The Ghost Within: Writing the Paranormal Wave
Ghosts. I think about them. A lot. You know that.
I read ghost novels, review ghost novels, and this week, I even published one—Moonlight Dancer.
Funny thing is, I’ve never seen a ghost. And I don’t even know if I believe in them.
So, why this fascination?
It comes down to what I term The Ghost Within. I bet you’ve got a little ghost within you, too.
My inner ghost is about yearning. About loss. Growing up, I was a dork’s dork. You can picture it, right? Me—bowed head, averted eyes, pouchy stomach. The pouchy stomach wasn’t so easy to pull off since I was skinny as well.
Oh, and I was a non-athlete. My hands grew clammy every time we picked teams in P.E.—basketball, badminton, baseball—whatever. Two captains calling out names, and always the last two players chosen were Tina and me. Sometimes she was last; sometimes I was. Did I mention that Tina had scoliosis and wore a body cast that encased her from sternum to sacrum?
Yep. At times I cringe for the kid I was and for others who, like me, have known what it is to be an outsider. In my oldest daughter’s high school class, the students were assigned a writing project that involved interviewing a friend about their personal attributes.
One boy, an honor roll student, raised his hand and said, “I can’t do the assignment.”
“Why not?” asked the teacher.
“I don’t have a friend.”
The class fell silent.
Wow.
I never met that kid, but I have never forgotten him. Ever. And though I blossomed more or less in high school—went on plenty of dates, made some good friends, lost the pouchy stomach—I have never forgotten the angst of the outcast.
Perhaps that is why I am drawn to ghosts, those ultimate outsiders. When I think of the ghost NanJu from my novel Moonlight Dancer, I see someone I want to save. In life, she was spurned for her gender and her shamanic calling. In death, she wanders, filled with terrible yearning, a yearning that compels her to transcend time.
I think maybe the concept of ghost is a metaphor for that longing we all feel at some point in our lives.
And maybe your ghost is different from mine. Is it? You can tell me. What do ghosts represent to you?
I’m betting, though, that those of us who find ourselves drawn to these solitary apparitions harbor a little ghost within.
4 thoughts on “The Ghost Within: Writing the Paranormal Wave”
Your book sounds interesting! I’ll have to check it out. I love ghost stories. But then I better as I write them myself. But our concept on ghosts differ…or do they? you make me think. I believe in ghosts because I lived with them for several years and I’ve dealt with them periodically throughout my life, but your post made me look at it in a different light as well.
I too was the shy, quite kid in school who tried to keep in the background and absolutely HATED when it came time for teams to be picked! I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me. I lived an entirely different life in my books and my stories. It was my escape from a world I didn’t feel comfortable in.
Although I came out of my shell somewhat my Junior and Senior year of school (I discovered the Thespian Club and started reading palms!), I think my interest in the spirit world fascinated me so much because I didn’t feel like a misfit with them. THEY were the odd ones out. THEY were misunderstood…a mystery…an unknown in a strange world. I still think I sometimes feel more comfortable with a room full of ghosts than a room full of living, breathing people!
Interesting perspective, thanks!
Hi Deborah,
As much as ghosts fascinate me, I don’t know how I’d feel in a room full of them! But I probably would have liked the company during some of those miserable adolescent moments…
Don’t you wish we could go back in our lives and tell ourselves then that it’s OK we’re different (even though it hurts like hell when you are as a kid)? I wish I knew then what I know now, as we all do. I would have been more different and more weird if it would have led me on an even more amazing life journey.
I don’t have kids, but I tell me closest friends’ kids to remember that pudgy girl in middle school or that guy with funny glasses in high school because when they come together again later in life, they’ll likely find out they have the most amazing life stories to share!
I so agree! Often it’s those quiet kids who observe and reflect. I imagine (I don’t know this, just guessing) that Bill Gates may have been a little “different” as a youth.