Creature Comforts: Ghosts

Oooh, what a fascinating question. I don't have much time to post, but I wanted to say that ghost stories are my favorite type of horror story for a few reasons.

First off, it's because I believe they do really exist. Therefore ghost stories can scare the pants off of me. There's too much we don't know about the spiritual world and too much that people have experienced (even close family members) for me to write them off as silly superstition.

Secondly, there is such a great range of angles one can take on a ghost - truly frightening, wistful, angsty, sad, romantic, innocuous, to even friendly or helpful mentors.

Darn, I have to run, but I'll be checking back to see what everyone else has to say about this. Fun stuff!

c.e.

"...what about a ghost pulls you into a story or conjures up a tale to craft?"

Violent death and/or unfinished business make for more compelling ghosts. A few of my stories have ghosts or ghost-like beings. I wrote a story, "That Smell," that features the ghost of Ronny Van Zant (lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd, their plane crashed in 1977.) Also, the story that I entered in the ChiZine contest featured... well, not exactly a ghost but a reanimated skeletal revenant. But same kind of motivation.

With ghosts, you often have a two-layered story involving the "pre-ghost" and ghost states. How you bring the backstory in is more critical with ghosts than with a lot of other types of stories, since they were "normal" people once. It doesn't take an encounter with a vampire or werewolf or other supernatural creature to become dead.

I've had so many experiences with the ghosties during investigations that I'll never run out of ideas. The story behind the haunting is fascinating as well so there are usually plum pickings for a storyline or something to build onto. I've never met a person who didn't have a ghost story to tell or knew someone that had something odd happen to them, I think ghost stories bond us as a global community - something many of us can relate to in a small way.

HoraceJames said:

"...what about a ghost pulls you into a story or conjures up a tale to craft?"

Violent death and/or unfinished business make for more compelling ghosts. A few of my stories have ghosts or ghost-like beings. I wrote a story, "That Smell," that features the ghost of Ronny Van Zant (lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd, their plane crashed in 1977.) Also, the story that I entered in the ChiZine contest featured... well, not exactly a ghost but a reanimated skeletal revenant. But same kind of motivation.

With ghosts, you often have a two-layered story involving the "pre-ghost" and ghost states. How you bring the backstory in is more critical with ghosts than with a lot of other types of stories, since they were "normal" people once. It doesn't take an encounter with a vampire or werewolf or other supernatural creature to become dead.

Click to expand...

Let me say, "Yes, this," to what Horace has said here. My new WIP is a ghost story, and there are lots of layers in it, and the past is going to be critical both for the ghostie and for my protag.

Ghost stories have always freaked me out, far more than blood or guts slasher stories ever have (though they can do that, too, done correctly). Part of it, for me, is that fear of what comes after we die. Being a ghost would not be high on my list of preferred afterlives.

Cranky said:

Being a ghost would not be high on my list of preferred afterlives.

Click to expand...

Are you kidding? I would so love to be a ghost. The potential for mischief is limitless!

Anyway, ditto for the ghosts with violent or traumatic deaths and unfinished business. I actually toyed with the idea of writing a story from a ghost's point of view just so I could follow it along on it's quest for closure.

And, actually, I prefer evil ghosts. The good ones always disappear at the end, the whole fade out while saying their ghostly thanks thing. Evil ones have to be forced out. They're ornery. I like ornery.

BTW, are we including poltergeists in this assessment?

I would, anyway, Sassee. (Have fun with the mischief making, btw!)

And I'd throw in setting as a factor for an excellent ghost story. It's going to be a big part of my own book. Whether it's something extraordinary happening in a mundane place, or a scary, gothic like feel, setting has a lot to do with making the ghost story work, imo.

I love ghost stories. I have an especial fondness for inanimate objects turned malevolent (or even just sentient). I like a vagueness in the source of the haunting - I think it lends a realism - and I love unhappy endings. M R James is my hero of the genre, but I've got a soft spot for R L Stevenson and his ilk with the gothic overtones. I tend to fall short in modern ghost story writers though, so any reccomendations are appreciated!

Ghost stories probably my favourite short story genre to write, especially in the traditional British vein (M R James again). I've got possessed statues, haunted pianos, cursed plants and all sorts. However, I'm struggling for places to submit them to. Most of the horror markets I've found aren't interested in the subgenre, and I suspect I may have hobbled myself in terms of international submissions. Anyone know any good markets?

nkkingston said:

Ghost stories probably my favourite short story genre to write, especially in the traditional British vein (M R James again). I've got possessed statues, haunted pianos, cursed plants and all sorts. However, I'm struggling for places to submit them to. Most of the horror markets I've found aren't interested in the subgenre, and I suspect I may have hobbled myself in terms of international submissions. Anyone know any good markets?

Click to expand...

I have the same issue with a couple of my stories, which are also in the MR James sort of style, and maybe not shock-horror enough, or original enough, for the dedicated horror mags.

When I get round to subbing them I will check duotrope for literary magazines open to all genres, who look as if they might be receptive to a traditional ghost story.

Hopefully they will find a home somewhere. Good luck with yours.

nkkingston said:

I tend to fall short in modern ghost story writers though, so any reccomendations are appreciated!

Click to expand...

The English writer Terry Lamsley is considered the modern M.R. James. But you might also check out the fiction of another Englishman, Robert Aickman, considered one of the best ghost story writers of all time (he referred to his own work as 'strange stories' as sometimes you can't actually pinpoint a ghost): 'Ringing the Changes' is one of his most accessible and is most often anthologised, and 'The Swords' is an example of the ghost story without a ghost - menacing, but why? Also try 'The Fetch' which is very creepy.

Also check out any of Richard Dalby's anthologies; his series of ghost stories written by women are absolute gems.

A few more of my favourite ghost stories (though not all of them are modern-modern, they are timeless reads):

Afterwards by Edith Wharton
Hey, Look at Me! by Jack Finney
Mary King's Close by Colin Mackay
One Who Saw by A.M. Burrage
The Crown Derby Plate by Marjorie Bowen

Three novels that IMHO are ghostly masterpieces:

The Search for Joseph Tully by William Hallahan (reincarnation)
Possession by Peter James (evil spirit of son haunts mother)
Supersition by David Ambrose (let's make our own ghost! with terrible results)

...though if you're a Steve King fan (I'm not, though I wish him well), you might not agree with my choices!

Happy New Year to you all...

I've seen two ghosts, myself, and both sightings were awe-inspiring experiences. I've always found the 'idea' of ghosts very Romantic - there's something incredibly poetic about spirits being trapped in time (their own time), blissfully ignorant of the soulless era we find ourselves in. This notion has 'haunted' my reading and writing habits all my life - but it's not just escapism, or a yearning for Romance or some kind of religious consolation in the idea of an afterlife...it's something beyond that; perhaps a natural empathy with those who have suffered?

When considering the nature of my novella Salvatore House, I was undecided whether to make it a ghost story or a tale of vampires (the main characters are easily adaptable to both types of story), and it struck me that despite the centuries of ghostly tales, there's no literary equivalent of Dracula, no standout 'character' who's as well-known as the Count, or Frankenstein's monster (for example), at least in the West.

This I found both surprising and disappointing - I wonder if ghost stories are fast becoming 'niche' (loved by an increasingly-small minority of readers, and overshadowed by more 'active' literary characters, ones who pose a genuine threat, as Dracula does). In part, this may be due, as I suggested, to the rather static nature of ghosts - they rarely threaten the living, in fiction or otherwise, so there's little tension in effect; in part, ghosts may now be viewed by many as something as fey, quaint and ineffectual as, say, fairies or angels...this, I feel, is a great shame, and reflects the unimaginative times we live in.

In conclusion, I decided to make Salvatore House a vampire tale...much to my chagrin. But one day soon I will write a traditional ghost story - I owe it to myself, our literary forefathers, and to Romantics like us...

EDIT: Actually, I've changed my mind - Salvatore will remain a ghost story, after all.

I'm partial to old fashioned ghost stories as well which is what made the film The Ring work for me. Anyone remember the old George C Scott movie The Changeling?

I was quite fond of a handful of the American gothic romance writer Barbara Michaels' works as well, Here I Stay, Ammie Come Home, The Crying Child. These books are quaint and quite dated by today's standards, but to me the biggest appeal in the ghost stories I have enjoyed in print and film over the years is the inherent sadness.

I'm a sucker for a ghost who wants to be heard and will go at any lengths to have the true nature of their deaths finally revealed so their souls can find peace...and then you get something like The Ring's third act when you find out "oops, not this time kiddies!"

A recent discovery for me is the number of 'woman's mags' that accept ghost stories. Things like Woman's Weekly. Admittedly, they tend to be a bit cosier than my usual (I prefer unhappy endings in a ghost story), and a little shorter, but as markets go mags some pay up to £400, which is huge for short stories.

All Hallows specialise in traditional ghost stories in the M.R. James mold.
Unfortunately they don't pay, but it's a print mag, and has had some world fantasy award nominations.

I submitted something a few weeks ago. Fingers crossed.

I've sent one to All Hallows and had a rejection; I'm giving it a month before I send the next (which ought to be more up their street, but was under submission to someone else until recently). They're fairly good with response times.