Spooky Season's in full swing

Hello, friends, and happy autumn!

Did you observe the fall equinox on Tuesday? I had a lovely one! I dried apple slices in the oven for the first time, and strung them on twine to make a garland. Then I cooked up a peach-blackberry cobbler in a skillet. And then I hosted a virtual hangout with some close friends and did a little magic: burning candles, sharing intentions, and writing down wishes on bay leaves that we set aflame. (Highly recommended.)

The next day my partner and I made ohagi (おはぎ), a type of sweet rice ball traditionally eaten during Ohigan (お彼岸), a Buddhist observance of the fall equinox (and the spring equinox, when the treat goes by the name of botamochi ぼたもち). It was actually a super simple recipe if you have access to some basic Japanese ingredients, namely azuki beans, sweet rice, and kinako powder.

I’m one of those people who has a tough time dealing with winter, but over the years I’ve learned that it’s easier if I throw myself into all the traditional crafts and spiritual activities the season has to offer. So here we go.

Spooky Season updates

Tomorrow is the third Friday of Spooky Season (subscribe here), which means I have a third spooky, smutty story to write by then. I’m having so much fun with this so far. I do love a time constraint…although they have been going out a few hours later than I’d like. I work on drafts throughout the week, but it’s always at the last minute that I suddenly know exactly what I want to do and HAVE to do it!

“Taboo,” the first story, was a bit angstier than I’d planned on. Sweet and sexy and all, but I can’t say I’m terribly attached to it at the moment. It’ll probably get a hell of an edit before it goes into the Halloween collection.

“Swamp Things,” though—honestly, forget what I said about “Taboo.” It’s a fine story. It just got usurped in my heart by this silly and surprisingly hot swamp romp about a gator hunter who finds a surprise on the bayou. Look, I love swamps, I love gators, and you know I love offbeat backwoods dudes who go with the flow. So this iss a natural extension of my comfort zone.

It pains me, btw, that I’ve only been to a single real swamp in my whole life. Louisiana is the only place I’ve ever been where the nature stirred my soul almost the same way the PNW does. For the longest time I had my eye on an MFA program in New Orleans. Imagine! It’s not in the cards now, but one day I will fix myself up with a writing retreat on the bayou so I can master swamp prose.

The Spooky + Smutty Process

It’s tough to settle on ideas for these little short stories. In Spooky Smutty Stories, I mostly stayed pretty close to the classic tales that inspired the collection, but I’m not sticking to that standard this time. I ran out of low-hanging fruit! Some old stories and tropes are just way easier to put a sexy spin on than others.

The Vanishing Hitchhiker formula, for example, is perfect for it. I know I’ve said this before, but think about it. A dark, stormy night. An isolated road. Two strangers in a cozy, confined space, sizing each other up. Name a more perfect set up! And the classic twist at the end, however well worn, is so simple and eerie that it never fails to satisfy. The thing writes itself.

Other creepy classics need more creative intervention to weave in romance and sensuality. Like The Hook, which a few friends have suggested to me. A boyfriend and girlfriend are making out in a parked car when the radio announces an escaped murderer with a hook for a hand is on the loose! They hear a noise, get spooked and speed off. When they get home, they find a hook hanging from the door handle! Aaaaah!

Or, the other version (TW: death by hanging): BF leaves GF in the car to investigate the noise, but doesn’t come back. After some time, GF hears something scraping softly on the roof. Terrified, she doesn’t move…until police arrive in the morning to escort her to safety. “Don’t look back,” they warn, but she does—and sees her mutilated BF hanging from a branch above the car, his feet softly scraping the roof! Aaaaah!

So you’ve got lovers in this story, and a built-in make-out session, but not much of a setup for sexual and romantic tension. You’d have to take the whole thing apart and rearrange it. Right? Well, maybe not. You could just do a straight erotic horror story. Hot sex + creeping unease, then a jump scare, the end. Maybe I’m just not in that kind of mood at the moment. Or maybe The Hook has just never been my personal fave.

Anyway, here are no rules for this collection. “Taboo” was a pretty faithful adaptation of Something Was Wrong, I think, but it didn’t turn out to be quite the gem that “Swamp Things” did. I take it as a sign that I’m better off grabbing random paranormal tropes (selkies…) and going wild on them (…but gators!). Sounds more fun, anyway.

On that note, I should probably go figure out tonight’s story. Demons and poltergeists on the brain! Time to get weird.

See you in your inbox tomorrow! Be sure to chat me up on Twitter with all your Spooky Season thoughts and dreams. (Oh, and if you’re not subscribed, fix that here.)