Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. First, there's the candy. M&Ms are my number one, although Snickers are a pretty close second. Then, there's pumpkin carving. If you've never stuck your hand into a pumpkin and yanked its guts out, you haven't lived.
I also consider myself a horror movie aficionado and there is no better time of year to watch them. I prefer the classics: Dracula, Halloween, Night Of The Living Dead and The Exorcist to name a few.
All of the above mentioned items are great, but the costumes are the absolute best part of Halloween. My Aunt made the most wonderful ones for me every year. In chronological order, I was a fairy princess, a witch, Raggedy Ann, a clown, a witch again (loved the green face paint), Sandy from Grease, a gypsy, a hobo, Wonder Woman, an Egyptian queen, a sock hop sweetie (poodle skirt, of course) and the grim reaper (by the time I was thirteen I wanted to scare the crap out of someone. No more cutesy costumes for me).
When I wore a costume, I could be a totally different person and I loved it. I could act completely opposite of my "normal".
Isn't that what we do as writers when we breathe life into a fictional character? We get to shape their actions and personality like a lump of clay. We can make them dark and disturbed or pure as snow. They can go places that we never will and do things that would be unthinkable for us to do ourselves. This is the fun part of being a writer. Sure, it's hard work sometimes, but for me this is the good stuff.
Do you have a favorite Halloween memory or a special way of celebrating?
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8 comments:
All time favourite Halloween memory: the year my little sister insisted she was going to be a ghost and nothing else. My mum wouldn't let her cut a hole in any of the good sheets for eyeholes, so she just draped one over herself and followed me up and down the street, banging into fences and wandering off course. I still laugh as hard now as I did when I was eight. That's a big sister's duty.
I've never really liked Halloween. Never could decide on any costumes. Mostly I just wanted candy. If my parents had just given me a bag of Reese's peanut butter cups or Snickers we could have saved the whole bother of trick or treating.
Amie, that's so funny! What a wonderful memory.
RM, I loved trick or treating, but a whole bad of Reese's would have been tempting.
I just love everything about October, the candy, the way it smells, the leaves turning colors. I just can't pick one. =)
A sock hop sweetie! Aw - never heard of that term before, but I love it to pieces.
Halloween in England kept more to its pagan roots, at least when I was little - it was rare to get trick or treaters at the door. But by the time I was 12 I did my first trick or treat and dressed up as a witch - had great fun making a sequin cape (as of course witches adore sequins!).
Nowadays Halloween/Samhain is still my absolute fave holiday, but the trick or treaters where I live are scary in the 'we want to mug you' type way. They don't dress up and only want money. So now we don't open the door, but that is so sad. :(
I'm so ready for October! I adore this season. It's such a beautiful in between between the extremes of summer and winter.
Carolyn, definitely love the leaves.
Jayne, too bad you can't open the door during trick or treat.
That sounds kind of scary.
Melissa, that's exactly the reason Spring and Fall are my favorites.
Hmm, the candy-gorging on Halloween night may not be unique, but it's a tradition.
It's so true how we get to do all sorts of crazy things in our writing. What an escape!
I'm a new follower, nice to meet you and your blog!
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