Hocus Pocus: Another Magical Writing Lab from Ginger Hanson

Hocus Pocus: How Setting, Props, and Sensory Details 

Add Magic to Your Story

A Zoom Online Writing Lab Presented by the

 Palm Springs Writers Guild 

Friday, October 14, 2022

1:00 PM - 3:00PM Pacific Time

$45. Standard PSWG Member

$90. Non-Member

As Writing Lab Coordinator for the Palm Springs Writers Guild, I am pleased Ginger Hanson will again share her wisdom and insights on how to enrich our stories!

About Hocus Pocus: How Setting, Props, and Sensory Details Add Magic to Your Story:

Our stories invite readers to exist with our characters in a three-dimensional world we created. Our job is to convince them to stay in this world until the story ends. The wise use of setting, props, and sensory details help to entice readers to stay to The End.

In this workshop, Ginger Hanson will provide insights into how well-written, three dimensional scenes enhance your storytelling. She will focus on how to incorporate setting, props, and sensory details into your writing toolbox. 

1. Setting Up Your Story World
2. Propping Up Your Characters
3. Do Your Characters Have Sensory Deprivation?

Location:
Zoom Online Meeting

To receive a full refund minus a $25 cancellation processing fee, attendees must cancel their registration 5 days before the event. No refunds will be given after that time.

REGISTER

Unable to attend, no problem, all paid registrants will receive a video replay of this presentation.

You will receive an invitation to the Zoom online meeting after you have registered and payment is complete. Meeting begins at 1:00 p.m. and ends at 3:00 p.m.

About Ginger Hanson:

When she was 12 years old, Ginger Hanson won her first writing contest with a short story about her puppy. Encouraged by winning a pen set, the future award-winning author decided to become a writer. Her published writing runs the gamut from historical romances to Federal Aviation Administration instructional manuals. She has been a workshop presenter at national, regional, and online writers’ conferences and taught  online writing classes. In 2013, she regained the rights to her five published novels and launched Saderra Publishing, adding a novel, novella, essay collection, and two writing skills books to her collection of published works. https://www.gingerhanson.com

A Great New Mystery Novel by Lucy Foley

My September Recommended Read

AMAZON 

Book, television, and movie protagonists are a lot like real people—if I don’t initially like them, I will walk away, no matter how highly acclaimed they may be. Just such acclaim drew me to New York Times Bestseller Lucy Foley’s newest novel, THE PARIS APARTMENT. But I doubted I would warm up to the main character, Jess.

 

Two things kept me reading.

 

Firstly, I remembered how some reviewers of my book, SPELL FIRE, said they were glad they stuck with the book despite their initial misgivings about the heroine, a teen desperately trying to hide her obsessive compulsive disorder and depression from her warring parents.

 

Secondly, I was raised on Agatha Christie novels and I can’t resist a challenge. (I was delighted to discover Foley had employed a subtle homage to one of Christie’s most controversial books!)

 

THE PARIS APARTMENT is not for readers who eschew stories told from multiple points of view. Though I felt the author did an excellent job creating distinct characters, an intriguing mystery, and delicious plot twists. Agatha Christie would have been proud.

 

“Mental illness has a stigma attached to it and having such a character was risky. I fell in love with her the first time she washed her hands, and the 100th. Because, like may young adult books, it was written from our Ainslie's point of view it was like peaking into someone’s diary, almost. I am all smushy inside I liked this book so much!” 

                                                                                                        ~Amazon Reviewer

AMAZON          BARNES AND NOBLE        RAKUTEN KOBO

My August Recommended Read

I loved Julie Garwood's recent release, GRACE UNDER FIRE. Garwood brilliantly built tension, sexual and otherwise, and set up the protagonist's flaw so that the reader has a gleeful, here-we-go! moment at a vital point in the story. Terrific world building and believable characters further enrich this page turning novel. GRACE UNDER FIRE is a fun end-of-summer or any time read.

Enjoy!

New Zoom Class on Scene & Sequel

 Last Day to Sign Up For "Mastering Scene & Sequel"

Presented by Ariella Moon

Friday, August 12, 2022

1:00 pm - 3:00 pm Pacific Standard Time

Online Zoom Writing Lab

All registrants will receive a presentation recording 

With “Mastering Scene and Sequel,” writers will learn:

 

·     The core psychology behind scene structure

·     How to set up action scenes followed by reaction scenes

·     The specific duties and obligations of scenes 

·     How to craft mission driven scenes 

·     How to “cut and thrust”

·     How to strategically place and vary scenes

 

Ariella Moon invites you to join her for this informative and interactive writing lab. If time permits, Ariella will guide each attendee on the live zoom call with an analysis of a brief scene from their work in progress. Please have your scene handy!

#writing class #writingcraft #fictionwriters #writinglab #PalmSpringsWritersGuild #AriellaMoon #storystructure 

#aspiringauthors #AriellaMoon

 

The Jade Ring Now Available for Pre-order!

 I am so excited for my friend Linda Brown Carlson on the publication of her debut novel, The Jade Ring

If you love historical fantasy novels and are intrigued by reincarnation love stories, this is the book for you!

Learn more and Linda's website: Linda Brown Carlson

Happy reading!

Exciting Summer Book News!

The Viking Mist 

Is Now Available in Paperback!

Amazon.com

Here in the hot California desert, people don't just read by the pool, they read in the pool.

E-readers are great, but for reading outside in the summer, paperback books top my Must Have list. Now you have a choice when it comes to reading The Viking Mist, a historical fantasy adventure with strong heroines, time travel, and an epic tale of Love and Magic. 

Click any link to shop or read an excerpt. 

Paperback

Kindle

Kobo

Barnes and Noble

Happy reading!

~Ariella

 

New Zoom Class On Writing Dialogue

 

"As you wish: The Power of Dialogue"

Presented by Ginger Hanson

A Palm Springs Writers Guild Writing Lab

Friday, May 13, 2022

1:00 PM -3:00 PM  PST

Zoom Online Meeting

Ginger Hanson

An award-winning author, Ginger Hanson has written everything from historical romance novels to Federal Aviation Administration instructional manuals. She launched Saderra Publishing, a micro publishing company of her works in 2013. A workshop presenter at writers' conferences as well as schools and libraries, she enjoys sharing what she’s learned about writing.

99 Cents on Kindle

"As you wish, The Power of Dialogue" 

The phrase “As you wish” firmly planted the character Wesley (The Princess Bride) in pop culture. William Goldman, the author, was a prolific writer noted for his talent in writing dialogue. Dialogue is not a natural skill for every writer, but improving that skill can be. 

In this workshop, Ginger Hanson will provide insights into how well-written dialogue enhances storytelling. She will focus on dialogue pitfalls to avoid as well as how to incorporate body language, props, and setting to give your dialogue more depth.

Unable to attend, no problem, all paid registrants will receive a video replay of this presentation.

You will receive an invitation to the Zoom online meeting after you have registered and payment is complete. Meeting begins at 1:00 p.m. and ends at 3:00 p.m.

Register HERE

$45. PSWG members and students

$90. Non-Member

I hope to see you on zoom this Friday, May 13, 2022, when I introduce my good friend, Ginger Hanson. 

Until then, be kind and magical.

Vote For Your Favorite Book Cover!

The Viking Mist cover is up for Book Cover of the Week! 

Let's show some love for cover artist Amanda Matthews! To vote for Amanda's fabulous cover, or to peruse the nominated covers in the Creme De la Creme Cover Contest, hop over to InD'tale Magazine.  

Exciting News as we move through the Dark Moon. The Viking Mist is now available on Nook!

 

 

Travel The Two Realms to the Bosta Iron Age House

 Bernera, near the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

Photo by Ariella Moon

 

Your steps will quicken when you cross the short wooden bridge that leads to the Bosta (Bostadh) Iron Age House, a must-see experience for travelers in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. As you take note of the babbling brook, and the emerald upward sloping glen dotted with daisies and buttercups, you may feel transported to a Tolkien shire.

The Bosta house is semi-subterranean, with only the tops of the double walls and the timber roof visible above ground. These were covered with sodded peat during my visit. The peat, the knowledgeable docent explained, had proven to be quite delicious to the hungry local rabbits. From some angles, the dwelling blended so well with the surrounding glen, one barely noticed it. Small details like this is why, as a novelist researching settings for The Viking Mist Great Bernera (often referred to as just Bernera) proved to be such a treasure trove.

Photo by Ariella Moon

Photo by Ariella Moon

The only door is accessed via a few stone steps that curve downward toward a very low opening with a heavy stone lintel. The design was meant to prevent wind from blowing the door open. But for my novel, I imagined the semi-subterranean structure, with its hidden-from-sight door, as excellent camouflage and defense against Viking intruders. But what if the design inadvertently blocked a Halfling on a desperate quest to find a potion stolen by the human mother he never knew?

Excerpt from The Viking Mist

He had almost missed the low, oval farmhouse, cleverly hidden behind a berm and topped with a sod roof. Had the sun’s last rays not glanced across the sheep in their hidden pen, he would have leapt past it. His sudden appearance had set the sheep crowding and bleating. Certain he had landed in the right garden next to the pen where he had seen his mother, he now waited, hoping it was her behind that door.

Shivering from nerves, he drew his cloak tightly around his body. The breeze iced, carrying the musty, metallic stench of Cold Iron. His chest tightened, and his skin beneath the serpent bracelet burned.

Author Ariella Moon. Photo by Kenzi Morison-Knox
Bernera, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

Thank you for visiting the Two Realms with me! There is so much more to see, but for now I must return to writing the sequel to The Viking Mist.

Until next time, be kind and magical. Happy reading!

~Ariella

Standing Stones: Places of Power, Pilgrimage, and Ritual

 

Travel The Two Realms: The Callanish Stones, Isle of Lewis, 

Outer Hebrides, Scotland

 

Photo credit: Ariella Moon

Have you ever noticed faces in boulders or seen standing stones that resembled people? Spirits embedded in stones may appear alien, their faces distorted like a Picasso Cubist painting. There may be multiple faces and figures on a single standing stone. Some, like some of the Callanish* Stones on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, unmistakably resemble humans who, while gathered in ritual, were struck by a malevolent or accidental spell and turned to stone.

The Callanish Stones were first mentioned in print around 1680 in A Description of the Lewis by John Morisone Indweller There:

 

“There are great stones standing up in ranks, some two or three foot thick and 10, 12, and 15 foot high; It is left by traditione that these were a sort of men converted into stones by ane Inchanter…”

 

I made my first pilgrimage to the Callanish Stones years before writing The Amber Elixir (Book 1.5 in the Two Realms) and returned there in 2017. On both visits, I was so struck by the human-like appearance of some of the megaliths, that I created a subplot in the novella where Merlin’s spell turned two handmaidens of the Lady of the Lake into stone. 

The Lunar Standstill

 

In 2017, famed amateur archaeologist Margaret Curtis was scheduled to meet with our small tour group to discuss her findings at Callanish, which encompasses four sites. I was anxious to hear more about her theory about the Lunar Standstill, which inspired a major plot point in The Viking Mist. Alas, she was ill and unable to join us. Ms. Curtis’s photos of the Lunar Standstill at Callanish, which occurs every 18.61 years, can be seen here. The next opportunity to see this phenomenon will be in 2025. 

 

Ritual at the Callanish Stones

 

A druid friend once told me that standing stones are like acupuncture needles in the earth—they conduct energy, the universal life force known as chi. Having visited major standing stones complexes including Stonehenge, Avebury, and the Callanish Stones, as well as minor stone circles that dot the English and Scottish countryside, I have noticed that many stones feel energetically walled off—shut down.

 

How can you awaken the energy? Enter these sites as the ancestors during the Bronze Age might have—ritualistically. Some stone circles have two obvious Guardian Stones that you must pass between, leaving behind the mundane realm and entering the mystical. Not so at Callanish.

Photo Credit: Dr. Gail Higginbottom and Roger Clay/RCAHMS

 

The Callanish Stones form a Celtic cross (cruciform or dragonfly) with a central stone circle. To enter the main site as the druids might have, access it from the north, away from the car park and visitor center. With this approach, you walk between two rows of standing stones that form a long avenue. (Imagine a cathedral’s nave.) By the time you reach the stone circle with its imposing central stone and cairn, you will have mentally and physically transitioned from the ordinary to the non-ordinary realm.

Photo Credit: Ariella Moon

 

Pilgrimage

 

Like most pilgrimages, the journey to the Callanish Stones is, for most, long. First you have to reach Ullapool on mainland Scotland, then take 2-hour, 45-minute ferry ride (Climb to the top, front room for comfortable seats and a spellbinding view!) to Stornoway, then a 12 mile drive. Or travel to Uist on the Isle of Skye and ferry to Tarbert on the Isle of Harris, and then drive north. Both ferry services accept foot passengers and vehicles. As always when you travel the Two Realms, the journey is well worth your time.

 

 

*Historic Scotland uses a Gaelic spelling, Calanais.

Next Tuesday we travel to Bernera to discover an Iron Age House. 

Until then, stay kind and magical.

Copyright 2022 Ariella Moon

The Red Bard and the Loch Ness Monster

                         Travel The Two Realms, Part Three
                                       Loch Ness, Scotland

 

Loch Ness, Scotland

The ruins of Urquhart Castle overlook the blue-gray waters of Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands, located about twenty-three miles southwest of Inverness. Reports of a monster living in the great depths of the freshwater loch have surfaced from ancient times until as recently as April 7, 2022 (Monster Sightings Register). 

Saint Columba and Nessie

Even the Irish monk Saint Columba, best known for Celtic Christianity, the isle of Iona, and having been found guilty by the High King of illegally copying a religious text, claimed in 562 AD to have encountered the water beast. While staying near the mouth of the River Ness, Columba heard rumors of the monster. So he directed a follower to swim into the river. According to Columba, when the monster appeared, he banished the creature to Loch Ness.

Alas, when I visited the famed site, “Nessie” was nowhere to be found, except as brightly colored toys in the Nessie Shop at the Loch Ness Centre and Exhibition. At the time, I had little thought of including the famed loch, or its monster, in my Two Realms fantasy book series.

Years later I realized Loch Ness, geographically and historically, was an ideal fit for my fictional Scottish landscape. So I gave “Nessie” a fresh twist. But what truly clinched my decision to feature Loch Ness monster in The Viking Mist was a historical figure named “The Red Bard.”

 

As William D. McEachern describes in his book, Caledonia: A Song of Scotland, a dispute in the 1400s over ownership of Urquhart Castle eventually led the rightful, but impoverished castle owner, the Earl of Huntly, to lease the castle to Sir Duncan Grant of Freuchie. Upon Grant's death, the castle was bequeathed to his grandson, John "the Red Bard," who returned the castle to its past glory, "and ran the estates efficiently and with justice."

No writer could pass up a great name like the Red Bard. So I created  a contentious fictional backstory between my characters' ancestors and the prior owners of Urquhart Castle. 

Tensions spike when the Thaness of Thorburn finds herself not only on enemy land, but face-to-face with the famed monster of Loch Ness.

            KINDLE            KOBO

Should you find yourself traveling the Two Realms, venture to Loch Ness and drink in its beauty. Who knows? You may spot something unusual in the water!

In next Tuesday's Travel The Two Realms, we will explore the mystical Callanish Stones (Gaelic: Calanais) on the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Meanwhile, you can visit The Two Realms on my Pinterest board.

Until then, stay kind and magical.

Ariella

Copyright 2022 Ariella Moon

Happy National Tartan Day!

 

Cameron Tartan,
Crown Copyright, Scottish Register of Tartans

April 6 is National Tartan Day in North America. But I wanted to include fans in the UK with a special Kindle Countdown Sale. After all, the Two Realms series takes place in medieval England and Scotland, and Fairy.

UK lovers of fantasy, shape-shifters, Arthurian legends, fairies, and strong heroines can find The Beltane Escape Kindle Countdown HERE until April 9, 2022. 

But National Tartan Day is celebrated in North America. So in recognition of my Scottish heritage, I featured (above) the ancient Clan Cameron tartan (my mother's clan).

The Scots are great storytellers. My mother was a wonderful writer. As a child, I loved to sit behind her as she tapped away on her typewriter, spinning a new novel or crafting her African memoir. What a satisfying sound when she pulled a finished page from her ancient Corona. 

Here's to Scots everywhere, and to magical lands and legends. And if you'd like to binge on a series inspired by the Motherland, I invite you to explore The Beltane Escape, The Amber Elixir, and The Viking Mist.

Make your mum proud!

Happy reading, 

                                                                     Ariella

Copyright 2022 by Ariella Moon

The Paranormal Cave Guardians of Iona

                                                    Travel The Two Realms: Iona, Scotland

Part Two

The chilly June morning promised rain as my daughter and I joined a few of our fellow travellers and our guide Scot to the landing where the sailboat Birthe Marie and Captain Mark awaited us. While sailing around Iona, we pulled into a quiet cove, disturbing a colony of seals resting on a narrow island. A few disappeared into the water as we approached. A delightful young seal kept a consistent distance from us as it swam in a half-circle around the boat, popping up here and there to check on us.

Captain Mark of the
Birthe Marie

 

After tea and shortbread thins to warm us, we reversed course. Now heading against the wind, Captain Mark switched from sail to motor to propel us through the choppy blue-gray, green-tinged waves.
Eyeing the coast, a sinister sight skipped my pulse. Where two rocky hills almost met, stood the blackest of black caves. The downward point of a giant boulder wedged between the two hills stabbed the cave opening. Malevolent eyes set in a circular, seemingly disembodied face, stared at us from the cave’s dark maw. 
Not a human face. Not an animal face. Something else.
What is it? I wondered, my knuckles whitening as I tightened my grip on the ship rail.

I had to find a way to include this frightening sight in The Viking Mist. Here is a brief excerpt from the published novel:

Barely visible in the mist-dimmed light, and hunched in the depression between two rocky peaks, nestled the blackest of black caves. ’Tis as I remember, Disa thought when she spied the long, narrow boulder wedged into the cave’s roof; its distinctive downward point, as pale and sharp as a dragon’s fang, impaled the darkness just inside the hollow’s inky maw.

Beneath the stone tooth, two glowing amber eyes popped open, piercing the impenetrable gloom.

Disa stiffened and held her breath.

The disembodied orbs scanned the calm sea within the island ring. Then, as if sensing her human presence, the predatory eyes narrowed and searched beyond the inner waters, halting to fasten their malevolent gaze upon her.

In the fixedness of that stare, the monster and years faded, and as though bewitched, Disa saw instead the half mad glare of the Norse slaver and the smear of blood across the man’s knuckles when he grabbed her wrist and little Bree’s arm. Fear stole the strength from Disa’s limbs, and the oars clattered at her feet as a silent scream rose from her core.

                         AMAZON KINDLE                 KOBO

As we continued back to Iona, Captain Mark steered us into another quiet cove, where we encountered a giant boulder wedged between two cliffs. To the right of the gap, a naturally formed basalt staircase named "the Fairy Stairs," rises to nowhere. Magic is all around us!

In next Tuesday's Travel The Two Realms, we will explore Scotland's Loch Ness. Meanwhile, you can visit The Two Realms on my Pinterest board.

Until next week, stay kind and magical.

Copyright March 2022 by Ariella Moon