Top tips for writing ghost stories: Cornelia Funke

This article is more than 11 years oldReady to write for Halloween? Cornelia Funke offers her tips for creating the scariest ghosts and ghouls in the graveyard

Almost 20 years ago - I had published only four books by then - I received a call from an editor, who was also a good friend, asking me whether I would be interested in writing a ghost story. Of course I was! So I wrote Ghosthunters, a series about a boy who was terrified by ghosts but finally became one of the most famous ghost hunters of all times. I wrote four books about him, but there are at least a thousand ways to tell a ghost story and when I started working on Ghost Knight I felt as if I had never written about ghosts before! I will nevertheless try my best to come up with 10 rules about this wonderful theme of storytelling.
1. Choose your tone
Decide whether you want to go funny or grim. You can of course do both, but you should decide about the general tone of your story. (Which of course may convince you while you are writing that you made the wrong decision…) 2. Choose your ghost
Do you want your reader to love or fear the ghost? Will you be on the ghost's side or will your hero be the hunter? Answering these questions may reveal a lot about the story you want to tell. 3. Mix it up
We all know the classic ingredients for creating a spooky atmosphere: of course most of the action takes place at night. It is cold and foggy. There are plenty of very old buildings and probably graveyards. It can be incredibly satisfying to use ALL of these ingredients and play with them in your very own way. But if you are tired of these kinds of ghost stories read some tales from the Caribbean or Asia. They will give you some very different ideas on ghosts! 4. Give your ghost a life story
Decide where your ghosts come from. How many are there? Do you tell the story of one or many? Were they once human? If yes, were they He or She? Grown up or child? How did they die? When did they live? You can make them historical characters like I did in Ghost Knight, which is so much fun and vastly inspiring. Or do you deal with a spirit of demonic origins? In short: Give your ghostly hero a biography. Imagine them so clearly that you feel them behind you. What does their voice sound like? Do they have one? Is their breath cold or hot? 5. Set some rules
Rules: yes, even ghosts need them. Fantasy writing is always in danger of feeling quite random and not too convincing when you don't take the trouble to define the rules of your world and the creatures in it. So what can ghosts do? Can they hurt you? When do they show up? How can you destroy them? 6. Explore themes
Don't forget about The Big Themes! A ghost story is very often about death and guilt, about life unlived, about loss. The more you explore these themes, the better it gets. You can ask all the big questions. Where do we come from? Where do we go? If there are ghosts, why do they stay? Does Evil survive Death? 7. Do your research
Research! Do you know that there ARE ghosthunters? Real ghost hunters! I found it very inspiring to read about them and their theories on ghosts before I wrote Ghost Knight! 8. Create the right writing atmosphere
Write at night… A very easy way to create just the right writing atmosphere. Candles are helpful too. Maybe you could even try paper and a fountain pen. A quill may be too much of an obstacle getting the words onto a page! 9. There's more to a ghost story than ghosts
Other creatures. A ghost story can of course deal with other haunting creatures too. Maybe you want werewolves and vampires as well? Why not explore the whole kingdom of the Undead? 10. Ignore the previous 9 rules
Break all the rules! Ignore all the advice! Write a ghost story that's in bright daylight. Make him a ghostly robot. An apparition from the future… You see, I lied about the thousand ways to write a ghost story. There are millions :-)

Cornelia Funke is the bestselling author of the Inkheart trilogy (Chicken House), Reckless and many more popular children's novels and picture books - she has sold over 10 million books worldwide. Her latest book, Ghost Knight, is a very British ghost story set in Salisbury Cathedral and Lacock Abbey. Find out more at www.corneliafunke.com

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