TO FIND A PATH THRU THE DARKNESS THAT IS HIS LOVE

 "I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. 

If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other.”
 - Mary Shelly, Frankenstein


 "When dealing with the frightening, translucence is more effective than transparency, 

just as glow is more revealing than glare."
 - Alfred Hitchcock

 Before you head off to another port of call by the Xanadu to Hunter Shea's Blog:
http://huntershea.com/

LET ME TELL YOU OF THE MECHANICS OF FEAR:

 All of us will have to write a suspenseful, scary scene no matter in what genre we write.

Films have great aids for creating scary scenes: 

music, weird camera angles, editing, music cues, performance, special visual and makeup effect.

 In prose all we have to work with are words, and our readers’ imaginations. 

The good news is that those are powerful tools.

 The ways you arrange words into sentences and sentences into paragraphs 

 can activate your readers’ psyches in ways you may not have thought possible.

 When you’re building suspense, evoking a feeling of impending doom or the terrifying fear of the unknown, 

get your reader to hold her breath. 

 Stop her from taking her next breath for longer than normal. 

And though it may seem impossible to do this with words on a page, 

be aware that we unconsciously breathe as though we’re reading aloud even when we aren’t.

EXAMPLE:

{McCord and the brilliant Lady Ada Byron Lovelace are visiting the imprisoned Vampiric Benjamin Franklin

 who is bound painfully to a bed of pure silver.

 McCord is telling Franklin that he believes the vampire might have been cured of the revenant curse.}

“I believe King Solomon's dagger severed DayStar’s and Abby’s hold on you.  In life, I’ve found it wise to believe in what works and leave theory to those safe behind ivory walls of universities.”

He laughed bitterly.  “How long can I go without … feeding?”

“Do you feel the thirst now?’

His face went blank, and he became as still as only the dead can be.  “No.  No, I cannot.  Am I free of the Thirst at long last then?”

“I believe you are.  I also believe that should you decide to … feed for the pleasure of it, you would become an animal … with no intelligence or humanity at all.  You may even go on all fours.”

Franklin had always prided himself on his intellect.  “No!  If I should feel myself weakening, I shall come to you.  If that ever occurs, sir, kill me on the spot.  On the very spot!  No hesitation.  I must never become that.  Never!  Promise me you will kill me.  Promise!”

“I promise,” I said softly.

Ada rasped, “As do I, Mr. Franklin.”

He stiffened.  “You call me mister.  A term of respect.  You feared what you would see within my cell.  Yet you entered.  You detest what I tried to do to your friend.  Yet, seeing my imprisonment, you declare to contend with that friend on my behalf.  You pledge to end me though I know that would cost you greatly.”

His eyes bled tears of blood.  “Lady Lovelace, you are a treasure for me to behold.  If I could but rise, I would kiss your hand.  As it is, I shall remember the lovely fragrance you are wearing during the long, dark hours after you leave.”

Ada’s face went leper pale.  “Th-That is a … wonderful compliment, Mr. Franklin.  America is the country it is due to your dedication and force of will.  Those two traits I am sure will see you through this dark season.”

“Will you return to visit me on occasion?”

Ada went still, and then smiled, “Certainly, I will.  Of course, Samuel will insist on coming.  He is such a stodgy traditionalist.”

Franklin nodded to me, his eyes unreadable, and turned back to Ada.  “I will look forward to those visits, Madame.”

Ada was silent until we were some distance down the dark passageway leading away from Franklin’s cell.  She stopped suddenly and began to shiver.  She gripped my arm tightly.

“Oh, Samuel.  I am wearing no perfume, none at all.  He was smelling my blood.  My blood!”

 ***

Now, off with you to Hunter Shea's Blog for my next post of my "Don't You Hate Book Tours?" Book Tour.

It will be entertaining and light-hearted.  I promise.  

Would a writer of a scene like the one above lie to you?  

McCord finds himself married to an alien capable of horrific acts.  Can he find a path through the darkness that is his love?

DON'T FORGET TO VISIT L. DIANE WOLFE'S BLOG AND MY POST THERE!
 http://circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.com/