What Frightens You?

What frightens you? What makes your blood run cold, makes your teeth chatter, scares you to death? Ah, yes, all clichés which writers hate. Hmmm, maybe clichés scare you off from reading a piece?

Does a little mouse darting across the kitchen floor scare you? How about snakes, spiders, bugs? All real things that can set a heart pumping.

Then there are the creatures like Frankenstein, monsters, zombies, werewolves. Are they fantasy or actually walking around in our world?

How about the staircase leading to the unknown, the face of the serial killer reflecting in your mirror, the hand reaching out of the grave, the bloody dagger on the floor of the car, the dark room containing mysterious sounds…

Does one of these scary things cause your heart to pound faster and your mind to whirl more than another? Is a mouse skittering across your toes comparable to spotting a Zombie? Are there various degrees of horror for you?

What scares you the most? Now, don’t say your mother-in-law!

A skilled horror writer can make even the tiniest mouse sighting become frightening to the reader. Using words to paint the picture in the reader’s mind and build the suspense allows even the mundane to take on the aspect of horror.

My best girlfriend laughed when I told her my book, Sunshine Boulevard, contained elements of light horror. She said you can’t have light horror. That’s like being a little pregnant. Scary is scary.  I tried to explain that it is light horror as opposed to dark. No torture, blood and guts.

I must admit the story does include some frightening stuff as well as secrets and suspense. It also has lighthearted comedy mixed in with the everyday lives of the folks in Florida’s senior golf resort community.

                                                 

What frightens you? Leave a comment here to tell us.

Every commenter’s’ name will be saved in a handsome oak coffin for a drawing to win the PDF of my mystery/horror novella, e-book, Sunshine Boulevard. Be sure to leave your email address so you can be notified. Yes, that’s all you have to do to be a winner here at the J Q Rose blog. The coffin will be opened to draw out the lucky winner’s name on November 1. I promise not to disturb the body lying in repose. Good luck!

Now trudge on over to visit more blogs listed at the coffin hop website. You can win even more prizes!!

While you are hopping about in cyberspace, you're invited to join me at Jane Richardson's website for the One Link Lowdown  Jane asks fun questions and even makes me tell a fib. Hope to see you there!

Join in on the Coffin Hop Horror Web Tour Oct. 24-31

It's the chillingly perfect time of year to savor all that is frightening, spooky, scary, and just plain fun! 

October is here and so is the Coffin Hop Horror Web Tour!!

October 24-31, 2011


What better month than October for horror writers to crawl out of their coffins and spread the Halloween spirit!


Are you interested in winning great horror fiction and Halloween goodies the week of October 24-31, 2011? 


Go to the Coffin Hop Site to discover participating authors' websites. Each author has a contest to enter on their site. 


Over 80 chances to win!

MEET AND MINGLE WITH THE AUTHORS! EXPERIENCE A NEW DESTINATION AT EVERY STOP! PARTICIPATE IN EVERY SITE'S CONTEST AND BE ENTERED FOR CHANCES TO WIN MULTIPLE PRIZES! EVERY BLOG VISITED IS ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO WIN!

5) PARTICIPATION AT ALL SITES IS RECOMMENDED, BUT NOT REQUIRED. THE MORE SITES YOU HOP, THE BETTER YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING PRIZES.


Be sure to return to this site for a Halloween story this week and visit the other author sites  all week long. Find a list of participating authors at the Coffin Hop Blog Tour Site.