Scary Moments

 By Courtney Pierce

There are two types of scenes that are incredibly tough for writers to pull off: funny and scary.  What tickles one’s funny bone or tingles the spine is so personal. Success, though, is when a reader's reaction lingers long after the book is closed. A scene gets funnier or more chilling over time when connections are made to the reader’s own life. Authors write their own truth, personal to us, and the honest truth can be downright hilarious or scary. We can only hope it connects with others.

“Oh my God. My Mom does the same exact thing!”

"My sisters are just like that!"

Or,

“I knew her life would change with that phone call. That's what happened to me.”

The same process is at play for writing a scary scene. When the set up is crafted properly, readers know the moment is coming. The anticipation itself becomes the trigger for a emotional meltdown. And when it finally does strike, something quite unexpected happens—a reveal of new information. Sometimes the most chilling scenes expose raw emotions from the character discovering a raw truth, not from a crazed stalker wielding a machete.

Arousing a deep internal reaction can be scary, both for the author and the reader.

Cover: Rosalind McFarland

In my trilogy series about the Dushane sisters, the main character, Olivia Novack, is obsessed with finding her husband’s killer from a hit-and-run accident. That serious backstory is constantly running in the background, driving Olivia and her two sisters’ crazy antics over three books. Behind the hilarity lurks an insidious antagonist. Even after several years, Olivia can’t let go of what happened to her husband. She's terminally dedicated, obsessive-compulsive, driven, and still in love. By the final book, Olivia releases herself from her self-imposed emotional prison by finally disposing of her husband’s personal affects.

Readers knew this moment had to come for Olivia. It was a scary moment for me as the author to write. I, too, had to let go of a husband, not from an accidental death, but from betrayal. My heart raced when I wrote Olivia discovering something unimaginable in her husband’s wallet, something she’d never known was there. It was a game-changer. I grieved with Olivia, so real were her emotions to me. And readers grieved for Olivia, too, the lump-in-the-throat kind of pain when the truth comes out in the final book.

Everyone can relate to feeling emotionally duped. Betrayal and disillusionment offer Olivia only one of two choices: hopelessness in defeat or empowerment realized in forgiveness. She can’t change the past. She has to move forward in order to live again, love again, and be whole again.

In my new book, BIG SKY TALK, fear comes on two levels: the supernatural and the emotions of loss. The combination ups the ante.

Cover: Rosalind McFarland

Upon moving into her new home in Montana, Aubrey Cenderon begins to experience strange happenings that she attributes to coincidence. It starts with an innocent canoe trip on the lake behind her new house. She could swear she spots a grizzly bear roaming in the brush along the shore. A sudden brew of a thunderstorm sends her home to investigate. No grizzly bear is in sight when she retraces the movement, but a flash of lightening sends her spine tingling when she touches the unmistakable impression of a fresh paw print. It’s smeared with blood. She hadn’t imagined it.

Aubrey makes a call to sheriff Russell Knowles. An injured grizzly bear is indeed on the loose.

With Aubrey’s heightened awareness, she hears movement in the woods. A strange violent wind flails the branches of a single tree, leaving the trees around it still. Waves of water on the lake push to the shore with seemingly no source. The air is calm, eerily calm, except for the whoosh of an eagle’s wings overhead. She senses a presence close by, communicating to her. It is the bear.

All of these events can be explained away as an overreaction until the captured image in her camera picks up only a blue aura. Aubrey can't ignore this confirmation of an alternate reality. 

Committed to finding out the truth, Aubrey's fear sends her into hero mode to protect the bear. The animal is speaking to her through the elements, while the sheriff knows he must kill the bear. His Deputy, a descendant of the Salish tribe, knows exactly what’s going on: reincarnation. There you have the set-up for an emotional show down. To further crank up the heat, Aubrey and the sheriff are falling in love with each other. And a loaded Glock stands between them.

I am currently writing this mid-point scene. Crafting suspense is both exciting and scary, especially when I incorporate the supernatural elements into it. What scares me, though, is the personal emotional truth that I must incorporate into the prose: the loss of my father, the conversation I wished we’d had before his death, and how I would feel if I got the opportunity to talk to him one last time.

One last time.

Love is scary.  And loss of that love is even scarier.

Love’s energy prevails. It rides the wind, falls in the rain, rises in the sun, and bursts forth from a thunderstorm. It never disappears.

Courtney Pierce is a fiction writer living in Kalispell, Montana with her husband, stepdaughter, and their brainiac cat. Courtney writes for the baby boomer audience. She spent 28 years as an executive in the entertainment industry and used her time in a theater seat to create stories that are filled with heart, humor, and mystery. She studied craft and storytelling at the Attic Institute and has completed the Hawthorne Fellows Program for writing and publishing. Active in the writing community, Courtney is a board member of the Northwest Independent Writers Association and on the Advisory Council of the Independent Publishing Resource Center. She is a member of Willamette Writers, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and Authors of the Flathead. The Executrix received the Library Journal Self-E recommendation seal.

Print and E-books are available through most major online retailers, including Amazon.com.

Check out all of Courtney's books: 

courtney-pierce.com and windtreepress.com 

New York Times best-selling author Karen Karbo says, "Courtney Pierce spins a madcap tale of family grudges, sisterly love, unexpected romance, mysterious mobsters and dog love. Reading Indigo Lake is like drinking champagne with a chaser of Mountain Dew. Pure Delight."

Coming in 2021!

When Aubrey Cenderon moves to Montana after the death of her father, the peace and quiet of Big Sky Country becomes complicated with a knock on the door from the sheriff. An injured grizzly bear is on the loose and it must be eliminated before it kills again. The sheriff's insistence that she buy a gun for protection will present Aubrey with some serious soul-searching, because the grizzly-on-the-run is hunting for her too . . . for a different reason.

Courtney Pierce is a fiction writer living in Kalispell, Montana with her husband, stepdaughter, and their brainiac cat. Courtney writes for the baby boomer audience. She spent 28 years as an executive in the entertainment industry and used her time in a theater seat to create stories that are filled with heart, humor, and mystery. She studied craft and storytelling at the Attic Institute and has completed the Hawthorne Fellows Program for writing and publishing. Active in the writing community, Courtney is a board member of the Northwest Independent Writers Association and on the Advisory Council of the Independent Publishing Resource Center. She is a member of Willamette Writers, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and Authors of the Flathead. The Executrix received the Library Journal Self-E recommendation seal.

Print and E-books are available through most major online retailers, including Amazon.com.

Check out all of Courtney's books: 

courtney-pierce.com and windtreepress.com 

New York Times best-selling author Karen Karbo says, "Courtney Pierce spins a madcap tale of family grudges, sisterly love, unexpected romance, mysterious mobsters and dog love. Reading Indigo Lake is like drinking champagne with a chaser of Mountain Dew. Pure Delight."

Coming in 2021!

When Aubrey Cenderon moves to Montana after the death of her father, the peace and quiet of Big Sky Country becomes complicated with a knock on the door from the sheriff. An injured grizzly bear is on the loose and it must be eliminated before it kills again. The sheriff's insistence that she buy a gun for protection will present Aubrey with some serious soul-searching, because the grizzly-on-the-run is hunting for her too . . . for a different reason.

Not-so-fancy R&R

by Courtney Pierce

The cell phone sits disconnected from its charger. The television screen is dark. My laptop doesn’t chime with spam. I glance at an empty calendar on the bulletin board in the kitchen, void of obligations. Yeah! No fancy meals on the docket.

We are in our home in Montana, an oasis of forest, lakes, mountains, and wildlife. Glacier National Park is only twenty miles away, and we can’t think of anywhere we’d rather be. Here, life races at a turtle's pace.

My husband stokes the wood stove with tamarack. Beneath its smoky sweetness, the savory aroma of elk stew simmers in the Crock-Pot. By three in the afternoon, dinner is done. I grab a blank notebook and unfold a trail map over the coffee table, I sit on the couch and wait for my soul mate to join me. Outside, the snow is a rush of fat white polka dots, like a scrim to open the show. Right on cue, a herd of deer appear and disappear in their elegant tiptoe past each window, a sight that never ceases to thrill me.

That's my set-up for the perfect vacation.

I like to take vacation time to do research about our next vacation. In our case, that would include hiking, fishing, hunting, and canoeing. The lack of interruption from daily chores, work, and obligations affords me the time to read up on anything and everything, including bears and guns. My next book series will be set in Montana, so I’ve much to experience for my research, which will include local folklore, being hopelessly in love over the age of fifty-five (uh-hem...fifty-nine), and a connection to wildlife through clairvoyance. A fantasy vacation for me is to take the time to read up, strap up, and step out with a backpack. I''ll gather information through capturing the aroma of the forest and climbing through the burn of lazy winter muscles. Then I’ll write about the real with a framework of fiction. Of course, a touch of humor will be in the mix.

There is a sense of peace in this place we call Montana, but it’s deceiving. As Jeff and I study the maps of the Bob Marshall Wilderness, the Swan Mountain Range, and the Mission Mountains for our spring backpacking treks, we must not only plan for adverse weather conditions. Along with the beauty of the landscape, there’s an underlying tension of danger, both at home and on the trail. When living with serious wildlife - far beyond a cat on the lap and dog at our feet - Mother Nature shakes her finger at us humans for our selfish assumptions of superiority. It’s a good thing, too, because those reminders instill a healthy respect for how fast threatening encounters can happen. In our case, we must never let down our guard for a meet-up with grizzly and black bears, mountain lions, and wolves.

Bears hold a top spot for me. A fresh paw print in the snow, the size of a dinner plate, makes my skin prickle. Are we predator or prey? But bears are solitary animals who generally shy away from humans. A gaze of intelligence pleas for us to interpret their every move, posture, and sound as a unique language. Bears lumber along the landscape with grace, seemingly without a care in the world, but they can commence a chase at 35 mph when their space is violated. That’s twice as fast as a human can move.  If there’s a cub or two in the vicinity, then protective aggression is likely. Jeff and I never take to the trail without bear spray and knives, and we always suspend our provisions high in the trees. 

But back to that dream vacation. It is the solace of Montana, the danger and its beauty of habitat, that makes it my go-to destination. The amazing vistas are only augmented by the opportunity of share it with wildlife. This symbiosis with nature reminds me I must remain on my guard to live in such a beautiful place. Mountain life is not for the faint of heart. 

After much practice, I’m a crack shot with a rifle to protect myself. This skill not only earned my husband spousal bragging rights with his work mates, but it also rewards us with sustenance in the freezer. That’s why I take my 6.5 mm Creedmoor rifle with me to take out the trash. That's a lot of fire power for a little Annie Oakley like me, but the biggest difference is that I insist on sporting polished toes.

Courtney Pierce is a fiction writer living in Milwaukie, Oregon, with her husband and stepdaughter. She writes for baby boomers. By day, Courtney is an executive in the entertainment industry and uses her time in a theater seat to create stories that are filled with heart, humor and mystery. She has studied craft and storytelling at the Attic Institute and has completed the Hawthorne Fellows Program for writing and publishing. Active in the writing community, she is a board member of the Northwest Independent Writers Association and on the Advisory Council of the Independent Publishing Resource Center. She is a member of Willamette Writers, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and She Writes. The Executrix received the Library Journal Self-E recommendation seal. 

Check out all of Courtney's books at:

courtney-pierce.com and windtreepress.com. Both print and E-books are available through most major online retailers, including Amazon.com

The Dushane Sisters Trilogy concludes with Indigo Legacy, due out in summer, 2018. There's love in the air for Olivia and Woody, but will their family intrigue get in the way? Ride along for the wild trip that starts in a New York auction house and peaks in a mansion on Boston's Beacon Hill. The Dushane sisters finally get the answers they've been seeking about their mother.

New York Times best-selling author Karen Karbo says, "Courtney Pierce spins a madcap tale of family grudges, sisterly love, unexpected romance, mysterious mobsters and dog love. Reading Indigo Lake is like drinking champagne with a chaser of Mountain Dew. Pure Delight."

SHIFTING IS IN THE BLOOD by Terry Spear

 One winning person who leaves a comment (include email address) will win an audible book and another winner, an ebook. Thanks so much for dropping by on this lovely Halloween!!!

Jaguar Pride Excerpt

   by Terry Spear

Stepping through snarled roots and wet and muddy leaf litter, Melissa's paws didn't make any sound as she moved through the towering tropical trees, her ears perked, listening for human voices.

Wearing his black jaguar coat, Huntley was sniffing the air nearby, pausing to listen. Darkness had claimed the area, the trees blocking any hint of light at dusk, not to mention the rainclouds moving in. Though Melissa's golden coat, covered in black rosettes, was difficult to see at night if anyone should shine a flashlight on her, Huntley was even harder to see, making him hauntingly ghost-like. In broad daylight, his rosettes could be seen, but in a darkly elegant way. She'd never tell him though. As hot as he looked, he probably well knew it, and she didn't want him to think she was interested, or anything. Not when they were both currently seeing someone else.

She loved working with him though.

Black jaguars, a melanistic form, averaged about six percent of the regular jaguar population. The jaguar shifters weren't sure about the ratio with their own kind. Huntley's mother was a beautiful black jaguar, and his dad, golden. Both his brother, Everett, and sister, Tammy, were golden also. For whatever reason, Huntley's coat appealed to Melissa, especially on missions like this. He seemed like a Ninja warrior in jaguar form, sleek, agile, and deadly. And she liked that he was wild, like she was, able to live in their native environments without a hitch. Unless they had trouble with poachers.

***

I was reading a “white warrior shifter” book once where there was no shifting. What??? Yep. They had sex, and talked about how she was a white warrior wolf, but never showed how she was, nor did she ever turn wolf. To qualify as a shifter book to me, the heroine or hero have to shift.

Earlier on, I had read this cool fantasy historical where she was at a lake, talking with the animals, and then a black panther is watching her. Later, we have a handsome dude who is panther-like in his movements, but nowhere did the story actually show him shifting or that he was truly a shifter or that the panther was a shifter. Maybe it wasn’t. But then why say the man moved like a black panther and was watching her at the lake like he was a hot panther shifter? Bad form. If someone is a shifter, show it. If not, don’t allude to it. I kept feeling like the author was afraid to show a shifter as if it might hurt sales, so she just alluded to it for coolness sake. But if there is to be a shifter, I want to know it—for real.

The first shifter story I ever read was when I was a kid and fell in love with the handsome prince who had been cursed by a wicked witch to be a polar bear during the day and a handsome man at night, East of the Moon and West of the Sun. It was the first time that I’d ever envisioned that someone that was a wild animal at some point in their life could be the same as a regal and kind and loving and handsome man. Yum.

I loved Ladyhawke where he was cursed to be a wolf and she a hawk and neither could be with each other in their human forms. Of course, it drove me crazy that they couldn’t be together, but I loved the beauty of the characters and their wilder halves.

I fell in love with Dracula when I was thirteen and saw him in a college play. He’s a shapeshifter too, you know. Some show vampires shifting into bats, others, wolves. And still others, all kinds of different things. But I also felt sorry for Dracula and Wolfman, and in both cases, I felt they deserved to be loved, just like anyone. And so when I wrote vampire stories, and shapeshifting stories to include wolves, jaguars, cougars, and next year, a polar bear shifter, I wanted to show that they were real people, based on real animals, needing real love. I also wanted to show that they were their own people, not despising what they are, but comfortable in their skin…or fur.

I love writing contemporary, but I’m also a huge fan of historical, so I’ll be working on a historical wolf story also.

What would you do if the sexier than life prince that you fell in love with was cursed as a polar bear during the day and you only had him at night to have and to hold?

TERRY SPEAR

About the Author

Bestselling and award-winning author Terry Spear has written over fifty paranormal romance novels and four medieval Highland historical romances. Her first werewolf romance, Heart of the Wolf, was named a 2008 Publishers Weekly’s Best Book of the Year, and her subsequent titles have garnered high praise and hit the USA Today bestseller list. A retired officer of the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry lives in Crawford, Texas, where she is working on her next werewolf romance, continuing her new series about shapeshifting jaguars, and cougars, having fun with her young adult novels, and playing with her two Havanese puppies, Max and Tanner. For more information, please visit www.terryspear.com, or follow her on Twitter, @TerrySpear. She is also on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/terry.spear. And on Wordpress at:

Terry Spear's Shifters

http://terryspear.wordpress.com/

ALPHAS UNWRAPPED