An essay by Parul Sehgal previously published in THE NEW YORK TIMES Book Review had a topic appropriate for Halloween: Why the ghost story persists.
Sehgal observed: “Literature — the top-shelf, award-winning stuff — is positively ectoplasmic these days, crawling with hauntings, haints and wraiths of every stripe and disposition.”
I have found much more of a demand for stories with a supernatural edge than those set in the verisimilitude of reality. Possibly people are looking for psychological escapes from the real world more than ever.
Many of the classics of literature such as Henry James’ “Turn of the Screw” or Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House” provide us with eerie ghost stories. Today’s ghost stories vary. They may be written in the classic mold or entirely unique. They may reflect our modern society or hearken back to the past. Sehgal observed: “ghost stories are never just reflections. They are social critiques…”
So how do you write a successful ghost story? After all, the plots tend to be repetitious. I believe the answer lies elsewhere. The key is in creating interesting and somewhat unique ghost characters that the reader will bond with emotionally and intellectually.
In my novel DARK MOON RISING, there are two ghosts, women from two different centuries who haunt the family home of the men who wronged them. These ghosts seek justice via revenge.
https://luminositypublishing.com/book/dark-moon-rising/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Z7824A4/
Sehgal commented that ghost stories are often drenched in sex and violence. But obviously that is not the only thing that can make them appealing to readers. I think that one strong appeal of ghost stories is the suggestion that there is life after death.
For a short spooky Halloween story that combines mystery and the supernatural, I offer a free read, my short story “The Bokur”
https://pressfuls.com/2023/01/01/the-bokor/
If you enjoy sci-fi horror, try another free read:
https://whitecatpublications.com/2022/03/26/dark-matter/
I recently finished reading HAUNTED HOMICIDE by Lucy Ness which I can recommend to fellow readers. Here we have a ghost who helps solve a murder mystery and proves very entertaining.
Are there any ghost stories that particularly
appeal to you or you found memorable? Are you writing a ghost story at present?
I don't typically read paranormal, but recently read Sunshine Knight's novel The Devastation of Bartholomew Ka. I thought it was really different, but not being a regular reader of the genre, I wouldn't really know - ha ha! I read a ghost story to a Girl Scout troop thirty years ago, and one gal still talks about "Give Me Back My Taily-poo."
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this with us, Catherine.
DeleteI love ghost stories. One of my favorites is The Uninvited by Dorothy Macardle. It was made into a movie with Ray Milland in 1944. Critics have called the movie “sophisticated, intelligent, and high-brow.”
ReplyDeleteYes a fine book and film adaptation.
ReplyDelete