Miss Polly had a dolly, but instead of a real dolly, it was her daughter, Nina, that she protected from everyone and everything. Instead of being allowed to play with other children and get dirty, she was paraded around to show off how beautiful she was. Then she finally gets to talk to a boy,…
Are you looking for idioms and words that can be used to set a creepy tone to your scene or story? Do you want to use words that will send shivers up your readers’ spines? Is it your desire for those who hold your book in their hands to be frozen with fear? Will they…
The Protestant Reformation was not a time of peace. Travel back to the years 1524 and 1531 to a village in Switzerland near Zürich. This tumultuous time of change makes its presence known firsthand to the Schneebeli household in 1524 when the latest baby arrives two months early and leaves this world only a few…
Murder takes place in a small Denmark town, one where the last murder took place twenty-five years ago. This time, there’s not just one murder. But there is a horrific crime that was committed many years ago on this scenic little island that no one talks about. 1977 – Astrid has been locked in a…
Nursery rhymes are written for little children, so they should be sweet and innocent, right? Little children should not have experienced the horrors and reality of life yet, and these rhymes made to entertain them should not talk about them either. But not all nursery rhymes have innocent meanings. “Ring Around the Rosie” is one…
If you like to read about strong women, this is a book you will greatly enjoy. Hannah, a victim of human trafficking in 5th-century Sinai, is taken to a land in which she is unfamiliar with their ways and customs. She manages to rise above all the hardships she experiences there to become a woman…
Have you ever thought about using a mental hospital in your story? The reasons people were admitted to these institutions suggest many different story ideas. The cruel and inhuman way many of them were treated can also fill one’s head full of ideas about the patients, those who “cared” for them, and those who had…
Here are eight more creepy crawlies that live way too close to us. Wasps—paper wasps, yellow jackets, and boldfaced hornets—nest in rotten tree stumps, crevices in rocks, and in mud. A person can develop an allergy to their stings without warning. The daughter of a friend of mine, who had never been allergic to their…
Did you realize we are surrounded by creepy crawlies? These creatures are enough to bring on scary dreams if you think long enough about them. One or more of these creepy crawlies could be used as fodder for a nightmare-inducing tale. If your character has acarophobia (an irrational fear of small bugs), murophobia (irrational fear…
According to dictionary.com, a superstition is a belief or notion, not based reason or knowledge, in or of the ominous significance of a particular thing, circumstance, occurrence, proceeding, or the like. It is an irrational fear of the unknown or mysterious. Many myths and legends, good and bad, exist about the owl. Some see them…
