IWSG October 2022 Cliffhangers

 Welcome readers, writers, authors, and bloggers!

We’re glad you’re here! It's the First Wednesday of the month; when we celebrate IWSG Day in the form of a blog hop featuring all of the members of the Insecure Writer's Support Group. Founded by author Alex Cavanaugh (Thank you, Captain!) and fostered by like-minded associates, IWSG is a comfortable place to share the views and literary news from our perspective writing desks as we record our journeys. Check out the October newsletter here

Our awesome co-hosts this month are: Tonja Drecker, Victoria Marie Lees, Mary Aalgaard, and Sandra Cox!    Stop on by and say Hello!

The optional question for this month is: What do you consider the best characteristics of your favorite genre?

As a reader, I love an unassuming (beat-up shoes and a stain on his shirt) hero with a taste for Red Vines, methodically plodding through impossible plot twists and deceptive clues that lead him to conclude that the ghost of the mansion didn’t kill the widow, the cable guy did.

As a writer, what I love most about paranormal is the absolute unpredictability. I can be curious or evil. Or curiously evil. I can save the day or end the world, and if I truly believed that, I wouldn’t be so flippant ;-) Likewise, teens and young adults, I suppose, who also seem to grasp this genre. Except, they’ve clicked the unpredictability level all the way up to Cliffhanger endings. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I love a good “page-turner,” but to be left hanging without the promise of a sequel or a “Tune in again next week, folks,” is a fresh form of literary torture ;-)

In the Children’s books category, I strive for simplicity in powerful messaging, particularly on issues involving family, friendship, courage, and kindness. And hope. Hope does for children what sunshine does for gardens.

It’s officially the holiday season! Any plans for Halloween? Most of our local stores skipped right over it and put out Thanksgiving decorations. I’ve even seen a few Christmas trees.

Did you know Washington Irving, author of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” is buried at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, about a stone’s throw from the setting of the 1820 short story. Besides Mr. Irving – and the Rockefellers, there are a ton of notable people interred there, including Paul Leicester Ford. The great-grandson of Noah Webster (yes, of Miriam-Webster), Ford was a famed novelist and biographer until his untimely death at the hands of his own brother. Ford’s only child, a daughter, was born one month after his passing.

As is customary for a non-profit institution owned collectively by its lot owners, visiting hours at Sleepy Hollow cemetery are strictly enforced, and visitors are requested to act as if they are attending a funeral or visiting one of their own. I think the request is fair.

I know a lot of people do, but I can’t imagine visiting a cemetery on a Halloween tour. Can you? Have you?

What do you think of the recent “Cliffhanger” trend in YA paranormal novels?

Have an inspiring month!