I have a guest blog up. Check it out here. In it, I talk about some things to do before signing a contract with a publisher.
Stories of the Paranormal
When my daughter was four years old, I woke up one night to see her standing by the bed. Only she was a grown woman and began screaming at me, shrill and hateful words, full of anger. I couldn’t understand what she was saying, and then the woman simply vanished. To this day I don’t like sleeping facing the door just in case the woman returns.
Can both instances be simple dreams? Perhaps, but my older sister tells the story of one night waking up when we were just kids to see a woman walking from bed to bed, looking down at the children sleeping. Then the woman vanished.
I’m left wondering why this woman is in my life. To me, the paranormal adds a spice of the unknown and thrill of danger to the mundane. I’m fascinated by psychic phenomenon. The thought of telekinesis and mind reading, the power of the mind over matter, fills my world with wonder. What if it is true? What if there are people whose visions are real and dreams foretell the future? It’s this feeling of amazing possibility I try to capture in my writing.
My paranormal thriller novel, ALEX, is the story of an unwilling psychic. I wanted to create a character who, by his very nature, could suspend disbelief for the duration of a novel.
With ALEX, I wondered what extreme circumstances could lead to his psychic ‘gift’. I decided it would have to start with his childhood. Alone and isolated, living with the anguish of an abusive parent, perhaps a person’s mind would expand, seeking escape from the sadness and loneliness of life. I believed his isolation would also make Alex hypersensitive to the people around him. He’d be empathetic to the point where he could sense and sometimes see the emotions of others. Their thoughts would leap to him in a wave of a sympathetic connection.
After ALEX, I wanted to write something lighter, but keep the same paranormal tone. That’s when I came up with the idea of a cemetery and two ghosts, THE TRIALS OF A LONELY SPECTER, where one of the ghosts isn’t really dead.
Then I wanted to write a fantasy, a genre I’ve only dabbled in but thought it would fit what I wanted to do. NATHANIEL is another story of a young man with psychic abilities. I wanted to put him in a fantasy book where his ‘gift’ would seem like magic to the people around him. They would fear him. Call him a witch and ultimately want to destroy him.
But of course, my stories always have to have a happy ending! So I gave Nathaniel a lover to stand by his side against his enemies, Taden is enchanted with the young magic user and falls in love with the vulnerable, beautiful man. In the end, Taden becomes Nathaniel’s hope.
As you can see, my love affair with the paranormal continues! I have several more stories in the works, including several sequels. Happy reading!
ALEX buy link:
Amazon
The Trials of a Lonely Specter buy link:
Amazon
Nathaniel buy link:
Amazon
Feel free to contact me any time!
Dianne Hartsock
Blog
Goodreads
Dianne lives in the beautiful Willamette Valley of Oregon with her incredibly patient husband, who puts up with the endless hours she spends hunched over the keyboard letting her characters play.
Currently, Dianne works as a floral designer in a locally owned gift shop. Which she says is the perfect job for her. When not writing, she can express herself through the rich colors and textures of flowers and foliage.
