

For instance, I fear change. Change in my residence or employment usually produces a queasy feeling in my stomach.…

I’ve been a member of several writers’ critique groups over the years and I’ve come to realize a major factor in each group’s downfall has been the lack of writers. This may seem quite logical, but it’s true for any group. Knitters, martial artists, foreign language studies, puzzlers…if you are a part of a group and aren’t involved in the activity, the group suffers. A few more lackadaisical people and the group collapses, becomes less fun, or has less worth for those who are…