{Guest Post+Giveaway} Of Monsters and Madness by Jessica Verday

Of Monsters and Madness by Jessica Verday
Pages: 288
Published by Egmont USA on 2014-09-09
Genres: Historical, Horror & Ghost Stories, Science & Technology, Young Adult

A romantic, historical retelling of classic Gothic horror featuring Edgar Allan Poe and his character Annabel Lee, from a New York Times best-selling author. The first in a new series.

Annabel Lee is summoned from Siam to live with her father in 1820's Philadelphia shortly after her mother's death, but an unconventional upbringing makes her repugnant to her angry, secretive father. Annabel becomes infatuated with her father's assistant Allan, who dabbles in writing when he's not helping with medical advancements. But in darker hours, when she's not to be roaming the house, she encounters the devilish assistant Edgar, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Allan, and who others insist doesn't exist.

A rash of murders across Philadelphia, coupled with her father's strange behavior, leads Annabel to satisfy her curiosity and uncover a terrible truth: Edgar and Allan are two halves of the same person - and they are about to make the crimes detailed in Allan's stories come to life. Unless Annabel stops them.

Today I am super excited to have the author of Of Monsters and Madness, Jessica Verday here to tell us how she creates a spooky atmosphere! and then enter to win a signed copy of the book!

Creating a Spooky Atmosphere – OF MONSTERS AND MADNESS

If you’re anything like me, the words “spooky atmosphere” conjures up images of cemeteries and creepy roads. Or abandoned houses and forgotten places. But sometimes taking a character out of her element is a great place to start when designing a spooky atmosphere.

At the beginning of OF MONSTERS AND MADNESS, Annabel finds herself sitting alone at night on a filthy pier waiting for her father to arrive to pick her up. The sights and smells and people still walking the docks at such a late hour surround her immediately, and I make sure that she’s as uncomfortable as possible. Most of us can relate to that feeling of being all alone in a strange place. That place you can’t wait to never go back to again. But for Annabel, it’s her new home. To add to the tension, a local newspaper says there’s a murderer on the loose. Not exactly something that gives you the warm and fuzzies.

Next, we move to Annabel’s father’s house and here the spooky atmosphere continues. But I start to bring in a little more of the tangible elements that give it that spooky feeling — warnings not to wander around alone at night, mysterious shadows outside in the garden, people sneaking around the house, and the basement…Father’s laboratory. The place where Annabel has been forbidden to go.

I chose to use the element of Annabel’s surroundings as a character itself. Keeping her slightly off balance even from the very beginning, and then building upon that to help the tension grow. A spooky atmosphere doesn’t always have to be abandoned cemeteries and strange roads. (Although adding in a creepy house doesn’t hurt!) Sometimes, all it takes is the slightly unsettling feeling that something in your new surroundings isn’t quite right… And if you’re anything like me, you’ll know you’ve done spooky right when you have to turn on more lights while you’re writing.

Be sure to check out tomorrow’s tour stops!

Tuesday, September 09, 2014
Mundie Moms
Review and giveaway

The Mod Podge Bookshelf
Guest post and giveaway

 

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