If you can write a scary ghost story, you can write anything.

Fear is one of the hardest things to provoke in writing. Just flip through the pages of any ghost story anthology; how many of them are genuinely scary? It takes more than tortured groans and rattling chains; anyone can throw gore at the reader and call it a day, but the art of raising goose bumps is an elusive one indeed.

If you can write a scary ghost story, you can write anything.

Are you ready to inspire nightmares? Then follow me…Do we want to scare young adults with our nightmare books?
Hopefully scared in the good sense and not because the book is so dreadful. We want them to stay scared until the end. Then ask for more. If you want to scare people you have to first experience it. Many times. Keep your fear close, especially when walking past that abandoned house on the edge of town. Or maybe it is the house next door! The one with the overgrown hedges, Dickens door knocker, and creaky gate. It always looks fine in the daylight apart from the dry cracked paintwork, and you know in reality it has just been overlooked for too long, but... but you just never know what lurks beyond...
See, I have drawn you into a young adult horror story already, and it was only due to a teeny bit of imagination. Imagination that created an atmosphere from our fears of the unknown.

Still, would you go up that path alone on a moonless night.
:D
I will stop now.

When trying out young adult horror, blend it with a rich mix of one or two genres, like adventure and goth, horror and romance. Twist it a little, and add your own Hammer Horror theme, and finish it off with a dab of Tales of the Unexpected (Roald Dahl) sealed with some hot wax. Is the main character scary, or the hero? Maybe she starts as the hero, but turns out to be evily mad!
Remember there can never be too many mad characters in your horror book. Also do not just have one person in danger, create dread by causing more twists, and more people involved in danger or madness. How do they get out of it? By finishing the book or by waking up! Make them feel different emotions, and not just one bland tone, we can predict from the beginning. Make the readers want to laugh, cry and feel something different. Make them feel as if they are a kid again, at home, in bed, at night. Remember what that was like.

Why not read this and find out how to write ghost-stories how-to-write them and terrify the reader
I hope I have given you a taste for a young adult horror.

If not then read some of these  Ghost stories  spooky ghost stories to read, ghost poems, and wallpaper.
COLOURING IN HALLOWEEN PICTURE
Why not colour in some colouring in pages for Halloween? If you colour in this trick or treat night picture you can enter it into the kid Literature competition and win a big selection of art goodies and get yourself featured. here are all the details you need from this link >  Halloween colour in sheet and giveaways prizes 

 Kid Literature bring you the man with the duel-core brain- Steve Conoboy. Steve is one of the main editors and admin for the KL and he has had several short stories published,  and is the author of Young adult horror thriller novel called Macadamian Pliers. Which is out very soon (Jan 2015) His blogs are very interesting, amusing, and grumpy, so be warned.
 Steve has many more interesting young adult horror and mystery novels and stories ready to bring out!
The Kid Literature team review and promote young adult books as well as all kid books, and we want more!
If you have any questions, or you would like to get in touch; email us at kidliteratureauthors@yahoo.com or go to the website link at the top of this blog page.
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  All of this and much more to be found at the Kid Literature social media sites and Karen Emma Hall's links below.  

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Tonto Tales. They have turned me into Cat Lady.

Well these last few days we have had a new addition to the family. The patter of tiny feet. Four tiny feet!
 A little Kitten called Tonto came to live with us much to the delight of my two youngest girls, and the annoyance and dismay of my two older cats. I vowed never to get another cat after I lost Tilly in 2009, but here we are with a new kitty.
A couple of reasons. 1/ The girls can't remember having a kitten (they were too young to remember Sooty and Tipsy being kittens apparently) and they wanted to experience this joy. 2/ they promised to feed and clean up after kitty, and 3/  being self employed now apparently means it would be ok to have another cat if I was at home more! None of these added up as I am working a lot more now as self employed, but I still gave in when we heard of some kittens needing homes. Then when we were sent some pictures, it was a done deal.Tonto was picked due to his black eye mask on a white face, and a white tip on the end of his tail which looks as if he had walked past a tin of white paint and accidently caught the end of his tail in it. He seemed very out-lawish and mischievous, and he looked like a Tonto, plus I had to get the namesake of Johnny Depp in there somehow.
Tonto was so small and  he wanted to play with everything. Not afraid of the big cats who were at the best agitated and at the worst- kept looking up at me as if to say I'm staying outside until this one goes home.
They soon realised he was not going home, as his home was with them. How they loved me those first few days. Ha! But Tonto made himself at home very quickly, and by day three Sooty soon forgot he was in a huff. Even the neighbour observed and commented on how 'put out and huffed they looked' on that very first morning. Sooty still gives Tonto an exasperated look as if to say why is he still here, and then gives him a gentle paw bat if Tonto goes for his tail once too often. Tonto doesn't seem to mind at all!
Kitten Tonto is a hair sniffer and a chest snuggler. He also loves finding a snug place around my hair or back of neck to go to sleep. I know when he is about to go to sleep as his purrs rattle his little tiny body very loudly. He won't be able to snuggle about my neck for ever, so he had better make the most of it now.

The older cats are experts at being couch potatoes, and now Tonto thinks the couch is his bed as well. It has been photo city since Tonto arrived. Rarely do I get a shot of all the cats occupying the same space and I dare not enter this space for fear one of them will dart away and ruin my entire photo. But I have managed to get one somehow.
 They always have had the knack to knows when something's up. Seriously, they can tell when I'm just thinking of  getting up from the chair and heading out of the living room. I just have to move position and Tipsy is at the living room door, giving me her lazy blink, and more or less wondering what I am playing at for not getting to the door before her. They are hilarious when we are getting suitcases out to go on holiday, they know something is up, and pace around thinking they are supervising. Picking out which case to sniff and lie on, and then look at the other cat with that look as if to say ha, I bagged it first.
They do not have a particular bed to lie on, as they like to change places often. It could be the laundry basket, the empty amazon box, or the best chair in the house. It will never ever be the luxury deluxe cat bed you bought and is still as new. In fact I think i might use it as a back rest or pillow, they might take an interest in it then.
And obviously I have to be back from the shops well before they awakes from their 4th daily cat nap.

Ever wondered why cats love cardboard boxes?  They have to investigate, observe, and then climb in. Try it out for size. I think it is the same reason why kids play with cardboard boxes on Christmas day. I still don't understand it, but its just something animals and children do. Normally the smaller the better for cats.
Today Tonto has his new kitten collar on and he only protested for the first ten minutes, it is so tiny, but a safety one, as I need to know where he is as he is so tiny. So I hear him before I see him now.
Tonto along with Sooty and Tipsy are going to be in a book I am writing, so there will be much amusement for cat and children's book lovers along the way.
More cat tales will no doubt follow. I have already blogged about Sooty and Tipsy, so please check back blogs to read.

Tonto and books.

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Happy childhood memories to bring inspiration

Every person’s childhood has happy and sad memories, and we can use them to draw inspiration from. Childhood years are considered to be the most important time in a person’s life because it is during this time that we learn the important lessons in life. These are the years that form a person’s character. Your love of literature life will have been formed during your childhood. Almost all first times in life happen during childhood. These memories, whether happy or sad, present lots of thoughts and perspectives that can inspire you and get your creativity flowing.

So in times when you are looking for inspiration, become that child you once were and play in your head as you would when you were that age. Go back in your mind to your inner child find experiences that you can write about.  Go reminisce about your childhood and be inspired in your writing or creative art.

I have loved reading for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I loved going to the library with my grandparents and picking out many books to read. My grandparents loved the weekly trips to the library and this is what stays in my memory and lives on. This pure pleasure memory of books and weekly visits to my grandparents. One memory evokes the other.
Once at the library, the hard bit was picking just a few books when there was so many to choose from, then leaving the library.
 I'm really glad that my grandparents unlocked that world for me though. There's just something about losing yourself in a good story and getting caught up in the narrative of someone else's life or imagination. To this day, one of my favorite things to do is curl up on the couch with my cuppa in one hand and a book in the other. A perfect little spot for books and reading and exploring those stories together is on their grandparents laps, as well as parents laps. A very good place to start being a reader.

                                                                   
   

For all the parents who unlocked the love of reading for me ..this is for you  

I love you to the moon and back 

I Love You To The Moon And Back Board book – 2 Feb 2015 by Little Tiger Press (Author), Tim Warnes (Illustrator)

Memories as a child 

I  have many memories of summertime as a child. Whether it was excited day trips when we pretended to be abroad on holiday, or camping out in the back garden and again pretending we were on holiday. Getting into a state of excitement when cousins from down south came up to visit, and mimicking accents.
It was also so good to relive the days when we would go down the the coast (we were lucky it was only a 15 minute drive to the coast of Tynemouth and Whitley Bay) with the huge inner tube tyre in the back of my dads van, when half the street would ask to go down, and all manage to cram into the back of the van along with that huge rubber inner tyre....
Or lying on a picnic blanket, on the hill, looking down at the town, reading a book and listening to Abba, Motown,or Blondie.
But one memory I will never forget, is my Mum reading to me as a young child. Every day she would sit in the same chair and I would jump in next to her and share a book or two.

When you have a child or children, how quickly does each day go?  You wish you could go back and relive each loving moment or memory over again.
You have nurtured them, tended to their basic needs, read bedtime stories, made-up stories, and try to fit into their tiny world.
You listen to them, kiss them goodnight and tell them you love them and loving the wonder they are. All of their cute funny ways, and laugh at the new words they have make up. Words that have not been invented until that moment.

Sometimes you might have to have a day a week without your child, or more. When this happens you stop becoming complacent and you miss them.
Soon the days go quicker, and before you know it, the time has really run away with itself. They have had their first day at school, their first wobbly tooth, the seventh wobbly tooth. The tooth fairy has been and gone countless times. Until the day comes when they say they don't believe in the tooth fairy or Santa Claus.

Then comes the day when they are having a leavers assembly at school. How proud you are when you see them recite a part they have learned. Learned for you.
They look up to you for reassurance they are doing well.
I love it all and I can't get it back. Not even a day.
The years race on.

So the next time you go to read a bedtime story, or a book together, think on. Enjoy it together. Treasure each moment. There is nothing quite as wonderful than that share. You can keep that for infinity.

                 Enjoy each moment together with your child/children.

When book reading grows it can develop and if you are determined to pursue your dream you may one day decide to publish your own book. 

Here is my book for children and I do believe grandparents and parents are the ones who give you the want and the love to pursue a passion in books. Childrens book by Karen Emma Hall 

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                                                          Summer-Ideas-for-Grandparents

The Best Kids' Books About Grandparents   http://grandparents.about.com/od/bookswithgrandparents/tp/KidsBooksAboutGrandparents.htm