Sunday 16 February 2014

Inspiration and Ambience

This blog is designed to act as a companion to our main website www.chuffedbuffbooks.com and will involve a weekly series of themed discussions to supplement our latest short-story call out for tales of mystery, suspense and terror inspired by, and in the style of, 19th century ghost stories. This is the third blog in the series.

The aim of these blogs is to facilitate a flow of ideas between readers and writers. So whether you’re a ghost story aficionado, a prospective author or merely curious, please have a read and share your comments! There will be a new blog posted each week throughout the submission window (1st February – 31st May 2014; further details regarding the terms and conditions for the callout can be located here). You can also follow the discussion or join in via twitter using #talesomst_CBB.

This week our blog is all about inspiration and atmosphere and follows from our post last week where we noted that the story 'Schalken the Painter' by Sheridan Le Fanu was inspired by artwork by the Dutch genre and portrait painter Godfried Schalcken (1643-1706).

Readers: when you sit down to read a spooky tale; do you like to create a moody atmosphere to boost the chill? Do you read by candlelight listening to the sound of the winding howling outside your window? Or are you a more social creature; telling tales to friends and family around a campfire or a fireplace, sharing the anticipation and tension, and savouring the terror in the eyes of your listeners!

Authors: when you’re trying to put your spooky thoughts to paper, do you create an atmosphere to get in the mood?

I find Gregorian chant perfect background music for writing atmospheric passages. Although I also find the broody tones of Beethoven, Bach or Requiem masses similarly satisfying. I definitely prefer writing in a dimly lit room; either lit by a single light at my desk or by candlelight. Flickering shadows can be very inspirational.

I also find location spotting fertile ground for inspiration. Castles, cathedrals and graveyards all prove very helpful when composing a descriptive scene and offer ample opportunity for imaginative meanderings. Lastly, but a personal favourite muse, is an art gallery, especially one that offers late evening viewings.  Perhaps the viewing of historical images helps to bring the past closer? Certainly, I find that artistic imagery proves most helpful when attempting to detail an authentic perspective. And from an inspirational viewpoint, perhaps artwork is most beneficial due to limitations imposed by the perspective rather than clarity; sometimes it's less what is shown, but more what is excluded which compels the imagination. In which case, I find older is often better.

So please share your thoughts with us and tell us what inspires you! We hope you may have found this blog inspirational.

Join us next week when we will be discussing and searching for true ghost stories!

Sunday 9 February 2014

Which is your gold medal ghost story?

This blog is designed to act as a companion to our main website www.chuffedbuffbooks.com and will involve a weekly series of themed discussions to supplement our latest short-story call out for tales of mystery, suspense and terror inspired by, and in the style of, 19th century ghost stories. This is the second blog in the series.

The aim of these blogs is to facilitate a flow of ideas between readers and writers. So whether you’re a ghost story aficionado, a prospective author or merely curious, please have a read and share your comments! There will be a new blog posted each week throughout the submission window (1st February – 31st May 2014; further details regarding the terms and conditions for the callout can be located here). You can also follow the discussion or join in via twitter using #talesomst_CBB.

In honour of the commencement of the Sochi Olympics, this week our blog-post is suitably Olympic themed. There are hundreds of supernatural stories which have been written, but which one is your favourite? Which one is your personal gold medal winner? Which one really put the chill down your spine and made you rise from your seat to light another lamp?

As the options within this genre are so abundant, please limit your selections to stories by the main 19th century ghost story authors: M. R. James, Sheridan LeFanu or Edgar Allen Poe. Please let us know which is your favourite tale of ghoulish goodness, and why!

So to start things off, I thought I'd share my current favourite: 'Schalken the Painter' by Sheridan Le Fanu. I especially enjoy the way that Le Fanu draws the reader into this tale allowing the tension to slowly build as the story progresses. Though the writing style is descriptive, details remain limited to what is required to ensure clarity whilst allowing the readers imagination to consider horrors too dark to tell. This ensures a lasting impact when the developing tension finally reaches the climax. Terror in this tale is achieved without gore and when the story is complete, the reader is left with questions which can never be fully answered by the living. Truly a classic!

So join in and tell us which story you think is best. To offer time for reading and selection, we will aim to establish a ghost story podium by the end of the callout, May 31, to be detailed in our first blog post in June 2014.

Finally, the story 'Schalken the Painter' by Sheridan Le Fanu was inspired by art. This tale had been inspired by the atmospheric effect of artworks by the Dutch genre and portrait painter Godfried Schalcken (1643-1706).

Thus, following from this note, the theme for next week will be inspiration and ambience.
Authors: what props, if any, do you use for inspiration?
Readers: do you try to establish an ambience when settling in to read or share ghost stories?

Join us as we share our thoughts next week!

Saturday 1 February 2014

Readers, what tickles your dark side?


This blog is intended to act as a companion to our main website www.chuffedbuffbooks.com and will involve a series of themed discussions to supplement our latest short-story call out for tales of mystery, suspense and terror inspired by, and in the style of, 19th century ghost stories.

So whether you’re a ghost story aficionado, a prospective author or merely curious, please take a look and join in! There will be a new blog posted each week throughout the submission window (1st February – 31st May 2014; further details regarding the terms and conditions can be located here). You can also follow the discussion or join in via twitter using #talesomst_CBB.

To help launch this project, it seems appropriate to engage our prospective readers in our first post. For all those who love ghost stories and gothic fiction, this is your chance to give your suggestions about the ghost story you wish had been written or that you’d most want to read. I’ve always felt that the chilling potential of will-o’-the-wisp remain under represented in ghost story fiction. So what themes do you feel remain absent from the current literature? Share your thoughts to inspire our prospective authors and perhaps you will be suitably rewarded!
 
Join in, be intrigued or just sit back, relax and enjoy the discussion. The aim is to create a collection of chilling tales to intrigue, delight and terrify, and which we hope you’ll enjoy reading as much as we’ll enjoy putting together!

For our prospective authors: If you are seeking inspiration, bookmark this page and perhaps you may find just the thrilling seed that you were searching for!


P. Michaelson