Sleep Paralysis...Or Paranormal Encounter by Michelle Harrison.

Today on the blog, I have one of my favourite authors, Michelle Harrison, who is sharing the most frightening things to ever happen to her. 

The two most frightening things that have ever happened to me are similar experiences, and both occurred when I was in a place where I should have felt safest: at home in bed. 

The first was when I was aged twenty, at college and living away from home for the first time. I'd just moved into a new flat with a couple of friends with whom I worked at a local nightclub, and the flat happened to be the upstairs of an old pub - The Bear and Pheasant in Stafford. I'd only been there a week when I was woken one morning by the feeling of something hitting the end of the bed repeatedly. As I was sleeping alone and there should have been no one else in the room, I was instantly struck with fear and the thought that this had to be a supernatural presence. I can only describe it as being like the weight of a fist pounding the bedclothes by my feet. It went on for about twenty seconds, during which I kept my eyes tightly closed, too frightened to move, but convinced I was awake. When I finally plucked up the courage to move my foot the tiniest amount, the pounding stopped. Convinced the place was haunted, I got dressed and stayed out of the flat for the entire day, eventually moving out the following week. I later heard a story that the room had once belonged to an elderly couple who ran the pub. The woman had been very ill for a while, and supposedly her husband used to go in and wake her every morning to make sure she hadn't died in her sleep. Whether this part is true, I'm unsure, as I only heard it from one (dubious) source . . . 

The second time it happened was in a different bed and a different house, more than ten years later. This time was more terrifying than the first. Again, I was alone, and stirred from sleep by the sound of footsteps - like an old person wearing slippers shuffling slowly round the bed away from me. And again, I was instantly afraid, knowing that there was no one in the house but me. I became even more terrified when I realised I was paralysed with fear (or so I thought) and couldn't move a muscle. It was at this point the footsteps paused halfway round the bed, then came running back round to me at a crazy speed, then whoomph! The side of the bed sank down with a heavy weight, like a person had thrown themselves next to me. When I finally managed to wake up properly I was screaming, but once I'd calmed down the sense of terror didn't last. 

The reason for this was that in between these two experiences, I'd written a book called Unrest, based on my sister's experiences which were similar to the two I've just described. In the book, the main character, Elliott, has frequent bouts of what's called sleep paralysis, or sleep apnea, during which he believes ghosts are making contact with him. Having done some research into sleep paralysis, I'd learned that it's surprisingly common, and most people experience it at least once. 

It takes place during REM sleep, when the body's muscles naturally go into paralysis (to stop us acting out our dreams and harming ourselves) but when our minds are in the dreaming phase. Sometimes, the mind partially wakes up, projecting our dreams into our everyday surroundings, but because our bodies are still paralysed, we go into panic mode and the dream hallucinations turn threatening. Most often, this takes the form of a malevolent figure approaching us, with many accounts of the victim feeling a crushing weight on their chest and struggling to breathe. Because of this, sleep paralysis is believed to be responsible for the vast number of supernatural/alien/ghostly encounters that people experience, as it feels so incredibly real and scary - even when you understand what's happening, as I did the second time round. 

What research fails to explain is why this hallucinated threat so consistently manifests as a shadowy, human-like figure or presence . . . 

Happy Halloween!

Published by Simon & Schuster

Summary

What happens when a tale with real magic, that was supposed to be finished, never was? This is a story about one of those stories . . . 
Midge loves riddles, his cat, Twitch, and ‒ most of all ‒ stories. Especially because he’s grown up being read to by his sister Alice, a brilliant writer.
When Alice goes missing and a talking cat turns up in her bedroom, Midge searches Alice’s stories for a clue. Soon he discovers that her secret book, The Museum of Unfinished Stories, is much more than just a story. In fact, he finds two of its characters wandering around town.
But every tale has its villains ‒ and with them leaping off the page, Midge, Gypsy and Piper must use all their wits and cunning to work out how the story ends and find Alice. If they fail, a more sinister finale threatens them all ...

****

To find out more about Michelle Harrison:

Website / Twitter

The Book Cycle with Michelle Harrison

I am always excited to have Michelle Harrison on the blog, as she is one of my favourite authors. Michelle's latest Middle Grade novel, The Other Alice was published last week. Here is my review. The Other Alice is also my Book of the Month for August. 

Each book I've written has been a different experience, mainly due to whatever else is going on in my life but also because, six books in, I know more about my strengths and weaknesses as a writer. My first book, Thirteen Treasures, was written at a leisurely pace and then redrafted over several years as I searched for an agent. Everything I've written since has been much faster due to having deadlines - usually about 18 months from start to publication.

The starting point is usually a question, or a recurring thought. I don't remember the exact moment I began thinking about all the unfinished stories in the world, but it's something I've thought about often: all these characters and worlds unfinished, waiting for an ending that never comes. Many of these stories are probably average or terrible (I can speak for myself, here) but undoubtedly, there are gems with real promise. What if the characters' desire for an ending were enough to bring them to life? That's how The Other Alice began.

My stories are driven by plot first, characters second. The plot I have to puzzle over, whereas the characters tend to arrive in my head, often unexpectedly. The first thing I do is write an outline. I call this an 'extended blurb', because it's a longer version of what you'd see on the back of the book. I don't give away many answers at this stage, because I don't know them myself. This gives me a framework so my editor and I know roughly where I'm headed, and usually it has enough detail for the cover to be briefed. 

Once complete I'll have questions that'll determine the plot and the characters. For The Other Alice, these were: What would trigger the characters stepping off the page into the real world? What control would the author have then? How does the author cope? Who is going to figure out the ending? Who is the villain? And what would each of these characters do once they find out they're just a figment of someone else's imagination?

I'm pretty old-fashioned - I use Word and write each chapter as a separate file, piecing it together at the end. I use notebooks (always pretty ones) for character profiles, plot points and brainstorms. Sometimes I jot these on post its so they can be moved around. I'll also list potential character names and place names, mix and matching until I get the right one. One of the characters, Gypsy, lives on a narrowboat that I couldn't quite pin down, so I held a competition for my fans to name the boat. Sure enough, the perfect name - Elsewhere - came up. In addition I keep track of my chapter titles (I love thinking these up) and their word counts so I can watch them grow.

My notebooks also contain information that never materialises within the book. One of my favourite features of The Other Alice is the set of fortune cards (similar to tarot cards) that Midge finds in his mother's room. Each set is individual to the owner, and these were based on fairy tales. I spent a few happy hours thinking about the entire deck of cards and what their meanings could be, but only a few are actually mentioned in the story.

I struggle hugely with first drafts, and I'm slow. That's where the bulk of my time goes. That said, this was a tough book to write as it was the first since becoming a mother, and with only ten hours a week paid childcare, the rest I have to get done in naptimes, after bedtime, and with the help of family. My first drafts are overwritten with pointless tangents where I've changed direction. I resist editing on the go; I just don't have time and it's more productive to keep going until the end, then fix it after. Distancing yourself from a chapter or scene makes it easier to see faults when you come back to it. It's hard to get that if you're constantly rereading. 

I much prefer the redrafting stage. Besides Thirteen Treasures, The Other Alice was my most chaotic first draft. I'd gone too 'meta' with the 'story within a story' concept, and my editor told me I'd blow my young readers' minds - not in a good way. This all needed cutting back and simplifying. Other problems were characterisation and voice. My protagonist, Midge, needed aging down and in that first draft he and Alice had another sister, Cleo. I ended up cutting Cleo out as there was little to differentiate her from Midge. She didn't do much, except act allow Midge to voice his thoughts. I got round this by internalising some of these thoughts, and playing up the role of Tabitha, the talking cat. It was a lot of work but the right decision. 

Making the manuscript shine with the smaller details during the edits is my favourite part. I love nipping out anything that's extraneous, adding in more clues, and getting rid of ideas that never fully developed. The finished product thrills me more than the journey - perhaps it's the whole theme of unfinished stories and unfulfilled characters coming into play in my subconscious . . .

Published on 28th July 2016 by Simon and Schuster 

Summary

What happens when a tale with real magic, that was supposed to be finished, never was? This is a story about one of those stories . . . 

Midge loves riddles, his cat, Twitch, and ‒ most of all ‒ stories. Especially because he’s grown up being read to by his sister Alice, a brilliant writer.

When Alice goes missing and a talking cat turns up in her bedroom, Midge searches Alice’s stories for a clue. Soon he discovers that her secret book, The Museum of Unfinished Stories, is much more than just a story. In fact, he finds two of its characters wandering around town.

But every tale has its villains ‒ and with them leaping off the page, Midge, Gypsy and Piper must use all their wits and cunning to work out how the story ends and find Alice. If they fail, a more sinister finale threatens them all...

The Other Alice by Michelle Harrison

Alice Silver had never met anyone who had killed before, but that changed on the day Dorothy Grimes walked past the window of Alice's favourite coffee shop. 

Published by Simon and Schuster on 28th July 2016

Pages -352

Summary

What happens when a tale with real magic, that was supposed to be finished, never was? This is a story about one of those stories . . . 

Midge loves riddles, his cat, Twitch, and ‒ most of all ‒ stories. Especially because he’s grown up being read to by his sister Alice, a brilliant writer.

When Alice goes missing and a talking cat turns up in her bedroom, Midge searches Alice’s stories for a clue. Soon he discovers that her secret book, The Museum of Unfinished Stories, is much more than just a story. In fact, he finds two of its characters wandering around town.

But every tale has its villains ‒ and with them leaping off the page, Midge, Gypsy and Piper must use all their wits and cunning to work out how the story ends and find Alice. If they fail, a more sinister finale threatens them all...

*****

I may be completely biased, because I love everything Michelle Harrison writes. Ever since reading The Thirteen Treasures, I've hailed Michelle as the new Enid Blyton and I still stand by my words. She weaves fantasy with ease into a contemporary setting. 

This book is pure magic! I love that there is a book within the book! This tale brings to life, Alice's characters from her stories. Some are lovely but many are menacing and out to get what they want. For them to return to the story, Alice must finish writing it. When Alice disappears, Midge, Alice's younger brother, struggles to search for and save his sister. He must help her to return the characters back to the fictional world. 

The characters effortlessly spill out of the story into real life. I thought it was excellent how they believed themselves to be alive and really felt their shock  and fear on realising they were just characters from a story. I loved Tabitha, the talking cat, who loves a good cup of tea.

There is a real darkness to this tale, which is very much a signature of Michelle Harrison's style of writing. Her characters are never sweet or innocent. Dorothy Grimes is seriously scary!

The prose is intricately plotted and bursting with descriptive passages. I am in awe of Michelle's plotting abilities. 

The book reminded me how much I loved Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. If you are a fan of Inkheart, you will really enjoy this book.