Beneath the Lighthouse
by Julieanne Lynch
on Tour June 25 – August 31, 2018
SOME SECRETS ARE MADE TO BE UNCOVERED.
Sixteen-year-old Jamie McGuiness’s sister is dead. Sinking into a deep depression, he frequents the lighthouse where her body was discovered, unaware of the sinister forces surrounding him.
When an angry spirit latches onto Jamie, he’s led down a dark and twisted path, one that uncovers old family secrets, destroying everything Jamie ever believed in.
Caught between the world of the living and the vengeful dead, Jamie fights the pull of the other side. It’s up to Jamie to settle old scores or no one will rest in peace—but, first, he has to survive.
Book Details:
Genre: YA Supernatural Horror, Mystery
Published by: Vesuvian Books
Publication Date: June 26, 2018
Number of Pages: 334
ISBN: 978-1-944109-59-2
Purchase Links: Amazon ? | Barnes & Noble ? | Goodreads ?
Top 10 Characteristics of A Good Horror Story
I discussed this with a good friend, and fellow author, David Tocher, who agreed with me that everyone has an opinion on what makes a good horror story. And right they are. No single opinion is correct, and everyone’s view of horror is different. Which is why I don’t feel it necessary to state that everyone should agree with me, this is just my own humble idea of what characteristics make a good horror story. And besides, it might make for interesting reading.
Number One: Fear
Without running the risk of sounding redundant. This one is an obvious given. Without the element of fear, how can you possibly say a piece of fiction is horror. There has to be fear etched within the pages of a book. You need that fear to entice the sheer panic that sits idle in your stomach. You need that fear to twist the knot of dread to the point you can feel in the back of your throat. Be it a spider, a dismembered body – a ghost.
Number Two: Suspense
Suspense involves creating anticipation that something bad will happen, but not knowing when it will occur. Showing lots of internal conflict between the characters. This has to be continuously mounting.
Number Three: Threat
The threat has to be established at the beginning of the novel, right in the prologue or first chapter. Because, then it doesn’t matter if your characters are grocery shopping later, that the threat from the first chapter is looming over the reader’s head. Call back to that thread in chapter one all the way through the chapters. This also ties in with tension.
Number Four: Tension
Create mounting tension by showing the character’s emotional reaction to his/her environment. Up the tension to maintain reader interest.
Number Five: Mystery
Mystery adds reliable and believable surprise to a story. Use mystery, like suspense, as a hook so the reader knows that something surprising will happen during or after the climax. Make your reader question everything, even the ending.
Number Six: Setting
The location is always a key factor in your story. Be it an abandoned hotel, dark forest, lonely lighthouse. Make things dark, or murky, or turgid. Your setting sets the stage for where your readers fears will become a reality. It adds to the fear of the unknown.
Number Seven: Atmosphere
A dark, brooding and threatening atmosphere can become the main character in your novel. The atmosphere can take centre stage and adds to the suspense and mystery of your story. The atmosphere must be portrayed in considerable detail – don’t skimp on the details. Suck your reader within the pages of the story, never letting them escape for a single breath. Keep the atmosphere tense.
Number Eight: Characters
Make the story about the characters, not the horror. For instance, if the story is about a town plagued by a wereworlf, don’t make the story about the werewolf; make the story about the people in the town and their interpersonal relationships. Also, consider making the antagonist someone we can sympathize with, even when they do horrible things.
Number Nine: Disfigurement
Don’t fall for cliché’s. Delve deeper. Make your monster the most unappealing thing your reader has ever envisioned. Don’t just have a ghost/villain that flickers in and out of focus. Have your ghost/villain take on a form your readers haven’t thought of before, and have fun with burned features, charred limbs, eyes missing from sockets. Shock and awe.
Number Ten: Ending
Best endings are not happy endings, they’re realistic ones. Even if your protagonist survives the plot of your novel, you can kill him or her off in the denouement. Break your readers heart, especially near the end.
Read an excerpt:
Jamie sat on the edge of his bed crying. Unable to stem the flow, he pounded his fist against the bed. The guilt-laden emotions swelled until they crushed him from the inside out, battered by the past.
If he had told his parents sooner about the things his sister Emer had been doing, she’d still be alive. Every time he thought of her, all the things he should have done to save her flooded through his mind. But he still ended up facing the harsh reality—he had failed her. It was his fault. A void like no other existed, leaving him in a limbo worse than death.
Jamie took off his school shirt and walked to the dresser. He grabbed a T-shirt from one of its drawers. He looked hard at his reflection in the mirror. How would it feel to not exist? The mirror showed the Jamie everyone knew and loved, yet his blue eyes were empty.
The young lad with dreams of playing for his favorite football team no longer existed. In his place stood a shadow, a living, breathing shell of the person he used to be. The ugliness of his home had become a constant reminder of the person he no longer was, and he hated himself even more. There was no escape or a happy ever after. Desolation and depression lurked in his future, and it hurt almost as bad as Emer’s death.
Jamie closed his eyes for a moment.
A chill, the same kind he’d felt in the library, pricked at his skin. The air grew thick and icy. Each labored breath became sharp. Every nerve in his body stood on edge, his senses on overdrive. He opened his eyes.
A shadow loomed behind him in the mirror’s reflection, its presence dominating him. He stood still, his heart pounding hard.
The shadow flowed, a discordant and uncoordinated swirling mesh of movement.
Jamie’s gaze remained locked on the mirror, unable to break free. The apparition descended upon him, shrouding him in its dark, wet residue. It moved through him.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
His heart was in a vise, compressed by whatever moved through his core. His eyes bulged, and he gasped for breath. Cool air washed over him.
Water lapped around his ankles. A strange odor assailed his nostrils. Unsure of where he was, or why he was there, Jamie scrambled to make sense of it. One minute, he stood in his room. The next, he was confined in a pit.
Scream after scream ripped through his throat. Jamie struggled to find a way out. He caught sight of his hands … only they weren’t his. The shock silenced his screams.
He wasn’t in his body.
He saw things through someone else’s eyes. Darkness crowded the edges of his vision.
Back in his room, he stood in front of the mirror, trembling and soaking wet. Jamie searched the room, trying to figure out what had just happened. Nothing was out of place. He shivered. Nothing would ever explain what had just occurred.
Jamie took a few deep breaths and dried off, while sweat trickled down his brow. He put on a fresh change of clothes, doing his best not to think. Taking a step towards the door, he glanced around the room. Unease swarmed within him. He grabbed the door handle and swallowed the tight ball, which had formed in the back of his throat.
He closed the door tight behind him and whispered, “It’s all in your head.”
***
Excerpt from Beneath the Lighthouse by Julieanne Lynch. Copyright © 2018 by Julieanne Lynch. Reproduced with permission from Julieanne Lynch. All rights reserved.
Author Bio:
Julieanne Lynch is an author of YA and Adult genre urban fantasy books. Julieanne was born in Northern Ireland, but spent much of her early life in London, United Kingdom, until her family relocated back to their roots.
Julieanne lives in Northern Ireland, with her husband and five children, where she is a full-time author. She studied English Literature and Creative Writing at The Open University, and considered journalism as a career path. Julieanne has several projects optioned for film.
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Giveaway:
This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Julieanne Lynch. There will be 1 winner of one (1) Amazon.com Gift Card. The giveaway begins on June 25, 2018 and runs through September 2, 2018.
Open to U.S. addresses only. Void where prohibited.
4 comments
Thanks so much for hosting me 🙂
You’re welcome! Thanks for the guest post! 🙂
What a great post!
Thank you so much!