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Spark Your Holiday Novel With Imagery!

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Weather (pun intended) we like it or not the holiday season is right around the corner! It’s practically here (in Grinch voice)!

And for some of us that means snow! Now, if you are trying to spark some creativity for your holiday novel one great way to do that is through imagery. Looking at photos can make us believe we are there and feeling the surroundings. So if you live in someplace that may not get snow, spark that feeling with some of these images!

There are so many tools to use to spark your imagination! Just by going online and typing themes of your book into the search bar and looking at the images can open a whole new door to your novel!

And I am not just here to show you pictures of snow because there can be so much more in a holiday novel. Maybe you live in a place that has too much snow and your characters take a tropical vacation for the holidays?

The possibilities are endless! Maybe you use your own photos to spark something! Just remember that you can spark your creativity through almost anything! 

Happy Writing!

Let’s Hashtag

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We’ve all seen them, now it’s time to know how to properly use them. Hashtags aren’t just used to take up space on your posts, they all have a meaning and help to enhance the post and its reach.

It’s a good idea to use hashtags to help promote your personal or business social media accounts. It will give your posts a better chance of exposure on that specific hashtags page, especially for the people who follow that hashtag. 

At HRM we use a lot of books, writing, and reading related hashtags to help boost our posts. Here are some of the ones we use throughout all of our social media accounts.

Most Popular

#bookstagram 

#EpicReads 

#BookNerd

#Books

#Bibliophile 

#BookAddict

#Bookshelf 

#bookcommunity

#writersofinstagram

#writersofinstagram

#booksofinstagram

#bookstagrammer

Specific genre

#Crime

#Historical

#Romantic

#NonFiction

#Mystery

And there are so much more! Keep in mind, Instagram only allows 30 hashtags per post, so pick & choose, and switch them around to your liking.

Don’t forget to follow us to see all of our hashtags in action!

Daggers of Nobility

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Katar

  • The katar is considered a push dagger. It has a hand grip shaped like an ‘H’, forcing the wielder to clutch the blade above the knuckles. Sort of like Wolverine from X-Men. According to fighting styles, its compared to boxing a lot. Anyone using a katar aims for slashing the head or upper area and puts their whole weight into it.
  • Believe it or not, these daggers were used in worship from time to time. More importantly, they were used as symbols of Indian nobility. Katars utilized as decorations such as this were dressed in enamel, gems, or gold foil. They even could bear figures or scenes.
  • Mentioned briefly, this weapon was first crafted in India. Many speculate it was done so in Canada or England, but nope…India! Interesting enough, because of the weather of India, sheathes were not made of usual sheathe material, they were made from silk or any other soft material.

Not Your Average Bee Hive

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Nest Of Bees

  • This was a rocket battery used by the early Chinese Ming Warrior, warriors in existence during the Ming Dynasty (1368).
  • It’s a long range weapon. It cast 32 arrows in one shot, which were tipped with rockets. The arrow tips themselves were tipped in poison or something flammable – to increase enemy kills. They traveled up to 5 football fields away.
  • The nest itself was a hexagonal tube, equipped with a shoulder strap so warriors wore them like backpacks. It protected them from flying debris.
  • If this weapon sounds familiar, that’s because as time continued on…the nest of bees evolved into rockets/missiles of our modern era – which continue to evolve as we speak.

Last, But Not Least

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We’ve loved sharing these mythological creatures and the outline of their legends/stories. We hope you’ve been just as inspired as us to create your own legend – inspired by these creatures or recreating their legend in your own retelling. In a way, we’ve traveled around the world and have explored so many countries and their legends.

If you have any other creatures we missed and you want to share, comment down below and let us know what your favorite myth is!

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Rainbow Serpent | Australia

Rainbow snake that represents the cycle of the seasons.

  • A creator god who is a common motif in Aboriginal Australia, one of the groups of indigenous peoples of Australia.
  • The representation of the rainbow and the serpents are that of human life and need for water.
  • Although the god is angelic in a way, they can easily turn into a destructive force.
  • Most legends describe the serpent as being male but others have labeled it as female or androgynous and bisexual. It has a link to fertility and its association to gender and sexuality show that!
  • This godly snake is worshiped through rituals, usually in relation to female menstruation.

Australia’s Monsoon Deliverer

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Wondjina | Australia

Cloud and rain spirits that deliver monsoons.

  • These spirits created the landscape and humans living on it. Talk about a God.
  • They painted their image on cave walls and entered a waterhole once they’ve found a place to die.
  • While the appearance of the Wondjina spirits vary, due to how they’ve painted themselves, they are more commonly known to have large upper bodies and heads. They have eyes and a nose…but no mouth.
  • A missing mouth is sometimes attributed to the fact of how powerful they may be. If they spoke, rain would never stop!
  • Their control of the weather only occurs when someone breaks the law. They’ll bring floods, lightning, and cyclone.

Creature in the Waves

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Taniwha | New Zealand

Beings that reside among dangerous currents, may be guardians or predators.

  • They live in deep pools, hiding out in rivers, dark caves or, the deepest of all pools…the sea! They like being in dangerous currents or giant waves!
  • Good? Bad? Both? They’re considered kaitiaki, or protective guardians, of people and places in some legends. However, if told through other legends, they’re depicted as monsters who steal/kidnap women to marry.
  • Taniwha loosely translates to shark species of the Proto-Oceanic word, “tanifa.”
  • So, shark species means it probably looks like a fish of some sort, right? Right! Depending on the body of water. It’s beensaid there are some taniwha that appear to be alligators. There are a few legends which describe the taniwha as a log.
  • If someone comes across a taniwha, they might turn into one after they pass.

The 13th Child

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Jersey Devil | New Jersey, USA

Hooved creature with bat-like wings and a blood-chilling scream.

  • It lives in the Pine Barrens in South New Jersey but is also considered a mythological creature talked about in Philadelphia.
  • It’s always described to be a flying biped with hooves. The combination vary: kangaroos, wyverns, goats, and horses are some of them.
  • The Jersey Devil started as The Leeds Devil, also the Devil of Leeds. These names originated in the 1700s about a family (the Leeds) and a crazy story surrounding Mother Leeds. Mother Leeds had 12 children and fell pregnant with a 13th child. She wasn’t exactly the happiest expecting mother. She decided to curse the 13th child, saying it would be born as the ‘Devil.’ Supposedly, the Jersey Devil is the 13th child.
  • Although the Jersey Devil was born in the 1700s, publications and sightings didn’t begin until the 1800s. As time went on, the name changed into the Jersey Devil. But the story still remains.
  • None of the stories say its attacked humans or has any reason to…but it will rampage through towns and cities, if it wants to.

Canada’s Loch Ness Monster

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Ogopogo | British Columbia

Lake-dwelling serpentine monster.

  • Sightings started in the 19th century but have been discredited to being a legendary water spirit, living in Lake Okanagan.
  • Other than having the body of a snake, the head has been described to be that of a snake, horse, or even a goat. Sometimes it has long ears or horns with blue or brown scales.
  • It eats flesh. That means humans…turn into prey. Hunters become the hunted. Native Americans never traveled across the lake without sacrificial meals on board. Now, its believed the monster dwells in one of the corners of the lake.
  • It’s very similar to the Loch Ness monster of Scotland.
  • The ogopogo is sometimes thought to be an extinct whale or marine reptile.

The Cannibal Monster

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This is one of the last two areas of the world we are traveling too. So, let’s venture into the deep woods of the Americas to start the beginning of the final countdown!

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Wendigo | Algonquian Tribes

Cannibalistic beastly humanoid, possibly once human.

  • This creature is aligned with murder, insatiable, and cultural taboos against “normal” behavior. They’re also associated with the winter, the north, coldness, famine, and starvation.
  • The Wendigo is bigger than a human, and whenever it feeds on human flesh, it grows! It never gains weight and will always appear thin. They’re always hungry so watch out!!
  • There’s also an explanation as to why they may have been human once before turning into the Wendigo. When they were human, they may have been incredibly greedy. Or if the human was in contact with Wendigos for too long, they would become one.
  • Powers include: mimicking human voices, possession, controlling weather, manipulation of darkness (sunset), control of forest creatures, healing, and incredible strength and speed.
  • Believe it or not, there is a psychological disorder called the Wendigo Psychosis. People diagnosed crave human flesh even though they have access to normal food sources.