Hello everybody! Today, we have yet another blog tour, and this time it’s for MG debut Welcome to Dead Town, Raven Mckay, a gothic novel I can’t wait to read. I have a guest post from the fabulous author to show you, and it’s about writing villains. Onto the post!
I enjoy creating creepy characters. They form in my imagination and they become different shades of dark until they spring into being. I always like to end up with something as dark and delicious as Black Forest gateau. Some of my eerie characters are inspired by Irish folklore and mythology: a white lady, a murderous redcap, a ghoul, a shapeshifting werewolf, a bogeyman, banshees, zombies, a selkie, a druid. I have put some of my favourite baddies in Dead Town and I’ve had such fun writing their parts. I really feel I know them well. I sort of miss them. But I know they’ll always be in the pages of my book. Callie is a white lady. A female ghost with long white hair in a white dress. She can appear during the day or night. One look from her and you might die the following day. The red cap is a very nasty goblin, who kill children with a knife and dips his cloak in their blood. The Pooka is the most feared fairy. A shapeshifter that appears in my book as a dark sleek horse with a flowing mane and golden eyes. I make sure that all my creepy baddies have traits that are found in real people: jealousy, greed, betrayal, vengeance, insincerity. We all encounter friends and frenemies at different stages of our life. There are good and dark forces in life. We all have to use our head and heart to overcome these challenges. But Grave’s Pass isn’t an ordinary town. Raven McKay is a vulnerable foster girl. She is longing for friendship and a sense of home. She encounters an array of characters in Dead Town and is unsure who to trust. This adds to the spooky mystery and mayhem.
Thank you so much for reading! Are you planning to pick this up, or have you done so already? What’s your favourite spooky story? I’d love to have a chat in the comments!
Amy xx
Golden Books Girl 