Tuesday Guest Post: Liv Rancourt

Thanks, Pamela, for the chance to be your guest here on the blog. It looks like I’m in some good company!

So, I wanted to talk about my short story “An Accidental Witch” from the anthology Beltane: Ten Tales of Witchcraft. It’s a fun little story, but kind of a departure for a good Catholic like me. I mean, I’m the go-to girl if you have questions about Gregorian chant, but witchcraft? Not so much.

So what went into the spell that created “An Accidental Witch”? Well, it was…

One Part Stephanie Plum…Okay, I L-U-V-Love Janet Evanovich and I’m not ashamed to admit it. She does so many things right in her books! If I sound like I want to be her, it’s because I do.

One Part Connie’s (handsome!) older brother…When I was in high school, my friend Connie’s brother Richard was away at school at Notre Dame. His periodic holiday visitations were always a cause for fluttering. And, yeah, their family is Portuguese. Why make stuff up when real life hands you a character?

One Part prompting from the editor…I can’t remember if it was email or twitter, but Rayne (Hall, a truly amazing editor!) & I were bouncing ideas back and forth, and one of her suggestions had to with examining the differences between witches who actually practice and those who are just in it for show.

That resulted in…

One Part actual philosophical debate…I’ve done some reading about Wicca/witchcraft/Paganism, and while as a religion it’s a lot less structured than, say, Catholicism, there are many, many seekers out there. I think in ANY religion you can find people who are just Acting, as opposed to sincerely searching, and I was trying to play with that a little here.

One Part sleep deprivation…I knew Rayne had a deadline and so I was feeling a little bit of pressure, because while I’d promised to come up with something, the actual specifics of that something were a wee bit vague. Or even nonexistent. I  worked a Thursday night shift and went to bed Friday morning, waking up after only three or four hours. And walking across the bedroom floor that afternoon, I had the story. I wrote it up before bed that night and emailed the draft to Rayne the next day.

And

One Part luck…Seriously? A 5,000 word story in a day? If that ain’t luck, I don’t know what is.

So there you have it. No Eye of Newt required. Just a little life experience and freaky-fan-girl love, and you’ve got “An Accidental Witch”. I hope you check it out, along with all the other great stories in Beltane: Ten Tales of Witchcraft. And have a Happy Halloween, or Samhain, or All Souls Day, or whatever you choose to celebrate!

Peace,

Liv

An Accidental Witch (Excerpt)

By

Liv Rancourt

A little harmless magic nearly turns into more than this Wiccan can handle.

Just for the record, I’m not a witch. I practice Wicca, which is a slightly different thing. Stop. I can hear you groaning from here, and can assure you that I do NOT take myself too seriously, and I DO have a sense of humor.

About some things.

My friend Maybelle, on the other hand, is an actual witch. She and her coven are out to change the world with a series of “Magicks” with a capital M. They’re showy but relatively harmless. They gather in the forest wearing lots of drapey fabric, cast their circle, light candles, chant, and dance, and when that drapey fabric interferes with their dancing, they take much of it off. It can be pretty wild stuff for a bunch of girls from Shelburne Falls, a little town on the western edge of Massachusetts that’s better known for its touristy “Bridge of Flowers” than for witchcraft. We live in the shadow of Salem, but the coven can fly their broomsticks under the radar here.

Maybelle and I met for dinner about once a month. October was my month to choose the restaurant, so we were at Pizza Carvahlo, the best restaurant on Main Street. It happened to be run by one Richard Carvahlo, whose hearty Portuguese nose, strong woodworker’s hands, and fiery black eyes had been out of my league since high school. Just as I indulged Maybelle’s tales of Magicks, she indulged my mooning over Richard. It was a level playing field.

On this night, my favorite witch was late, which was unusual. When she finally bustled in, she had on a floor-length black hooded cape that latched in front with a series of buckles made out of old cogs and gears. Underneath was a purple velvet gown with a black corset laced up the front. She had on huge hoop earrings big enough for me to put my fist through, and her loopy salt-n-pepper curls were tied up in a messy bun on the top of her head. Apparently the coven was experimenting with Steampunk. It was all I could do not to giggle

She dropped into the seat across from me. “I have got the biggest news ever.”

I swallowed a mouthful of water, using the sweating glass to hide my grin. “Really? Ever? Like, bigger than the time you and the girls tried to recruit high school seniors for that meditation marathon?” Because eighteen year olds are the most focused creatures on this planet. I swear.

“Charlotte.” She looked at me sternly over the top of her wire-framed glasses. “That would have totally worked if they hadn’t kept trying to make out with each other over by the rest rooms.”

This time I grinned openly, remembering her story of how the circle kept getting smaller and smaller as the students snuck off for bathroom breaks…and didn’t make it back. “Yeah, and that’s not counting the ones who were over by the creek smoking pot.” My tone of voice might have been a wee bit sarcastic. See, I do have a sense of humor.

“Well, this is much a much bigger deal, anyway.”

I flipped open the laminated menu, pulling myself away from Maybelle’s drama to do a quick scan of the room. No Richard sightings. Darn. “Okay, don’t keep me in suspense. What’s going on?”

Beltane: Ten Tales of Witchcraft is available from Amazon and Smashwords.

Liv Rancourt writes paranormal and romance, often at the same time. She lives with her husband, two teenagers, two cats and one wayward puppy. She likes to create stories that have happy endings, and finds it is a good way to balance her other job in the neonatal intensive care unit. Liv can be found on-line at her website & blog (www.livrancourt.com), on Facebook (www.facebook.com/liv.rancourt), or on Twitter (www.twitter.com/LivRancourt).

 

 

Friday Guest Post: Karen Heard

Most of my short stories can take months to write. However when Rayne Hall, the editor of  Beltane: Ten tales of Witchcraft told me she needed a final story as soon as possible, I knew I had to produce something of quality in a very short space of time. From contributing to Scared: Ten Tales of Horror, and reading the other work in Rayne’s collections, I knew that she set a high bar for the quality of work she accepts. I knew it had to be something special.

I didn’t have any suitable ideas in my head, and so thought I was going to have to decline the offer. However, as I was walking home along the Southbank, looking at the patterns in the river-side sand, an image came into my head of a strange ethereal girl floating across the sand. She had long white hair and instantly I knew her name would be Alba: a girl with a secret identity. I saw her stumble across a body lying in the sand, but that only Alba, with her secret knowledge, could sense that some unnatural force had killed the girl. I knew instantly that I had to write that story.

Sometimes, it helps with the creative process to have a loose brief. Not only did the theme of witchcraft inspire me, but as I knew the story would be part of a collection, it encouraged me to come up with an idea slightly different to the other stories. I wanted to describe Alba in the language similar to that used for magical realism to evoke the mystical quality she possessed. However, as soon as I saw Alba on that beach - the only person able to see what had happened - I knew she would have to be the one to solve the mystery herself, and so wanted the story to be, at heart, a detective story. I hoped this would be an unusual twist on the witchcraft theme.

I wrote the outline of the story in half an hour, as I walked along the Thames that first day, stopping every few minutes to scribble down another scene whilst the lunchtime workers rushed around me. Rewriting then took me quite another couple of weeks, with the occasional nudge from Rayne to keep me motivated.

I wanted to make the work evocative by capturing the smells and feelings that Alba experiences. However I also wanted to show Alba from an outside point of view, as, with her secret past, she is as much of a puzzle as the murder. In the end I introduced a detective: Sergeant Taylor, to also investigate the murders from an official point of view. The two narratives hopefully complement each other and towards the end, when the two stories combine, they help the reader make sense of what each person finds out.

Part of the joy of writing for a collection is when the finished version comes out and you can read the other stories and enjoy being a part of something. When I read Beltane: Ten Tales of Witchcraft I felt proud to be included among so many other varied and thought provoking tales. I really enjoyed reading them all, and I hope you will give them a chance too.

Beltane: Ten Tales of Witchcraft is available on Amazon at: http://amzn.to/RilxxJ

To read more dark short stories by Karen Heard, check out her new collection: It’s Dark Inside available at: http://amzn.to/UM5OgD

Friday Guest Post: Debra Dunbar

Can an Un-Cool Mom Write Young Adult Stories?  

My short story Love Magick, in Beltane: Ten Tales of Witchcraft, is about a teen girl who has to face her fears after performing a love spell for the wrong reasons.

The protagonist, Blossom, is Wiccan. I’ve met some parents who have raised their children in the Wiccan faith, and I always wondered how that might affect them in a predominantly Christian society, especially with the social pressure of High School. I was a practicing neo-pagan for quite a while after college, and participated in a variety of rituals including Wiccan ones, so that part of the story was relatively easy to formulate. But the young adult part. . .

The problem is I’m a 47 year old, ‘un-cool mom’ who usually writes very adult urban fantasy novels. And to make matters worse, I don’t often read young adult novels. I skimmed through Twilight just to understand what the heck my niece was talking about. And I did read Hunger Games, although with the gut wrenching death toll I’m not sure I’d consider it young adult. That’s it. So what’s a writer to do when there’s a short story begging to be brought to life? I pulled from my imagination, blew the cobwebs off the memories of my teen years, pulled together conversations with my oldest son, my niece, the girls from the riding stable. But how could I be sure what I wrote is accurate in today’s world? How could I be sure my ‘un-cool mom’ wasn’t ruining the story?

Beta readers.

 I use beta readers for my novels, and they are a valuable resource for feedback. Of course, my current beta readers were not really suitable to provide feedback on a young adult romance. I needed teen girls. Ones with varied interests and social standing among their peers. I checked with friends that I knew had teen daughters, and also with the girls from the barn and came up with five willing to look at my story and give feedback. One was a young teen with a family background in Wicca. Another was a self-labeled ‘geeky girl’. One was very involved in 4H and FFA activities, and two were from my riding stable. Out of five, three sent me feedback. Given that I have a hard time getting my son to turn in his homework, I was thrilled that three responded.

And the feedback was invaluable. All three validated my assumption that young love, mean girls, and high school social dynamics hasn’t changed much in thirty years. All three identified strongly with my main character, Blossom, and everyone knew a ‘Sheila’ at their school. They gave me valuable insight into slang, especially concerning the intricate meaning of ‘hook-up’, and how ‘crush’ had fallen into middle-school usage. Originally the title of the short story was Love Charm, but I learned that the word charm is strongly associated with ‘charm bracelets’ which are considered middle school. Using the word ‘charm’ extensively would turn high school readers off and age-down the story. I came out of the experience feeling like quite the sociologist!

I hope you enjoy Love Magick, and the other great stories in Beltane: Ten Tales of Witchcraft. For more information on my novels, and to check out my blog posts, book and movie reviews, just stop by http://debradunbar.com.

Author Bio: 
Debra Dunbar lives on a farm in Frederick County, Maryland with her family and a multitude of four legged friends. Her novels feature supernatural elements in local settings. In addition to her young adult short story, LOVE MAGICK, included in the anthology BELTANE: TEN TALES OF WITCHCRAFT, she also has published an urban fantasy novel A DEMON BOUND, the first novel in her Imp Series.

Samantha Martin, is an imp living among humans. She tries to keep her identity a secret, but when she spots an angel one night, clearly hunting demons, the imp comes out of the bag. Sam ends up smack in the middle of trouble, dragging her human neighbor, Wyatt, along for the ride. 

A DEMON BOUND is available in paperback and Kindle at Amazon.com, Nook at Barnes and Noble, and a variety of formats at Smashwords.com.