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Why I Write

12/8/2012

4 Comments

 
I’m sure you’re preparing yourself for some clichéd rambling about my writing because I must, or that I knew I was a writer since I was seven, or something else to that effect.  While all that might be true, I thought I’d delve a little deeper into the subject, while at the same time offering a few candid words behind my motivations in sharing the written word.
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I’m not your typical thirty- (around the corner from forty-) something.  I’ve spent much of my life observing rather than participating, documenting rather than doing, and analyzing instead of simply enjoying the moment.  I can only assume that a good number of other writers have shared a similar path, although it is a difficult one to admit.

If not in talent, then at least in demeanor, I am a Salinger … a Dickenson … a hermit.  I strive to understand the human condition, many aspects of which thoroughly confound me, by exploring it through my writing.


I write from an outsider’s point of view.  This is both to my detriment and to my advantage.  It is only human to want to connect, and so my greatest wish is to reach others in the only way I truly know how.  Throw me into the heart of a booming party, and I’m clueless.  My heart will race, my body will glisten with sweat, and I will stand awkwardly in the corner of the room, unsure how to interact.  The truth is, I don’t fit in.  I’ve never fit in.  And it is painfully obvious to anyone who has encountered me in person.

I spent my childhood clinging to my books and my studies for some sense of grounding, while bullies singled me out and chiseled away relentlessly at my self-esteem.  They saw my weakness, and as any young person will do, my peers exploited it to their greatest advantage.  I spent my high school years finding ways to stay as invisible as possible, lest someone notice the bull’s eye painted across my forehead and the word “outcast” visible within the furthest depths of my horrified eyes.  Some people fear spiders, some fear snakes, and some fear the dark.  I fear none of those; I fear people.
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One of the greatest motivations behind what I write is a stern desire to understand all that eludes me.  I seek to gain as much from my works as I would hope others might gain in reading them.  Of course, what we each derive will likely be very different, and that is the beauty of it.  I write because it is my way of reaching out to you, readers of the world—people I might never otherwise have the chance with which to connect.  I write because, although I might not understand you, I know you.  I know you very well.  That is the gift and the curse of people like me.

So I entreat upon each of you: pick out one of my books, one that might suit you better than the rest.  Let us connect through that book.  Let me touch you, if I can; in the process, let me offer you a tiny piece of who I am.  That is all I have to offer you.


4 Comments

THE HIDDEN VALLEY Goodreads Giveaway!

8/22/2012

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Enter between now and September 15 for your chance to win a free paperback copy of The Hidden Valley: The Whole Story!  Winners are chosen randomly by Goodreads.  Click on the link below for full details:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Hidden Valley by Leigh M. Lane

The Hidden Valley

by Leigh M. Lane

Giveaway ends September 15, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win
Good luck--and happy reading!
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THE HIDDEN VALLEY is Now in Paperback!

8/20/2012

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The Hidden Valley is coming to Amazon in trade paperback!   Check out this lovely cover:
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Happy reading!
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I Love Horror Novellas Blog Hop Finale

8/10/2012

5 Comments

 
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Welcome to the final installment of the “I Love Horror Novellas Blog Hop”!

Over the course of the week, I have offered a small amount of insight into the character behind The Hidden Valley: Carrie’s Story, sharing the grief over her middle-aged fading beauty, the horror she faces over being possessed by the town’s undefined entity, and the role her photography plays in both her back story and the development of her possible insanity.  This week, I also had the opportunity to share at a handful of other authors’ blogs, revealing the motivation behind the darkness of The Hidden Valley, what seems versus what is in horror fiction, and the role my love of Stephen King’s works played in my choice of style and literary elements.

I would like to expand a little on the latter, sharing a handful of King’s stories that helped to inspire the feel and flavor of The Hidden Valley.  While this blog hop focuses on paranormal and horror novellas, I would like to take a holistic approach to the novel today, delving beyond Carrie’s Story and looking at the collective work.

It:  While there are no evil clowns in The Hidden Valley, there is a dark, unnamed force claiming the town of South Bend and terrorizing all who fall into its trap.  It can take whatever form it chooses, possessing the living and owning the dead.  Its strength comes from those who fear it, and its demise will come at the hands of only those able to identify it for what it truly is.

‘Salem’s Lot:  No, there aren’t any vampires either, but I based the feel of the town—a cozy place riddled with dangers that slowly unfold and grow as the story progresses—on this story.  There is a sense of growing urgency to identify and escape the evil that resides, as well as the theme of youthful innocence taken far before its time.

Cat’s Eye:  I loved how this charming film made a cat the unexpected hero, and I set out to do just that in The Hidden Valley.  Readers will find that Maxwell’s chapters are some of the most articulate and thought provoking, offering insights shown nowhere else in the story.  Similarly….

Cujo:  King’s ability to get inside the head of an animal impressed me thoroughly, and I can only hope I did similar justice to Maxwell’s chapters.  While Cujo is a Saint Bernard and Maxwell is a black and white tuxedo cat (named after one of my sister’s childhood pets) I hope readers will see the inspiration the former had on the latter.

The Shining:  Probably my favorite King novel, The Shining portrays a large piece of property that is haunted by its dark past.  The evil created by its continuing need to terrorize and destroy those unfortunate enough to set foot within its reaches was a strong inspiration behind the evil lurking within South Bend.

Much like I worked to emulate Poe’s unique voice in my last novel, Finding Poe, I worked to emulate King’s rich descriptions and subtle nuances in The Hidden Valley.  The novel is my homage to the greatest horror storyteller of our time.  Here’s to you, Mr. King.  While I might only be at the beginning of my writing journey (at thirteen novels and counting), you have taught me much, and while I might never achieve your greatness, you have inspired me more than you’ll likely ever know.



Thanks for stopping by!

5 Comments

I Love Horror Novellas Blog Hop Day 4

8/9/2012

3 Comments

 
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Picture Perfect

In The Hidden Valley: Carrie’s Story, Carrie is a professional photographer who allowed one of her private gigs to get more than a little out of hand.  The fallout is severe, one that leaves her marriage forever changed.

When the family reaches South Bend, she makes a promise to herself that she is only going to work in freelance photography, sending nature photos to magazines and the like.  She finds that everything there seems primed for the lens—and every picture she takes is National Geographic-cover perfect.  As such, it comes as a surprise when she begins to receive one angry rejection letter after the next for her submissions.

Another look at the pictures offers her a shocking reality check: none of the pictures appears even remotely as it had appeared at first glance.  She is then faced with the terrifying question of whether she had perceived them incorrectly when she first took them, whether she saw them from a skewed perspective as she reviewed them again, or whether someone was playing a cruel trick on her and actually replacing her perfect pictures with the horrific images now cluttering her hard drive.

Or has she simply lost her mind?


About The Hidden Valley:

Deep in a hidden valley, there is a ghost town that has experienced a miraculous rebound.  It is separated from the rest of the world by a mountain pass, but it's found a dark and deadly lifeline….  Carrie and her husband Grant are moving wayward teenage twins John and Jane across the country for a fresh start.  South Bend seems like the perfect place for it.  Maybe just a little too perfect.  When they become aware of the trap that has been set for them, will it already be too late for any of them to escape?

In addition to being a ghost story, The Hidden Valley is an experiment in structure.  The reader will find that nearly every chapter is, in itself, a work of flash fiction.  Each main character’s story may be read individually for a surprisingly different effect.  Read The Hidden Valley by character; read The Whole Story in Kindle or paperback (coming soon); or read the weekly flash fiction serial here at The Cerebral Writer.

This post is part of the week-long Horror Novella Blog-Hop, hosted by Precious Monsters.  Make sure to check out the other participating blogs.

Thanks for stopping by!

3 Comments

I Love Horror Novellas Blog Hop Day 2

8/6/2012

4 Comments

 
This week, I came across a trailer for an upcoming movie titled The Possession.  Here is the trailer:
Marketing itself as “based on a true story,” the movie appears to be a reimagining of the classic horror The Exorcist, only with the spiritual assistance of a Rabbi instead of a Priest.  The “true story” is based on the sale of a “haunted Jewish wine cabinet box” that contains a spirit called a dibbuk.  Of course, the entity possesses a little girl and the horror begins.  For more information on this upcoming movie, which does promise to be chilling (true story or not), check out the official website.

Possession is a common theme in horror, one I actually use as a B-plot in The Hidden Valley: Carrie’s Story.  In Carrie’s Story, the creature controlling South Bend—a town that is not at all what it seems—enters Carrie’s body and uses her as a puppet, terrorizing her for its own enjoyment.  Unlike other possession plots, however, no one else has any idea she’s been taken over, although her behavior is suspicious at times.  Her husband suspects she has fallen victim to early onset Alzheimer’s disease, which claimed her mother.  Even she suspects she has lost her mind.  Perhaps she has….

Stop by on Thursday for the continuation of The Cerebral Writer’s participation in the “I Love Horror Novellas Blog Hop”.  Tomorrow, I’m hosting a very special guest who is the mind behind a lovely cause.

Continue following the blog hop every day this week by visiting Precious Monsters and following the links.  Happy hopping!

4 Comments

I Love Horror Novellas Blog Hop Day 1

8/6/2012

9 Comments

 
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Fading Beauty

Someone once shared a quote with me, and unfortunately I cannot find the direct source, but the simple yet astute passage went as follows: “Vanity is for the youth.”  Until one begins to notice the fine lines becoming not so fine, the figure transforming from its tight, muscular form into something not so tight and muscular, and the outcropping of wiry gray hair replacing the sleek, colorful locks, one cannot fully appreciate the sentiment.

I interviewed a fellow author who supplements her income by working at a cosmetics counter at her local Macy’s, asking her to tell me a little about her experience with customers desperate to erase the years from their aging faces.  This is what she had to say:


   The cosmetics industry exists solely to make women feel bad about who they are and what physical cards they were dealt, and then sell them the “cure.” These companies basically break your leg and then sell you a crutch. My line, which markets itself as an all natural skin care and makeup line, has tag lines such as, “Life puts wrinkles in. Nature takes them out.” 

      What I've learned is that there is a lot of money to be made in capitalizing on women's insecurities. It makes me feel bad, because there will be these older women who come to my counter expecting a miracle, and they'll walk away with two hundred dollars worth of beauty supplies and a head full of hope. These women have usually tried “everything else,” from Chanel and Dior to the drugstore brands, and are hoping that the “natural” brand will be the alternative they're looking for….  It's super sad. 

When I think about my own humbling vanity, I’m drawn to a particular horror film based on the old Snow White Grimm fairy tale titled Snow White: A Tale of Terror.  In the film, similar to other stories based on the story, the evil stepmother is haunted by her own fading beauty and feels the need to preserve her own standing as “fairest in the land” by doing away with the young and breathtakingly beautiful Snow White (named Lilly in this adaptation).  The consequences are terrifying, especially in this version.  For those who have not seen the film, here is the trailer:
This concept of fading beauty, and the irrational fears society has instilled in me personally as I find myself around the corner from forty, were the basis behind Carrie’s character in my novella, The Hidden Valley: Carrie’s Story.  Carrie is the forty-something mother of teenage twins, one of whom is a lovely young woman who is far too broken to appreciate her youthful body.  Carrie finds herself possessed by a creature that inhabits the town she and her family recently moved to, and—much like the Evil Stepmother in Snow White—interacts with the dark entity via a mirror.  While Carrie becomes a hapless bystander in her own life, it takes losing all control to the creature for her to be able to appreciate what she had … and that beauty truly is only skin-deep.

About The Hidden Valley:

Deep in a hidden valley, there is a ghost town that has experienced a miraculous rebound.  It is separated from the rest of the world by a mountain pass, but it's found a dark and deadly lifeline….  Carrie and her husband Grant are moving wayward teenage twins John and Jane across the country for a fresh start.  South Bend seems like the perfect place for it.  Maybe just a little too perfect.  When they become aware of the trap that has been set for them, will it already be too late for any of them to escape?

In addition to being a ghost story, The Hidden Valley is an experiment in structure.  The reader will find that nearly every chapter is, in itself, a work of flash fiction.  Each main character’s story may be read individually for a surprisingly different effect.  Read The Hidden Valley by character; read The Whole Story in Kindle or paperback (coming soon); or read the weekly flash fiction serial here at The Cerebral Writer.

This post is part of the week-long Horror Novella Blog-Hop, hosted by Precious Monsters.  Make sure to check out the other participating blogs:

Precious Monsters
Independent Paranormal
Vanessa Morgan (horror author/filmmaker)
Paul Stansfield
Bob @ Beauty in Ruins
E. A. Black
Vala Kayes "Other World"
Paul Stansfield
Lindsays Scribblings

Zach Sweet's Blog

Thanks for stopping by!  Check back in tomorrow for more on The Hidden Valley: Carrie's Story.

9 Comments

THE HIDDEN VALLEY is Here!

8/2/2012

0 Comments

 
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Deep in a hidden valley, there is a ghost town that has experienced a miraculous rebound.  It is separated from the rest of the world by a mountain pass, but it's found a dark and deadly lifeline....

Carrie and her husband Grant are moving wayward teenage twins John and Jane across the country for a fresh start.  

South Bend seems like the perfect place for it.  Maybe just a little too perfect.  When they become aware of the trap that has been set for them, will it already be too late for any of them to escape?

In addition to being a ghost story, The Hidden Valley is an experiment in structure.  The reader will find that nearly every chapter is, in itself, a work of flash fiction.  In addition, each main character’s story may be read individually for a surprisingly different effect.

Read The Hidden Valley by character, read The Whole Story in Kindle or paperback (coming soon), or read the weekly flash fiction serial right here at The Cerebral Writer.

0 Comments

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