The Places We Haunt: My First Book of Fiction!

Places We Haunt eBook Cover
Spooky Front Cover of Places We Haunt: Short Story Collection. Photo courtesy of Potter’s Grove Press.

The Places We Haunt is NOT about a possessed Bedazzler that shoots rhinestones at people at night when they are alone and asleep in their houses. I really wish I had written that story, but I’ll save it for a sequel maybe. Instead, I’m pleased to announce that Potter’s Grove Press has accepted this version of The Places We Haunt, which is coming out June 30th:

When a pastry-obsessed ghost follows Audrey M. K. Summons back to her apartment, Audrey feels compelled to write the story—along with a few others she has collected.  The resulting manuscript becomes The Places We Haunt, which a literary scholar discovers when Audrey dies.  To the scholar’s surprise, the pages magically fill with more stories from beyond the grave, so she publishes the book in order to put Audrey’s spirit to rest.  This collection of 13 eclectic dark tales takes place in museums, swimming pools, houses, restaurants, the cemetery, and outdoors in nature.  The stories told are sometimes humorous, absurd, pensive, or cautionary.  Those who tell them, don’t even realize they’re dead.

To give you some insight about my writing process, I’ve compiled a handy “how-to” list for writing a book of dark short stories:

  • Log a billion hours watching paranormal shows and movies about possessed sofas, sharknados, and Florida.
  • Ask, “what if?” Example: What if a doughnut, a dragon, and an Ouija board walked into a bar? What would happen?
  • After every verb add the words, “with shaky hands” to add suspense. Example: She speaks of the perils of boiling lentils, with shaky hands.

Oh—and don’t forget the names of your characters. If you do, be sure to go back and look at previous pages to see what you’ve named the characters, so that you can maintain consistency. I don’t recommend just starting with a new name.

Example: 

Chapter 1: Cecilia woke up and realized she was being pelted with rhinestones.

Chapter 253:  Sylvia remembered the day when she woke up and was being pelted with rhinestones.

Based on the example above, readers would be super confused and angry enough to sneak into authors’ houses and pelt them with projectiles from a  Bedazzler. So, to avoid anger, confusion, and unwanted/unnecessary Bedazzling, keep the names and settings reasonably consistent.

That’s pretty much it—except to visit this page if you want to pre-order.

Cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Published by ckennedy

Author of the DIY blog: Fixin' Leaks and Leeks. Paper/Rock Writing Consultation, Sole Proprietor.

37 thoughts on “The Places We Haunt: My First Book of Fiction!”

  7. Congratulations Sylv..I mean, Cecilia, very exciting! I’ve always thought of ghosts as being pale, and pasty-faced if they’re zombies, and I remember reading the millstones of the gods grind slowly, but never realized it was probably pastry flour on those spooks.

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  12. Oh wow, this is incredible – a HUGE congratulations for writing this and getting it published, that’s so, so cool! And the content sounds delectable. I love dark reads, horrors, thrillers, and I like originality: never have I come across a pastry-obsessed ghost before! Again, massive congrats, you should be very proud! xx

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