Why I Wrote a
Self-Help 101 Novella About Halloween.
The
Self-Help 101 series started with my
desire to write a Christmas novella.
I’ve seen plenty of other people put out various holiday-themed
novellas, and I thought I’d give it a go.
I also knew I wanted the series to be funny and enjoyable to read, and
the main character Dani ended up being a lot like I was at her age--an awkward
writer who thrives on sarcasm and coffee.
I
finished that first novella, Self-Help
101 or: How I Learned to Take Over the World Through Tolerating My Family,
and released it. That was all I’d
planned on doing. Then my husband made
an off-handed comment about how I could write more novellas, each one taking
place on a different holiday. Within
minutes, I knew I needed to write one for the 4th of July (there’s a lot of
potential for disaster in a holiday with explosions going on all over the
place), Halloween, and New Year’s Eve (which makes for a fitting end to a
series because of the reflective nature of the holiday).
Why
did I decide to write a novella for Halloween, though? There are plenty of other holidays to choose
from. However, there were some holidays
that didn’t seem like they had much narrative potential. What could have been the main conflict for
Columbus Day? Perhaps Dani needed to
mail a letter and was irritated that the post office was closed. Yeah, it didn’t feel like I’d have much to
work with there.
Halloween,
however, has lots of narrative potential.
Dani, having just started college, gets to experience old traditions in
new ways. There are costumes, which are
a lot of fun. There’s
trick-or-treating. Imagine how
trick-or-treating with full-grown adults might go. There are parties, which always have the
potential for crazy antics. How could I
pass that up?
I
also love Halloween, and I’m sure that influenced my decision. If I think writing a particular story sounds
like fun, then I’m going to write it.
Excerpt:
“No.
Most of the comments on my blog are relatively nice. I’ve only got the one troll. Oh, and I’ve been told three times in the
last two days that I can make $87 an hour from just sitting in front of my
computer. Judging from the state of my
wallet, I don’t think it’s working.”
“If you do figure it out, let me
know. I’m all for benefitting from being
lazy,” Ruby said around a mouthful of chocolatey cereal. She crunched away thoughtfully for a moment
before continuing. “You could always try
doing vlogs instead. They’re more
popular since most people prefer watching a video to reading a post.”
“As a writer, I find that rather
depressing. Probably true, but
definitely depressing. Besides, doing a
vlog means getting dressed.”
Ruby shook her head. “That may not be entirely true. A lot of them could be recording without
pants on, and no one would ever know.”
I shuddered. “Gross.
Thanks for the mental imagery.”
Title: Self-Help 101 or: How to Select a Costume to Help You Deal
With People
Author: L.G. Keltner
Genre: holiday/humor
Length: 29,000 words
Cover Art:
L.G. Keltner and Jamon
Walker
Release Date: September 27, 2016
Blurb:
Book 3 in
the Self-Help 101 series.
Dani
Finklemeier is adjusting to life in college and the realities of living away
from home for the first time. She’s also
learning to deal with the criticism that stems from sharing her writing with
the world. Some of the online criticism
is even spelled correctly, which somehow makes it worse.
Fortunately,
she has a Halloween party, a group of friends, and a supportive boyfriend to
distract her from the things that are bothering her. Of course, a holiday celebration wouldn’t be
complete without something going wrong.
Between an unpleasant confrontation with an infuriating classmate, some
shocking costume choices, and a bizarre fraternity stunt, the evening will be
anything but dull.
Dani’s
detractors may not like it, but she’ll definitely have enough material for
another book.
Bio:
L.G. Keltner spends most of
her time trying to write while also cleaning up after her crazy but wonderful
kids and hanging out with her husband.
Her favorite genre of all time is science fiction, and she’s been trying
to write novels since the age of six.
Needless to say, those earliest attempts weren’t all that good.
Her non-writing hobbies include astronomy and
playing Trivial Pursuit.
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