Ghost Writing?

I went to visit my father's grave yesterday. He is buried in a churchyard at the foot of the Cotswold escarpment, in a place that is haunted by memories: of my dad, of my son's childhood which was spent in the village, of life as it used to be and is no longer, yet each time I visit it feels as if it is I who am the ghost. I seem to slip into the uncanny space that exists between the worlds of then and now. When I wander up to the graveyard, or stand at the bottom of our old driveway gazing hungrily up at the house, I feel as if I am the spectre outside the window, the exorcised, the banished.

The reason I'm sharing this with you, the creative writing reason, is because I think it touches on perspective and what you can do with it when you are writing fiction. Received wisdom is that the dead haunt the living, but when I go back to my old "haunts", that isn't my experience at all, for me the reverse is true. I think you might be able to apply this to your own work: when you are tackling point of view within the structure of your narrative, see what happens when you approach it from a different viewpoint. For example, if A is the heroine of your story, try telling it from the perspective of B, or C. To put it even more simply, when you are working creatively begin with the obvious and then do the opposite.

Six Characters in Search of a Different Reaction

Mostly I think of doors, or gates, or entrances in general (which by now you will know that I love), as enticing. A worn and flaking door is an invitation, freighted with possibilities, or even with secrets...

But not this one. This is a kind of fortification, something that repels and excludes.  It is haughty and divisive.  All of which brings me on to my thought for the day: how the same thing can be seen differently by different people in different situations, although it's not just about context, it's also about how the viewer (or the reader) draws on their own experience to inform what they are looking at or reading. In any given situation there are a number of different forces at work, so if you are writing a scene, you need to think how the participants will respond to it, given their temperament and history. 

Try this little experiment: describe a number of different people walking past a door (why not?) and explore the various reaction was they might have.  One walks past it without noticing it, they are too absorbed in their own stuff; another slows down, stiffens, crosses to the far side of the street glancing back over their shoulder; a third leans against it because the surface is warm, and eats an apple; a fourth tries the handle, but when the door, opens shuts it swiftly; a fifth faults over it; a sixth, checking that no one is watching, whips out a can and sprays graffiti over it...

If you can do this with inanimate objects, orchestrating responses to characters or events will seem much easier, and the variety and subtlety you will be able to bring to your work will make your writing infinitely richer.

It's All a Question of Perspective

If you have a brilliant idea for a story, but want to put a bit of spin on it so that it is a bit more unusual, or has added depth, then here's a suggestion.

Plot out your story in some detail, making notes of all the main events in it so that you have a clear idea of where it is going and what it involves.  This will help you take stock of the characters you're going to need as well.  When you have done this, rather than launch yourself into converting your draft ideas into a straightforward narrative, why not consider telling the story from the point of view of the most minor character involved. To give you a simple, if cliched, example, it would be like telling the story of the Nativity from the point of view of the innkeeper or the donkey, rather than Mary or Joseph. Applied to your own work, it can help provide a different kind of insight to a situation and offer a new route in to something that might otherwise seem overly familiar or a little ordinary.  It's certainly worth a try...