We all like to think we're dutiful little ink slingers, writing pitch-perfect prose and never straying into bloodcurdlingly-bad storytelling territory. Sometimes even the best manuscript becomes possessed by bad writing that's in need of a little exorcism. Here are some tips on how to find the sickness within your story or book and purge it. The Stages of the Exorcism Every good exorcism follows a standard checklist used to pinpoint and purge the bad parts: Pretense - When the demon hides its true identity Breakpoint - When the demon reveals itself Cla[...]
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MidnightSocietyMary
0 Like so many other Toronto residents, hearing the news that someone was finally in custody for multiple murders that had occurred over the past few years came with both a sense of relief as well as trepidation, especially when the news broke that the police were calling him a potential serial killer. First, a little info, for those readers who have not heard about this case: A BRIEF TIMELINE In the fall of 2012, multiple men are reported missing from Toronto's gay village (Majeed Kayhan, Soroush Mahmudi. Dean Lisowick, although not reported missing, is thought to[...]
I like Christmas crooners like Bing Crosby as much as the next gal (thanks Dad!), but sometimes, you just have to rock around the Christmas tree, am I right? If you’re looking for a holiday playlist that will add some extra zing to your family gatherings, check out these festive tunes! 1. Merry Christmas (I Don’t Wanna Fight Tonight) - Ramones 2. Silent Night - The Dickies 3. White Christmas - Bad Religion 4. 2000 Miles - The Pretenders 5. Fairytale of New York (featuring Kirsty MacColl) - The Pogues 6. Christmas )Baby Please Come Home) - Joey Ramone 7. Blue[...]
Superstitions are like candy to me. They are sometimes strange, often odd and really get my story writing gears turning. I was perusing one of my superstition books the other day looking for story ideas (yes, I peruse) and came upon the entry for ghosts. It talked about the usual - how ghosts manifest themselves as apparitions; how spirits return to earth for a variety of reasons, including vengeance, warning others of danger and other unfinished business. But it also talked about an old Scottish tradition of wearing a cross of Rowan wood fastened with red thre[...]
Even though I didn't love the ending of White Noise, I admit that I got caught up in the plot about ghosts and possibly making contact. We all miss those who pass on to the other side. And I'd venture to say that we all harbor that tiny seed of hope that we could, one day, speak to those beloved friends and family members who have passed on. But does electric voice phenomena really occur? EVP - IS IT REAL? I'm sure we've all watched those ghost hunting shows at least once in our lives. Electronic recordings are one of the staples of those shows. But amidst the[...]
This is a reprint of an article I wrote in 2010. Hope you enjoy it! Post Mortem Photography: Sentimental Keepsake or Creepy Reminder? How many of us have rifled through shoeboxes and envelopes of dusty old family photos? Imagine coming across a lavish scene of your ancestors decked out in their Sunday best, only to realize upon scrutiny that in the photo they are, in fact, deceased. Such a discovery is made in Alejandro Amenábar’s The Others, and it becomes a major plot point that carries the story through to its electrifying ending. About The Others[...]
I have mentioned before how obsessed I am with Ancient Egypt. But my love of dark things doesn't stop there. The Vampire Chronicles When I was in high school, I quickly got hooked On Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles series. The rich language, the intriguing characters, and the otherworldly stories made it easy to fall in love with the books. Luckily for me, it didn't take long for my two loves to combine. In both The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned, there is mention of the very first vampires, Queen Akasha and King Enkil, who ruled Egypt. However, they[...]
You've seen those Hollywood creature features. You've hung out with Jenna as she compared Brendan Fraser & Tom Cruise in their respective Mummy movies. But that doesn't mean there still aren't secrets about mummies just waiting to be unearthed. I'll be the first to admit - I am OBSESSED with Ancient Egypt. I'm not even sure when it started. I mean, I hated history class in high school. But now, gimme a documentary on the History Channel about the latest discovery from Zahi Hawass and I'm there! So, a few years ago, I set out to write a mummy story. It gave[...]
As we come upon another session of Camp NaNoWriMo, I can't help but look back on all the projects I've worked on during these spring & summer writing retreats. My story ideas can come from anywhere. Strange snippets of conversation, weird news articles I read online, not to mention local places and faces that inspire. So, during my first attempt at writing a novel-in-a-month, I searched around for images to inspire one of my favorite places to set a story: the Creepy Small Town. Enter Ontario Abandoned Places, an online database of user-submitted photos o[...]
In my last blog post, I shared a local urban legend that I'd heard while growing up in suburbia about the old Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital. But that isn't the only urban legend to haunt Toronto's city streets. When I started to do a little poking around online, a number of familiar stories came up pretty quickly. The one I'm going to share today has it all - murder, mystery and purported ghosts! Murder at the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse People unfamiliar with Toronto may not know that we do, indeed, have a series of small islands just offshore from the mainla[...]