BOO!!!!

In honor of my good friend Gary Jansen's new book, HOLY GHOSTS: How a (Not So) Good Catholic Boy Became a Believer in Things That Go Bump in the Night, about his experiences dealing with the weird and creepy things that were happening in his new house, let's talk paranormal.

Can anyone believe how this craze in paranormal has taken off?  Really, it started with Harry Potter.  Though we don't necessarily lump magic and sorcery in with the term paranormal as a genre, wands and spells are certainly para -- normal.  OK, OK, I've taken long enough to say the word: vampires.

There are many standards for paranormal.  Vampires, werewolves, ghosts, possessions, immortals/gods, fairies, zombies, demons, angels, gollums (OK, I use that word instead of simply saying Frankenstein's monster, but what I mean is created/sewn/built animated creatures).

I know I have a solid vampire novel inside of me.  I've been holding off working on it, because I don't want to be a tail-ender on the trend.  Besides, my vampires are old-school.  They don't boink you, they kill you.  Zombies will be making a big surge soon, especially if the movie of World War Z ever comes out.

But let's focus on the good old, tried-and-true, spooky haunted house ghost story.  I guess the first thing you have to decide if you're writing a ghost story is: will your haunting be explained, or will it be a hoax, a complete mystery even at the end of your story, let's face it: is it really a ghost?

OK, I know I"m rambling a bit now.  But we've all heard of the haunted house.  How come there's never been a good haunted condo story?  All right, I digress.

Come on, you know you've always wanted to... write the set up: location, background, characters, story of a good ghost story.  Lots of different questions to answer can help you start:

What's the place (or person?) that is haunted?

Does the living person know the ghost?

How did the ghost die?

Why is the ghost hanging around?

Does the living person believe in the ghost?

Who's the second living person, either an unbeliever or an antagonist of some type?

Is this evil or lost soul or possession or what?  I personally am tired of the ghost looking to get justice for their murderer, but go with what you want.  Also sick of the loved one who can't let go.

What's the ghost's motivation?

It's Labor Day weekend.  Just have fun.  And be glad I didn't go with a woman-in-Labor exercise (tee hee)....