How to Write a Ghost Story
Trick, treat, and keep the thrills and chills alive by learning how to write a ghost story. Here are some tips for crafting a spooky tale that’ll scare the socks off readers this Halloween season.
How to write a ghost story: If you can’t scare yourself, how are you gonna scare somebody else?
What Scares You?
“I have a theory that only people who know what it means to be scared can write a scary story. To scare others, a writer needs to know how being scared feels.” —Mary Downing Hahn
“Being scared” can have levels of intensity. Of course, there’s the haunted house version of being scared—fun, harmless thrills that get your adrenaline going. And then there’s the deeper psychological version of being scared—the big emotions and worries that keep us up at night.
The best ghost stories are able to blend the fun thrills with the deep-seated worries that burrow deep in our subconscious.
Before you start writing, think about what “being scared” means to you on both superficial and deeper levels. What scares you about being alive? What’s the worst thing you can imagine happening? It might be the loss of a loved one, war, or the destruction of our planet. Take that deep-seated fear, and apply “haunted house” elements to it. If your deepest fear is losing a loved one, what kind of ghost or monster might represent that fear?
Avoid Familiar or Clichéd Imagery
When you’re crafting your ghost or monster, make sure to stay away from familiar or clichéd imagery. Why? If something’s familiar, it’s a lot less likely to be genuinely scary. This doesn’t mean you have to steer clear of classic ghosts and monsters. You can still write a story about a vampire or zombie or a “woman in white,” but put your own unique twist on it. What’s something that readers wouldn’t expect from one of these classic characters?
Alternately, you can create something completely different—keeping in mind, of course, that “new” ideas are hard to come by. Everything’s been done, in one form or another, but what’s important is how you execute an idea. I’d recommend watching scary movies and television and reading scary books. Get a feel for what’s out there, and use it as a springboard for creating your own original characters.
Most importantly, though, keep in mind that the scariest things live in the dark. Not because dark-dwellers are inherently scary creatures—it’s because we’re scared of the things we can’t see. Many well-done horror films don’t ever show a full-bodied ghost or demon. They play on our fear of the unknown so that something as simple as footsteps coming up the stairs or a door closing on its own suddenly becomes terrifying. Give readers a glimpse of your ghost or monster, but don’t reveal too much—allow space for the fear of the unknown to grip your readers.
Pay Attention to World Building
World building encapsulates everything that makes up your story universe. It includes physical traits, like setting, but also the rules and customs that govern how your characters behave. When you’re figuring out how to write a ghost story, world building is crucial.
Even though setting is an important ingredient in ghost stories, don’t get too caught up with describing all the spooky details. Give your readers a taste at the beginning of your story so the stage is set in their minds, and then layer in details as the story progresses. I always remind myself that the theater of the mind is an incredible thing—if you give readers a few well-chosen details, their minds will fill in the rest. Save your storytelling energy for building tension through character interaction.
More importantly, you’ll want to give some thought to the rules that govern your story universe. Presumably, the ghost in your story is scary and/or dangerous … but it doesn’t have a body. This means you have to define how and why your ghost is a threat. For example, while a ghost probably can’t physically pick up a weapon, maybe they have mind control powers and can lure their victims to danger that way. Or maybe your ghost can pick up a weapon or otherwise behave in a person-like way. That’s fine—you can do whatever you want. Just remember to be clear about the how and why behind the danger ghosts present to your characters.
Check Your Pacing
You might assume that fast pacing is the right kind of pacing when you’re considering how to write a ghost story. “Fast pacing” entails short sentences and paragraphs, cuts any meandering details, and includes lots of action.
However, any story should include a variety of pacing. You don’t want to go at a breakneck speed the whole time, or readers might feel overwhelmed. But if you include too much detail and exposition, they might become bored.
Think of it in terms of building anticipation. Instead of starting at a ten and staying there, build up the action. Don’t show your ghost or monster right away—maintain a sense of mystery and foreboding, so that when they do finally step into the light, the reveal packs a punch.
If you’re a huge horror geek like me, it’s interesting to look at the evolution of horror novels. Gothic novels from the eighteen-hundreds, like Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, verge on leisurely and meandering. It’s still horror, but a very different style from the fast pace and jump scares we’re used to in modern horror. But it shows that when you’re writing a ghost story, you don’t necessarily have to follow a certain formula. You can slow the pacing down so your story is brooding and serpentine like the ghost stories of yore, or you can speed it up so the action and suspense nip at readers’ heels. It all depends on your personal writing style and what works for your story.
Build an Emotional Core
“Horror was rooted in sympathy . . . in understanding what it would be like to suffer the worst.” —Joe Hill, Heart-Shaped Box
When you’re thinking about how to write a ghost story, don’t neglect the potential for big, deep emotions. Sure, we all love cheap thrills and jump scares … but I love the horror genre because it can be a gateway for exploring big feelings and concepts. Grief. Loss. Depression. Take a movie like The Babadook—this is a classic scary movie with a super-memorable monster, but it’s also an incisive look at coping with loss.
So how do you pump up the emotional potential of your ghost story? Hopefully you’ve already taken a deep dive into my first suggestion—figuring out what scares you on a primal level. This big fear, whatever it is, will serve as the basis for your emotional core. If your biggest fear is losing a loved one, your emotional core might center around coping with grief. If your biggest fear is terminal illness, your emotional core might explore resilience or—just as powerfully—learning to let go.
This emotional core should be the thread that runs through your ghost story. It’s how to write a ghost story that’ll stick with readers long after the jump scares are over.
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