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1 Writing a ghost story
Summary of the chapter
- – Introduction. Defining a ghost story. You can offer the children our definition and also ask them for their own ideas. Exploring the etymology of some common words found in ghost stories, such as ‘ghost’ and ‘haunted’. What other relevant words can the children research using a dictionary and thesaurus?
- – What does a good ghost story contain? Collect ideas from the class. Let the children use the list given as a reference to help them plan their own stories.
- – First planning. Thinking of plot, characters, settings and objects. Any of these features can be used to generate ideas for the others. Questioning is the behaviour we want to encourage. So, asking about a magical book can create ideas about characters’ motivations, which can lead on to thoughts about sequences of events. Example questions are given to show the children what’s expected of them. What other questions can they think of?
- – Research. Encourage children to read/watch/listen to some age-appropriate ghost stories. You may want to do this as a first step to introduce the genre and inform children’s thinking to tackle the other activities in this chapter. Further research projects include exploring word origins, analysing ghost stories to see how other writers achieve their scary effects, discussing any ghost stories that the children have previously written, and discussing what scares readers in ghost stories and why.
- – Story lines. This is a visual planning device. Once children understand the idea, they can use it to plot stories in other genres, plus pieces of nonfiction writing. We also aim to encourage the attitude that it’s fine for children to change their minds as they plan, because it shows further thinking and decision-making skills.
- – Characters. Here we introduce ‘character templates’ such as hero, villain and companion. We also look at character descriptions, plus touching on a few old-hat character situations that are best avoided.
- – Settings. Encouragement for the children to think beyond the usual settings for a ghost story. We also point out that the reader’s imagination fills in many of the details of a setting, so including just a few vivid descriptive details usually works better than writing long slabs of description.
- – Atmosphere. Tips for creating atmosphere in a ghost story, plus advice for distinguishing between different emotions such as nervousness, fear and terror.
- – Story starters 1 – plot suggestions.
- – Story starters 2 – opening scenes.
Introduction
Ghost stories have been around for hundreds, if not thousands, of years and come from all over the world. They belong to the genre of horror fiction, which is part of the bigger category of supernatural fiction.
Ghost stories are usually meant to be scary, but they can also contain humour (such as the Scooby-Doo cartoons). Sometimes they are written or told to teach us something useful, acting as a kind of parable or morality tale. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is a well-known example.
The word ‘ghost’ comes from an old form of English meaning ‘spirit’ or ‘soul’. The word ‘haunted’ comes from an old version of French meaning ‘to visit a place often’, and may date back even further to the idea of ‘to settle’ or ‘be home’. Ask the children how they think this earlier meaning fits in with what is found in some ghost stories.
What does a good ghost story contain?
A ghost, obviously. But an effective scary tale doesn’t show the ghost too early. There might be signs of a ghost’s presence before we ever see it.
For example, there could be –
- Unexplained draughts.
- Unusual voices or other sounds.
- ‘Cold spots’ – areas where the air chills you for no obvious reason.
- Doors opening or closing by themselves.
- Strange shadows and things glimpsed out of the corner of your eye.
- Objects that move by themselves or that you discover have been moved.
- Things that are not what they appear to be. For example, a face that turns out to be a pattern on wallpaper. Or a pattern on the wallpaper that turns out to be a face!
- A general atmosphere of tension or menace. For example, the sense that someone or something is watching you.
- Sudden surprises or shocks. For example, you open a door and a crow flies out of the room, just missing your face.
- A suitable location. We’ll look at that when we come to settings on page 18.
Tip A general rule for writing good stories is ‘less is more’. Advise the children not to overuse any of these features or others that they think up for themselves.
First planning
Planning a story beforehand will make writing it easier. A plan doesn’t need to involve a lot of writing. The point of a plan is to get ideas into some sort of order. Discourage children from making up the story as they go along. Thinking time beforehand saves time later.
Remind the class that stories feature –
- A plot.
- Characters.
- Setting or background.
- Objects.
Tip A story can be planned by thinking about any of these. So, for example, if we choose an old book as one of the objects in a story and ask questions about it, we find that ideas for a plot come to mind as we think of some possible answers.
So, for example –
- Where did the book come from?
- How is it unusual?
- Why would a book have a lock on it?
- Where is the key?
- Why are one or more of our characters interested in it?
- How is it linked to the ghost (or ghosts) in our story?
- How can we use it to make our story a spooky one?
Think of at least one answer to each question before looking at our suggestions below.
Where did the book come from?
- Our main character bought it from a second-hand bookshop.
- It was left to the protagonist in a great uncle’s will.
- Some kids found it in the woods.
- It appeared mysteriously on the doorstep one day.
How is it unusual?
- It is old and battered and filled with strange writing and drawings.
- After coming across it one or more characters start to have frightening dreams.
- Strange things now start to happen.
- The book begins to speak to one or more of the characters.
Why would a book have a lock on it?
- Because what’s written in it is dangerous in the wrong hands.
- It is someone’s private diary.
- The information inside is valuable.
Where is the key?
- On a chain around a character’s neck (the villain?).
- Hidden close to where the book was found.
- It is lost forever, so you need a spell to open the book.
Why are one or more of our characters interested in the book?
- Because it allows their wishes to come true. (But why could this be a bad thing?)
- Because it is the diary of a ghost hunter and contains unsolved cases. (And what happened to the ghost hunter?)
- Because it contains maps of haunted places.
- Because our characters think it can lead to buried treasure.
How is it linked to the ghost or ghosts in our story?
- Some ideas above provide answers to the question.
- The book itself is haunted.
- The book contains information for raising ghosts or getting rid of them.
- It is a scrapbook of news clippings about a murder. The ghosts of the victims want vengeance!
How can we use it to make our story a spooky one?
- The book moves mysteriously from place to place.
- When characters handle the book, disturbing visions appear.
- People feel frightened when the book is nearby...
