Last updated 10-03-2024
Introduction
Each post in this new series will feature an author/writer’s spooky story.
Stories are by no means limited to ghosts or “traditional” paranormal encounters. All types of strange and unexplained tales are welcome! Examples include (but are definitely not limited to!) if you’ve experienced a “glitch in the Matrix”, an urban legend local to your hometown, a personal manifestation of the Nelson Mandela Effect, a dream that later turned out to be predicting the future…
Logistics
Style/Tone
Blog posts should be written in first person and have a conversational tone, like you’re telling the reader a story while huddled around a campfire, roasting marshmallows and feverishly ignoring the shifting shadows in your peripheral vision.
The “author account” part can be as brief or as long as you’d like, but try to keep it under 1000 words, for readability. The sweet spot would be 250-500 words.
Feel free to include photos to go with the story! These can be of the paranormal encounter itself (That would be AMAZING!), the setting, the Ouija board you foolishly played with, or anything else that you think sets the ambiance.
The Interview
Please choose and answer 3 of the following questions about you and/or your book, which will be included immediately following your story.
- Tell us the wildest source of inspiration for your latest project. [Ex. if you came up with part of the idea from a dream, or named a character after a dead celebrity]
- What five words would you use to convince people to buy your book?
- Who is your writing idol?
- How has your profession influenced your writing?
- Who was the biggest influence on your writing and/or your writing career?
- Do you have a peculiar writing process? Tell us about it!
- How do you do research for your writing? [Yes, I’m a librarian, but no pressure. Wikipedia’s fine. Really.]
- Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
- How do you prioritize self care and wellness into your routine?
- Are you working on a new project right now? What can you tell us about it?
- If you have a question specific to you or your project that you’d like to be asked, feel free to use that!
To facilitate the conversational tone of the interview, I will adjust the questions depending on your answers.
What I’ll Need From You:
- Your spooky true story (~250-1000 words)
- Optional: Photos to go with your story (if you don’t send any, I’ll use public domain pictures). Please include them as attachments in the email – embedded in the Word document tends to reduce the resolution
- If you have a title for your spooky story, send it over! If not, no worries, I’ll come up with something punny.
- Answers to 3 of the interview questions (see above)
- Your profile photo (file size/dimensions doesn’t matter)
- Your bio (~75-100 words)
- Your links (author website, Twitter, Facebook page/group, Instagram, and/or TikTok) if you consent to being tagged in social media posts. If you’re on Instagram, let me know if you want to be a “collaborator” on the 1st instagram post. If not, I’ll just tag you.
- A photo of your book cover
- A blurb for your book (~100 words)
- A link to buy your book
Promotion
Posts will be promoted on Instagram (both BibliOccult’s page and Helen’s page), Twitter, TikTok, and Facebook. The BibliOccult instagram will feature multiple posts with direct quotes from the blog post, including the individual interview questions and quotes from the spooky story. So, the more pictures you provide, the better!
Below is an example of an introductory Instagram post for the series.
BibliOccult 