I always used to think that ghost stories should be scary
- probably something to do with watching too much Scooby Doo as a child! It
was only after I actually sat down to write one, that I realized they
don’t have to be spine-chilling. In fact, ghost stories can be romances, family tales, comedy
even – not necessarily something dark and gothic.
This week, in
Take a Break Fiction Feast, I have a ghost story called ‘Hearts in the Sand’
and I thought I’d use it as an example of how to write a non-scary ghost story.
Feeling lonely
after the death of her husband, Kevin, Julie moves to the seaside town where they had been planning to retire. It was a place Kevin had stayed as a child.
A place very special to him.
While walking on
the beach one day, Julie sees a child drawing hearts in the sand. The little girl, who
says her name is Ella, the tries to engage her in conversation but Julie wants
to be alone with her sadness. Ella tells Julie she loves the beach and asks her
whether she does too. When Julie shakes her head, the little girl draws another
heart and says, ‘I’ll teach you how.’
The following
day, the child is on the beach again and Julie is irritated when she asks her
once more if she loves the beach. Unperturbed by Julie's unfriendliness, Ella shows her a beautiful
coral sea fan. The same thing happens on the following days with Ella showing Julie
new things from the beach: a sea potato, a tiny velvet crab, an oystercatcher. The
little girl continues to ask Julie if she loves the beach but, despite being
shown all the wonderful things it has to offer, she can’t see beyond her
loneliness.
Over the coming
days, Julie notices the girl is looking increasingly pale and out of breath
and worries she’s unwell. Ella tells Julie she lives in one of the cottages at the
back of the beach. As Julie looks, a woman comes out and she presumes it’s the
girl’s grandmother. She says she’ll take Ella back home but when she gets there
Ella isn’t behind her.
The woman, Elizabeth,
who is also widowed, invites Julie in. She tells Julie she’s seen her around town
and had wondered whether she was new to the area. There is a photo on the wall
with a little girl in it who Julie recognizes as Ella. She’s sitting on the
beach with a boy. When Julie tells Elizabeth she’s met her granddaughter, we
find out that the girl in the picture is not her granddaughter at all but Elizabeth’s
sister, Ella, who died of leukemia when she was nine. The little boy is Julie’s
husband, Kevin, who used to stay in the cottage with his family when it was a guesthouse.
They had both loved the beach and Kevin used to show Ella all the beautiful and
interesting things he found there.
At the end of the
story, we realise Ella was in fact a ghost. Through her, Kevin was able to help his wife fall in love with the place - by showing her the things that
were special to him. A well as that, Ella and Kevin had helped Julie find a new friend in Elizabeth.
So you see, it’s
not necessary for a ghost story to be scary – this one was in fact a story about love.
Here were some techniques
I used to write the story:
An interesting
setting
Whether a ghost
story is to be scary or not, you need to create atmosphere. I chose a beach
(one of my favorite story settings). Whatever setting you use, remember to use
all your senses in your descriptions.
Make sure
your ghost has a reason or motive for existing
My ghost, Ella, was a vehicle for Julie’s late husband to help her to fall in love with her new home. She was also integral in helping Julie banish her loneliness..
Give the reader
clues about the ghost
Obviously, we don’t
want to give the game away too soon but we want the reader to look back and say
‘Oh, yes – now I see!’
These clues
might be in the ghost’s appearance or maybe in something they say. Here are the
clues I left in Hearts in the Sand.
- It’s a cold day
when Julie first meets Ella. She is wearing gloves but the child’s hands are
bare and she doesn't seem to feel the cold. Later, Julie comments on the fact that Ella's only wearing a woolen dress and no coat.
- Julie is
surprised that she’s out on the beach alone.
- Julie wonders
why she’s not at school.
- I mention Ella’s
pale hair and the blue veins showing beneath the skin of her wrist.
- Ella climbs the rocks
easily despite mention of her frailty.
- From the window
of her house, Julie thinks she sees Ella on the beach despite the rain.
- When she gets to
Elizabeth’s gate, Ella is no longer there.
There you have
it. Ghost stories don’t need to scare. Have you written a ghost story? If so, what techniques did you use?
In the meantime, 2017 has started with a bang! I've already had two story sales and, at the time of writing, have five stories on sale in the shops - one in The People's Friend Special, two in Woman's Weekly Fiction Special, and two in Take a Break Fiction Feast (I can't imagine that happening again!). One of the stories was a ghost story but two were a new genre for me - crime mystery.
