Introduction to Paranormal February!

Paranormal February

It's official! The Treehouse Gang is officially launched! Excitement all around! Instead of starting off with a bang, we're starting with ghosts, magic, psychics, reincarnation, premonitions, and prophecies. In other words: The Paranormal.

You may have noticed we didn't mention vampires or werewolves or anything else you may classify as Paranormal. This is because here at The Treehouse, we separate Supernatural and Paranormal. Books with ghosts and prophecies and psychics are much different than those with creatures, so we want to give more light to both instead of cramming them into one month. Supernatural will have its own month later on, so not to fret those of you who write vampires, werewolves, angels, shapeshifters, etc. We'll be to them soon.

But for now, bring on the ghosts! Bring on your psychic MC's, your prophecy-filled tales. Got a story that deals with clairvoyants? What about a character who has dreams of the future? Reincarnation, anyone? Magic? Surely some of you write or read these types of books at some point! We know we do.

This month, we've got some great posts on all things paranormal, ranging from ghost stories to paranormal characterization, as well as reviews of some of our favorite paranormal books (visit our book reviews page to see other reviews from our personal sites that won't be posted on here). For our first ever giveaway, we'll have a signed copy of both Prophecy of the Sisters and its sequel Guardian of the Gate! Make sure to visit the site come the 11th to learn of details.

I bet you're all wondering about submissions for this month, since it is the first time for all of us. Well, we're already taking submissions for our paranormal pitch session and the deadline is this Thursday (means you have all day Thursday as well). Submit a few lines about your book or short story. Think of it as something you'd see on the back of the book, something you'd send with a query to an agent or publisher. Your main goal is to capture everyone's attention. On Friday, two pitches will be chosen at random and on Saturday, they'll be posted here, where you can comment and review them. On Sunday, we will post our thoughts and post our favorite reviews from you.

The remaining weeks of the month will work the same. You may submit Sunday through Thursday for that weekend of review. So:

February 6th--February 10th: Paranormal Short Stories (Please keep your word count around 2,500. If it's longer, contact one of us as there may be an exception.)

February 13--February 17th: Paranormal First Chapters (The opening chapter of your novel. Same with short stories on word count.)

February 20th--February 24th: Paranormal Excerpts (This can be from any part of your novel or short story. Give us your favorite scene, or a scene you think needs the most work. You may provide a little background of the book if needed. Same with word count.)

We can't wait to get started. For those of you who don't write, don't worry. We'd love it if you still participated in the critique sessions. And if you don't know how to review? Don't worry about that either. We have a outline to help if you need it (it will be posted with the entries). All comments are great, but also remember that constructive criticism is meant to help, not destroy hopes, so please refrain from posting unnecessary, rude comments (e.g. This is stupid. Your characters are ridiculously unbelievable). There are ways to say things without being rude (e.g. I think your characters need a bit of work. Right now, their actions/dialogue seem somewhat unbelievable).

Can't wait to get the ball rolling! Evie starts us off with her Wordy Wednesday's, talking all things ghosts, followed by Sharon's Throw-Down Thursday with our first Tips & Tricks! Let us know what you're thinking! Hope you're as excited as we are! If you have any questions, visit our questions page, post below (you don't need an account), or email us.