Love, ParanormYA

The Partners in ParanormYA would like to wish each and everyone a Happy Valentine's Day!

***Love***

It's such a small word for such powerful expressions. From a single red rose...

To intimate moments...

May the love you share with that special someone run deep.

Valentine's Day is a special celebration of love. Enjoy it to bits :-)

Love, ParanormYA

****NOTE: Make sure to click here for details on showing support to our FABULOUS Gwen Gardner this coming Monday with Writers 4 Writers!!!

Paranormal Mutations and Other Such Fancies

Hello ParanormYA peeps! Since I know you guys are the ParanormYA experts, I want to run my new novella series by you. I'm having doubts and think you can help. If you already saw my IWSG post, then this is pretty much the same.

My new novella series (An Indigo Eady Afterlife novella) is an off-shoot of my first series, the first book being Givin' Up The Ghost. My protag, Indigo, is a teenage ghost whispering psychic who can see and speak to ghosts, which is instrumental in solving the murder of her friend's dad.


My new novella series was actually inspired by the second book in the original series, A Guilty Ghost Surprised (not yet published). There is a scene where Indigo has a conversation with Franny, a Victorian ghost madam (you may remember Franny from our blog tour, where she appears on a talk show with Father Quanon from Angela Brown's Neverlove  HERE and also stages a fashion intervention HERE). Franny reveals to Indigo that there is a whole spirit community in Sabrina Shores (mostly Victorian) that basically is parallel to the living world. They have community meetings, court each other, and socialize as if they're still alive. Franny hints that some of the creatures in the afterlife may not have actually been...human. And of course trouble was brewing on the horizon.

So Second Death, the off-shoot, is...more fanciful, to say the least. It picks up from the conversation between Indigo and Franny in AGGS about the overactive spirit community in Sabrina Shores and takes it a bit over the top. Indigo is basically drafted onto the Missing Paranormals Committee by a ghostly high court judge during court proceedings of the highly active spirit world which takes place in an old dilapidated courthouse. She must serve on the committee alongside other spirits to investigate what happened to the missing spirits/ghosts/paranormal creatures.

The new Afterlife series will also introduce other such afterlife characters that have been mutated by what they had become in previous lives. Add spirits, ghosts, these other paranormal creatures and mix it with sometimes bizarre paranormal happenings, and you get....something more over the top than the original series. But I think it still encompasses the light paranormal characteristics of my first series, and is, in my opinion, just like I said - more fanciful.

The difference between the two series is that Indigo becomes much more active in the spirit world, rather on the periphery, in Second Death. AND there are some pretty off the wall creatures and happenings.

I worry that it may be too over the top and wonder whether it will reflect on my original series in any way because I'm using some of the same characters.

What do you think?

Any thoughts on what's too much?

Will it reflect on my original series?

Falling Apart or Into Place

Writing and publishing, like life, can often be compared to a big box of jigsaw puzzle pieces.

It's easy to form the lower and upper edges along with the sides by finding the familiar, sticking to what's simpler to identify. With publishing, that often meant trying to follow the sage advice of others with more experience and knowledge, those who'd flourished at the time where only an agent got you where you wanted to be. When guidelines were followed and stuck to. Not so much nowadays. Forming the picture within, the final outcome, can take a lot of trial and error. This includes trying to fit pieces where they're not the best fit.

I tried that with Neverlove. I attempted to fit it into a pitch contest early last year. Seemed like the right thing to do, try and get the attention of a growing small press. It got no interest at all. None. No surprise since I have to admit it wasn't a 100% whole-hearted effort. Instead of being totally bombed about it, I took it as the beginning of a revival. I'd been considering self-publishing for a while. At the same time, I'd gotten back some AWESOME feedback on improving Neverlove and got into some great conversations with Gwen Gardner about self-publishing our novels and promoting them at the same time.

Brilliant!!

Far from falling apart, the puzzle pieces were falling into place, not forced or fitted into something someone else may have thought it would/should belong.

Have you ever experienced something where things seemed not to work but in actuality, they were setting the stepping stones for the path meant for you?

We're Coming Out...

The Partners in ParanormYA are coming out....

We have a unique story to tell.

Check us out over at Writers Guide to E-publishing today.

Never Say No To The Grim Reaper



Thank you Debbie Ohi!


I really think I'd be more circumspect about insulting the Grim Reaper. I'd be that guy sweating next to him, agreeing with everything he says and buying him another one.

How about you?



Spotted: PIP Hoppers and Next Big Thing

Last episode, Gwen and I were taking off down a ginnel - tunnel - for a little ghost hunting. However, I think we made a left when we should have made a right. Or I had the map turned sideways instead of straight side up. Either way, we found ourselves at a magnificent Facebook spot called Untethered Realms. There, we joined with a few other Indie authors to share and support one another. If you haven't already, please stop here and "Like" us :-)

From there, we had to draw the hunt to a close. Good thing we did, too. Piles of paper poured through the door when we returned to PIP HQ.

Gwen handed me her gear and immediately activated her super powers; organizing, collating, grouping, compiling, and turning the place back into a respectable version of chaos. I found my Wild Cherry Pepsis remained unharmed so I was great.

Now, I can't say I'm just excited. I'm excited, thrilled, ecstatic, through-the-roof, dancing-a-jig and boot-scootin' happy to remind everyone of the Next Big Thing my PIP, Gwen, is doing.

It's the Indies 4 Hire Event at FB. Get the deets and more by going here to check it out and join in the fun to come. Starts January 21st. WOOT!

Now, where has entering a dark and creepy ginnel taken you? For us, it was certainly an interwebz adventure :-)

PiPs Disappear on Ghosthunt

December 20th, 2012

A dark alley behind the Blind Badger,

a medieval pub in Sabrina Shores, England

Gwen: It must be here.

Angela: I don't know why I let you talk me into these things, Gwen. What in heaven's name are we doing in this dark fragging alley at this time of night?

Gwen: It's called a ginnel. And I told you. We're looking for signs of paranormal activity.



Angela: Well, can't we look for it inside where it's warmer? 

Gwen: No. This is where Indigo said she last saw the soul collector.

Angela: Say what?!

***** 

Have you seen these Ghost Hunters?

Angela Brown and Gwen Gardner have been missing for two weeks. No blog posts or updated paranormal news. Nothing is missing from PIP Headquarters, except their ghostfinding magnifying glasses. 

Banner by Tara Tyler



They were last seen entering a dark alley on December 20th on a routine Ghost Hunt. No one has seen them since.

The above photo was taken on the night of their disappearance. Gwen is on the left, with Angela to her right. The dude on the far right? You don't really see him.

Or do you?

*****

Were you at the Blind Badger on the 20th?

Did you see Gwen and Angela?

What were they doing?

Do you have an alibi?