Greetings Darklings:
Today I want to blog about the upcoming publication of my spider-infested novella, The Cult of the Spider People. Twisted Dreams Press is republishing it this August. That is not far away! I am so happy. The cover is shown in the large photo above.
Today’s post will be about the inspiration behind the creepy story, why I wrote it. That’s an interesting story in itself.
It is hard to believe it has been about three years since the book was published. How time has flown. At that time, I was distraught. My boyfriend and I broke up, and the coven turned on me. Ouch. They sided with him. Double Ouch. I was miserable, and I missed the company of my coven.
Before we broke up, I had a portentous dream that he would leave me. In the dream, I saw him literally leave me at a bus terminal. I was so upset that morning, and when I walked into the kitchen and saw a broken glass sitting in the sink full of other unwashed dishes, I was like, what’s going on here? The broken glass he bought me was significant because it was the second sign from my spirit guides. The dream was a warning of a future event. Sure enough, he did. I was devastated. Breakups are bad enough without such portentous dreams thrown into the brew. When he did leave me, it happened at the bus terminal I saw in my portentous dream. Wow. My spirit guides warned me and wanted to protect me. I didn’t want to admit it. They may have thought they were helping me by warning me, but it only made me feel worse. I can’t blame them, though.
One night at home, not long after that experience, I received a flash of inspiration about a pagan cult of spider people. I found a blank journal and fiercely began writing. I didn’t know what I would write, I just went with it. I guess that if I had not met him and the coven, and endured that terrible heartbreak and found a way through it, I would not have written the story. I wrote the entire draft by hand. I left it alone, and then I returned to it. The first draft was a mess. I thought it would be impossible to edit it, but mercifully, I found a good friend, Stephanie Ellis. She helped me whip it into shape.
I also healed my heart. I may have healed my heart by writing the book. Now we are talking real heartbreak here, not just something that went away in a day or two, like a short-term flu. No, I was writing the story by hand in a blank journal that would soon be full of all my musings, with tears in my eyes. Writing can be cathartic. I purged my suffering heart of all that pain. I am not encouraging my dear readers to get their hearts broken in order to write a novel, but the heart is powerful, and that is a lot of passion to pour into a story. That is what you want to aim for, the passion, the why behind the what, that is what you do. Hold onto the passion and your enthusiasm for a story!
You need to be prepared when such inspiration strikes! Obey that fierce instinct. Give in to it. See where your pen takes you. You must be as original as possible in today’s publishing market. The blank journal that I wrote the original draft in contains drawings, research on spiders, the story, definitions of the parts of a spider’s body, pictures I found of spider people that resembled the spider people in my story and character sketches. I will save it forever.
I suppose that by creating the vicious, bloodthirsty spider people, I demonized the witch coven that betrayed me at the time. Well…. I don’t feel too bad about that. I do hang out with the nicer coven members now. I don’t care for my ex. But he was a huge part of the inspiration for my novella. I hate him, but I don’t regret writing the novella. I see him around at the coven gatherings, but I don’t talk to him.
That must be why I have such a hard time writing the sequel. I did not remain in that dark emotional/ mental space. I healed. It feels different now every time I sit down to work on the sequel. It doesn’t feel the same. I ask myself how I created such scary characters and Piper, the heroine of the book, but when I reflect on my past experience, I think I know. Inspiration comes from strange places.
My advice is to keep writing. When it feels good, when it hurts, and when you are so angry or in a bad space. You never have to show anyone. You don’t have to edit it to death – unless you want to. Use your emotions, your bloody, beating heart’s rants, and pour it onto the page. Throw salt over your shoulder, plant lavender by your front gate, and fall in love whenever you can! See where your passion takes you!
I am happy that Twisted Dreams Press will republish my novella in August. That is so close! I shall post more here about The Cult of the Spider People in future posts. Dare to return to spidery shivers and web-crawling terror! I love the world I created, the characters that live in that world and the whole story! I just can’t wait till August 3rd! I know that there are few publishing companies that are willing to republish a book, and that is another reason to be excited!
I am counting down the days until the release date. I am so excited. My other novel, The Mourning Tide, is slated to be released in October. One more amazing reason to celebrate Samhain!
Signed copies are available upon request. The copies are print copies, not ebooks. I can mail a copy to you, if you wish.
Blessings, Spiderwitch
