Ok so I'm writing a kind of romance story where a guy falls in love with a ghost who haunts his apartment. The two of them only able to communicate through the use of a Oujia board. As the story goes on the ghost becomes more...real I guess. They become able to move objects and suff and I kind of want to imply they are slightly malisous but I kind of want to avoid the whole pushing friend down the stairs thing. Any help?
Well the concept sounds good. I've never heard of a story were someone falls in love with a ghost, except for the film, 'Ghost,' but that's his wife so it doesn't count. So the ghost becomes more malicious as the story goes on? But they're falling in love? I mean, if they are falling in love then surely the ghost wouldn't push them down the stirs? I think you'll have to elaborate a little more on your question. I'm unsure what you're asking.
Ok to expand upon the story. The general idea of what I'm trying to write is that since the main character can't see the think he's talking too he has no idea if they're lying to him. According to the internet demons sometimes communicate with people through Oujia board pretending to be people to lull them into a false sense of security. So far throughout the story my aim has been to scatter breadcrumbs for two possible interpretations. The first being that the ghost is who they say they are and they are trying to protect the main character from a demon which also lives in the house or that their is only a demon who is feeding him lies the entire time. Why didn't I post this in the thread to begin with? I don't know.
'Just like heaven' might be something to watch for ideas - though the ghost doesn't get malicious, she gets agitated but it has some classic 'new ghost' stuff going on. For your breadcrumbs: consider including the typical behaviours related to manipulative/controlling relationships or even domestic abuse cases. The jealousy that is misconstrued as passion, the limitations presented as romance etc etc.
So what you're saying is you're trying to figure out how to keep the mystery and suspense intact throughout the story? Keeping the reader guessing so to speak? It's hard to implement some kind of malicious act without being cliche to some extent. You could do some random bruising, or frustrating acts? Things that the ghost would have some kind of excuse for. It's quite delicate really. You should maybe just step away from writing for a while and brainstorm a few ideas on paper.
I was stuck on plot the other day, wrote down all possible outcomes from a situation I put a character in, felt frustrated, then later that day while doing some random thing like brushing my teeth or jogging or something, I realized I could choose this other, more interesting option. Like Mad Regent says, if you give yourself a little time these things might just come to you.
You may benefit from watching some Japanese horror, or even just some of their darker, philosophical stuff which is sometimes borderline horror. They're excellent at tredding that fine line of normal/disturbing - they manage to do everything in a just *slightly* off manner that makes it really unsettling, but not outright horror. It just creeps right under your skin and stays with you for days and weeks afterwards. I'd draw inspiration from that. Hollywood and western horror in general isn't really much good cus they rely on the extremes, such as what you said about ghost pushing someone down the stairs or something. I'd go with some kind of manipulation. Like the ghost could tell your character something like, "Don't go to that cafe today." And then your character goes anyway. When he gets home the ghost is really upset or angry that he didn't trust her. Something like that. Or your character comes home to find all his stuff in the house has been rearranged without permission. Or in the morning the character finds his mobile phone's missing and it turns out the ghost took it with the excuse of "It was vibrating and I didn't want it to wake you." Basically, some way of showing the ghost is slowly tightening its control on your character.
To be honest to me the idea of him falling love with the ghost isn't that strange. It's kind of like falling in love with someone online or having a long distance relationship. Just because he can't see or hear the ghost it doesn't mean he can't still learn to care about just by talking with the board.
I've seen a little comic like this actually, though you're doing it much differently. First, I'd suggest knowing the abilities of ghosts vs. demons, that way there's no confusion. But I think besides the Ouija board, the ghost might be able to write in a steamed up mirror or even do little things like set up a table. And maybe not malicious, but jealous? I'm not sure, it's up to you!
I'm so sorry, I didn't realize someone close to you had fallen in love with a ghost via a ouija board. Or do you have another reason for being so invested in this?
When a 16 year old is impassioned enough to write, don't you dare try to steal that passion from her, simply because you can't relate to the plot. And as far as not giving an endearing response goes, there's no need to respond at all if you have nothing to offer but trash and discouragement.
Don't! Every story has potential! First ideas are always rough, you just gotta get the juices going! Giving up on idea will get you no where. So push forward. If you don't like the idea still, that's fine. But don't stop just because you had a simple idea you hadn't thought through yet. Keep going, and stay creative!
