Writing about witchcraft is magical and hard work. Establish a sacred writing space. Burn essential oils or incense as you write. Play soft music. Decide on the angle you will take with your book or article. The market is replete with Wicca 101 books and witchcraft. Many accomplished authors such as Christopher Penczak, Raven Grimassi, Laurie Cabot, and Deborah Blake have already covered many subjects. They live what they write and lead magical lives. They have proven themselves to be authorities on what they write. If you do the same, you can achieve your dreams.
When you are confident you have polished the article, your story needs a home. I recommend reading the two books How to write for the New Age Market by Richard Webster and The Pagan Writers’ Guide by Melusine Draco. These books show you what to write and where to send your magical words. Some markets to write for are Eternal Haunted Summer Ezine, Sagewoman magazine, and Witches and Pagans magazine.
Editors are swamped with writing-related tasks. Write something basic to start with until you grow more confident. My writing has appeared in anthologies and Ezines. The witchcraft and mind/body/spirit writing market mostly center around non-fiction. Most of the markets are in the United States and prefer non-fiction. An important question is what to write, why, and for what audience. In depth writing will grant you that coveted byline. They prefer that you share your research sources.
If you are aspiring to write a book on witchcraft, the best publishing companies are Llewellyn, Moon Books, Weiser Books, New Page books, Immanion Press, Inner Traditions, and Avalonia Books. Avalonia publishes scholarly material. The best way to familiarize yourself is by reading what they publish.
Keep track of where you send your writing and never give up. The most successful people are the ones who kept trying. When an editor expresses an interest in your writing, be ready.
The last stop on our broomstick ride is your perspective of witchcraft. To succeed in this market, have a reverence for witchcraft. To write for this market, you need to have an awareness for it and live it. Most of the editors and writers have a lot of experience and practice it regularly. They not only write it, but live it fully and deeply. Now you can have magic in your life and in the lives of your readers.
Author: ladyspiderwitch
Gothic Poetry
I like to write gothic poetry. Gothic poetry has a fascinating history, thanks to the writings of Tennyson and Thomas Gray. If you are a lover of the dark side, and enjoy music such as Inkubus Succubus and romantic poetic musings, then I hope this post inspires you to pen dark verse of your own.
Once I walked home past a cemetery on a magical cold winter night. The chilling glow of the streetlight over the tombstones woke the muse in me. I went home and wrote a poem about what I saw that night.
Surround yourself in an environment that inspires you to write dark verse. I live in a city well-known for its dark spooky history. I visit my favorite cemetery, Mount Olivet, carrying a thermos, a journal, and my pen. Graveyard tours are offered in my hometown. Put away the laptop or phone for an hour or two. Grab a journal, a quill pen, and latte-and go!
Now, once you are comfortably seated in a cemetery, sipping your latte, open your senses to the environment. Hear the bird songs, the creaking tree boughs, see the crows – crows are always hanging around in a cemetery. I think it has something to do with them being messengers of the dead–if you believe in that. Write down your verses. Therefore, it’s great to use a journal rather than a tablet. You can be messier and more creative. It frees up your creative expression.
Observe the way the crows perch on tombstones, how old the tombstones are. I once found an abandoned bird’s nest in a cemetery. Notice the age of the trees, colorful leaves, or flowers at the foot of a grave. A moth flitting over the ground, birds pecking for seeds, crows screeching from the treetops. A crow nest lives in the cemetery in my neighborhood. The nest has been there a long time.
Once, I strolled through Mount Olivet. An apple tree grows inside and outside of the cemetery. A fallen apple lay on the ground. Dead carpenter ants rested on the apple- except for one carpenter ant that crawled over the rotted apple. It churned my stomach. I left.
The Titanic victims are buried there. A word of caution: remain grounded and centered while you are there. Take what you like and leave the bad energy behind.
The quiet of a cemetery can be relaxing. They are not dangerous places, but people should still use common sense. If you do want to write there, go during the day. Safety trumps all. Don’t disturb the graves or take anything that doesn’t belong to you.
This may hopefully lead you to create a poetry chapbook!
Magickal Tools to Help You Write
Through the centuries, authors used a quill pen and a notebook or a typewriter to write down their inspired musings. Today, we have laptops and tablets. Laptops are very popular, but I hope to encourage you all to try writing using a notebook and pen. These methods here might seem antiquated, but they worked for Mary Shelley, Emily Dickinson, and other writers of the past. Writing by hand slows you down, makes you reflect more on what you write. I want to share ways to make your writing sessions fun.
I sometimes use a quill pen and write in a journal before storing it on the laptop. Quill pens convey a slower, romantic time. If you wish to use a typewriter, go ahead. I think the quality of writing was better when we used typewriters than laptops because it took more effort. Now we print something off and think it is complete. Nope. I still edit with a red pen on paper. I find reading the works of other writers helps me to write better. I have many books to study and learn from. I don’t just read for enjoyment.
Burn a candle as you write. Burn the candle safely. Essential oils release tension and get you in a writerly state of mind. The oils can be lavender for relaxation, bergamot for spice, and rosemary oil for memory.
Bat wing clothespins are a cute way to organize your musings. Cool mugs organize your pens, pencils, CDs, and markers. Use color-coded file folders to store your stories or poems. If you do print out to review and edit on paper, your writing will be stronger. When you read your writing on paper, especially that’s been put aside for a few days, you edit with more clarity.
If you want a magickal-looking notebook, here is a good idea. Peruse through a tarot deck. Find an image you like. Scan it in, print it out in color, and then glue it to your notebook cover. Scribble and draw spiders, pentacles, bats, or moon crescents on the plain pages. Before you know it, it will be as magickal as a tome from a witch shop and half the price.
Meditate every time you sit down to write. Glowing scented candles, mystical tarot cards, and your hard-earned words add magic to your life. Your writing space can be a sacred space. It is your space and should be personal and welcoming to you.
Make sure your desk and computer are ergonomic and that you are seated comfortably. Take breaks and go for a walk to relax your body. Take care of your health. Drink water and get plenty of exercise. Be sure to eat healthy. I once spent a few days in bed in serious pain due to sitting too long at a computer. It is important to practice self-care. There’s nothing cool about being unable to move due to severely seized-up muscle pain. Don’t let this happen to you.
It is important to protect your health from computers. The blue lights can be harmful to your health. Staring at your iPod five secs before bedtime can seriously affect your health. But we could use cool cover cloths on laptops for nighttime. My laptop is decorated with cool moon phase stickers.
I use tarot cards to spark creativity. I own a ghost tarot deck and it was perfect for when I wrote my novel. The images were spooky and eerily beautiful. There is a good book to help you use tarot cards to help you write. It’s titled Tarot for Writers by Corrine Kenner. The book is packed with excellent methods on how to use tarot while writing.
I hope these ideas help you in your own creative projects.
The Fun of Blogging
Here are my favorite tricks for keeping a blog. I hope you find this information interesting and helpful. Over the years, I have composed around 714 blog posts in total. I am dedicated and hope you find my tricks useful.
Enjoy keeping a blog. It shouldn’t turn into a chore. Have fun with it and allow yourself to be creative. Your blog can reflect your passion in life, whether that be gardening, novel writing, or poetry. Tailoring your blog to your life passion lets you have fun.
A writer should cultivate their own style and you will find your own voice. I create a topic for my posts and write each one from my heart. WordPress helps make writing posts easier by offering features like adding photos or movie trailers, ability to add hyperlinks, or writing your post all in bold or italics. You can schedule when a blog post will be published or publish several on a certain date. You can preview your posts before publishing them or save the drafts if you are too busy. WordPress has tutorials and helpful sites.
I sign each post and use keywords. A signature signals to the reader that the post is complete. Keywords help readers find a particular blog post they find interesting. Be sure to add relevant keywords when you publish your brilliant posts.
Keep a folder for new blog post ideas on your desktop or update an old blog post. Ask your readers what they would like to read. Enter a major keyword of your proposed post topic on Twitter and see the results are. If a favorite movie is coming soon to theaters, mention that. If a new occult store opened in your neighborhood, mention that.
I like to include a photo at the beginning of each post that is relative. I keep the photo a reasonable size. WordPress allows you to select where you would like the photo to be, such as left or center, and large or thumbnail size.
Be yourself when developing your blog. Readers notice when you demonstrate your passion, whether that be science fiction or drama. Offer your readers a contest and fun prizes, book or movie reviews, or interviews with authors/editors. The sky is the limit. Use your imagination and remember to have fun.
I suggest writing your posts in bold. The words stand out better and are easier to read. If you pay for a WordPress blog, extra features are available, such as posting in PDF. The only way to manage a blog is to persevere and learn as much as you can. Be fearless and creative. Let out your inner Lord Byron or Poe. Your blog might inspire you to pen a novel or a book of poems. Many writers who keep blogs often advance to successful writing careers.
One more thing: Learn to proofread. Proofread before you hit the publish button! No one will do it for you. Don’t write in clichés. Instead, cultivate your own voice. Use verbs and nouns. Learn where a prepositional phrase belongs. Use adjectives and adverbs sparingly. Sample some editing sites until you grow more confident editing and proofreading on your own. You can practice editing older posts.
There are many other competing blogs out there. Over time, you will see how to keep them faithfully following yours if you follow all these tips.
Good luck blogging!!!!
Writing Horror Fiction in Today’s World
Horror has a seductive hold on us. Horror is like a tentacle crawling from the crypts of our darkest dreams to suck us into horrific nightmares. Horror, if done properly, casts a dark magic, sending chills down readers’ spines.
Now is the time, now is the hour. In my opinion, horror movies such as Insidious 1-2, The Possession of Hannah Grace, and Sinister aren’t scary enough for me. I am an avid writer of horror fiction and I am well read. I know that in order to give readers or viewers the frights royale, readers should be too afraid to not leave the lights on all night and hide under the covers. And curse the writer because they can’t put the book down.
The writer must make extra effort to horrify jaded readers. There is a difference between horrifying and terrifying. One of the two you experience more deeply. Terror is more effective. I won’t watch The Exorcist which deals with similar themes as the movies mentioned above, but does a much better job. The Exorcist doesn’t turn away from something revolting, it stares it in the eye. It makes you look too, when you don’t want to. -and doesn’t let go. The same is true for Silence of the Lambs. But it doesn’t need to gross readers necessarily just to be scary.
Novels such as Dracula and Frankenstein reflected the time or era in which they were written. In Victorian times, darkly romantic fanged noblemen were scary because the society had different fears and beliefs about death than now. Those fears wouldn’t faze us today. Anne Rice wrote about vampires and made vampires intimidating and sexy again. That is why the novels were successful. Today, writers like Suzanne Collins draw from what they view in the world today. We are more sophisticated now yet desensitized at the same time.
If you are interested in penning a horror novel or short story, I suggest the following tips: Get out of your own comfort zone. Change the environment where you write. Bring your writing pad, coffee, and lurk in a cemetery, visit a haunted location or a morgue, and research the folklore of your hometown. You might create something original, which can be helpful. Getting out of your comfort zone and exploring new things breathes new life into your writing. Here are a few more tips.
Buy a tarot deck to inspire you, read dark poetry of a poet you never heard of until now. Go on a trip to a quiet seaside town that has a paranormal history. Be safe as you explore new eerie cemeteries or towns.
Trust in yourself. If you’re fearful while writing the story, there’s a good chance your reader will be too. Pay attention to your dreams. Often dreams reflect our daily lives and what is hidden in our subconscious. Heed your insights and flashes of inspiration. I penned a dark novel based on a flash of inspiration that I would never have dreamed up otherwise. Learn all you can and be openminded. Then when you have created your villainous monster, you can make him or her or it the main character. Be true to your creation, your own monster. Your readers will recognize the true effort you put in.
We have global communication today. We can see the world events on the Internet. The Internet opened a window into the savage truth that we could be in the grip of an almost impending apocalyptic doom. Now that is scary.
Audiences and readers today have seen everything. A novel can be successful still, but writers must be unabashedly original to truly terrify their readers. Look at what is happening in society. The monsters of yesterday are not the monsters of today. It worked for Stephen King and Thomas Harris and with luck, it can work for you too.
Dragon Soul Press 