Hi all, I am 14 and inspired by other Teenage writers - I am in between writing a novel - "Haunted Town". The story goes like this, - There are 2 main characters one boy and one girl, They both are brother and sister. They move to a new town, In this new town people don't seem friendly. There are haunted happenings going all around the town, James had just made a new friend, Miley, they also go together for a Ball Dance, But James don't know if she is alive or... They saw a mysterious figure and blood stains that came from the basement of their house The housekeeper Miss Marry knows a lot about the Basement's Ghost and guides the children to solve the mystery, But the mystery too didn't leaves her and engulf her with it. There are many haunted happenings going in the town with James and her sister Ema and all that is linked to the Basement, but what was it? Would they be able to find it or the mystery will engulf them with it?? Did you like it, I have written half of it, But tangled at a point. So please give me the following suggestions: 1) I want suspense, something that the reader's won't be able to predict. 2) I want to increase horror in my novel. What could be a stuff that will terrify you? 3) How will the ghost end?? Please help me with it as I am amateur in the field, I had been writing it since 7 days and wanna complete it in fifteen days.
The best way to produce an unpredictable story is to just write it. If you don't know where the story is going it will naturally have twists, turns and surprises. It needs some sort of religious or ritual to kill a ghost.
Well, there are two ways to take this. 1. The nice version. If your goal is a story with plot twists, make the ghost unusual in some way. Maybe it's haunting not because it suffered in life, but because it's malicious. (Maybe the main characters get it what they think it wants, but it refuses to go away, and hurts one of the characters, leaving the other to drive it away by force -- holy water, garlic, whatever.) Or maybe the ghost isn't as "ghost-like" as usual. I mean, what if the ghost was allergic to cats in real life, and now it's still allergic? That might mean that the ghost would bother a house, then stop when they got a kitten. Or maybe the ghost appears somewhat like the person seeing it imagines. So if the person who sees the ghost is calm, the ghost appears like a normal human, and if the person is terrified the ghost seems scary with horns or glowing eyes or something. As for horror, it depends on how far you want to go. Is the ghost able to manipulate real-life objects? Can it kill people, or pets? Can it enter churches or houses? Does it want to hurt people, or does it only hurt people by accident (by giving them a heart attack from fright, or maybe distracting a bicyclist so they crash)? Any of these are spooky. How the ghost ends will depend on you. "Normal" ghosts can be put to rest by having something put right -- like if their body were dug up, they might start haunting until their body was re-buried. But your ghost might be different. Maybe it has to be frightened away, or threatened. Maybe it will realize that it's causing harm, and leave on its own. Maybe it will have to be pierced with a knife made from frozen holy water. Maybe someone has to plant a ring of flowers around its grave, forming a cage that the ghost cannot cross. It's your story. You are the one who is making this ghost -- what are its weaknesses? How can the characters kill it? 2. Less polite version. As a rule, it is better to figure out the main plot yourself. The "Plot Creation" part of the forum is intended more for specific areas of a story -- like if someone is writing a spy thriller and needs to know how a character might sneak into an army base. That's very different from "I need suggestions for the second half of my novel," which is very broad. It's like the difference between asking someone to hit a nail for you and asking them to build your house. We'll help with small stuff, but not so much the larger things. After all, you're a writer. Writers write, and generally make their own world to the best of their ability. Also, while I wish you the best, don't be shocked if you don't finish the book that fast. I mean, it's awesome if you do, but books often take longer than fifteen days to complete. Good luck.
My novel took me a month to complete, and it was a kids' novel thus shorter than usual. Most novels take at least several months. Just sayin.' Although if you can do it in 15, kudos to you, you probably have special powers.
If you can write a good 75,000 word story in fifteen days then I applaud you! It took me about 5 months to write my 55,000 word novella and another couple of months to edit/rewrite it. That said, here is an exercise I want you to do: Sit down with a notepad (do not use your computer) in a quiet place without listening to any music. Once you have done this you should start to write scenarios for your story. Do not worry about working them into the greater body of your storyline, just write short stories where your main characters experience or witness horrific events, or where they go through periods of extreme terror. While doing this you should not stop writing--if your mind goes blank just keep repeating the last word you wrote until you think of something to keep you going. Write four or five scenarios this way. This exercise is something that, for me, allows a writer to develop spontaneous occurrences and I have found that by writing the events you want to have the most impact separately from the rest of the story I am able to go into greater depth. Once you have these scenarios written you will need to find a way to work a few of them into the greater body of your story--not all of them, necessarily, but a few. That will force you to think creatively and find out how to put the characters in the situations that you wrote. I hope this helps you out a bit, and good luck! ETA: The reason for not using the computer or listening to music is to get rid of distractions. I realize that some people simply cannot write without music so if you are one of those then do what works best for you to focus on just writing without any interruptions or distractions
1) I want suspense, something that the reader's won't be able to predict. "Hmm - honey, what's this envelope on the endtable? It's been here since April I think." 2) I want to increase horror in my novel. What could be a stuff that will terrify you? "Oh my God! I thought you mailed in our taxes!" -Frank
