My Newsletters (Mainly Fantasy)

November, 2009: Ghosts

Introduction

As one of your Fantasy editors, my goal is to challenge you to think outside the KNOWN and to help you inject your tales with fascinating facts while jagging left and right through troublesome frolics and teethe-writhing dilemmas.

Perhaps we can help each other to safely jog through these twisty turns of radical thought, alternate viewpoint, and dynamic detail. Come! Let’s head down the Path of Dimensions, untextured by any earthly array.

In other words,

let’s drop out of reality for awhile.

Shall we?

Now just to get you ready for today’s editorial,

here’s a couple of “ponderables” with which to dally:


“I have never yet heard of a murderer who was not afraid of a ghost.”

John Philpot Curran


“If a man harbors any sort of fear, it percolates through all his thinking, damages his personality, makes him landlord to a ghost.”

Lloyd C. Douglas



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My Editorial

All Saints’ Day -- in the Dark of My Imagination


Sunday was all Saints’ Day,

the day when the dead supposedly visit,

the day when bodiless souls

are free to dwell among us.

Remember what Arthur C. Clarke said in 2001: A Space Odyssey? “Behind every man now alive stand 30 ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living.”

ACK!


Luckily, I, for one, have never seen a ghostly being.

It’s true I don’t care to spend that particular night (or any other night) in a haunted house.

Nor do I roam cemeteries at midnight,

so maybe one could say that I haven’t really checked out whether the dead take advantage of this day to roam,

but,

although I may hope to meet a friendly alien one day,

I absolutely have NO desire to meet someone long dead and buried.



Yet, what if such a thing were possible?

What if mankind landed on a planet where souls had no tie back to heaven?

What if the dead merely drifted about in boredom until we humans came?

And what if ghosts communicated, in fact, invaded our daily lives?

Wouldn’t ghosts be prone to opinions somewhat antiquated -- especially if they lived a long time before?

Imagine that one of those ghosts attaches himself to you and begins to lecture you or try to manage your life? (How unpleasant!)

Now, I good at imagining things. I can envision an elf popping out of my Halloween pumpkin. He’d wrinkle his nose and smile up at me, and we’d be great friends in a giggle and a half. I think that would be great fun. He and I could chat about life. We could play a few friendly tricks. We could do some magic (or not.) We could hang out. Cool!

I could easily imagine a unicorn appearing in my backyard. He would lower his horn to greet me, his eyes full of hope. I can picture his cream--chocolate eyes. I’d fall into them, diving down in a swirl so deep, it would be like falling into a river – except warm and pleasant.

But a ghost’s visit would not be like that. It wouldn’t be warm, for one thing. I’ve heard that a ghost is cold – icy, chilly, brrrr. Frighteningly cold, cold, cold!

He wouldn’t have chocolate eyes either. He’d probably have no eyes at all. (Which would be equivalent to meeting the Headless Horseman, I’d imagine.) Or, I maybe he’d have red eyes, eyes like flame, eyes that poked into my soul, eyes that took my breath away and made me wish I were anywhere else.

But, all in all, despite the comic strip/cartoon about Casper, I don’t think a ghost would really be a friend.

Yet, what do I know?

Perhaps it would be nice to have a ghost take up residence on your shoulder – kind of like a Jiminy Cricket, a conscious, I suppose. Of course, that’s if his soul was a good one. . .

However, while I was struggling with the concept of souls floating about in their white sheeted gowns, all billowy and raggedy . . . (Why don’t ghosts wear black dresses or pants if they’re men or modern women? And why don’t the dead wear the outfit they were buried in?)

But the purpose of my bringing up ghosts today is that on All Saints’ Day I was wondering whether alien planets could have ghosts.

Just imagine the temptations of writing a story with a ghostly haunting or two . . .

The party of settlers attempted to smooth away their fears once more, but they couldn’t keep from casting timid glances about the Martian dome; too many mysterious things had been happening during the daytime, too many shadows with elongated, pointy fingers giving warnings and throwing their plans askew. “We are the ghosts of Mars,” whispered the specters in dreams which plagued the settlers both during the warmth of day and throughout each night.

After all, I muse, couldn’t some of the souls that died on Earth make their way to Mars? Suppose those dry, desolate plains of Mars contain more than red dust and rocks. Is that a moaning, groaning gray-white wisp of cloud or something from the other side of life as we know it?

The first settlers, once they freed themselves from prickly goose bumps, tremors of panic, and that icy horror that came upon them when they were “touched” by one of the bodiless souls, soon learned to commune with these ghosts of the past. Eventually the settlers even adapted to having a ghostly inhabitant share a globed helmet as each settler chiseled and hacked at the great Martian cliffs where all frozen water still resided.

What would these ghosts have to tell the settlers? Would Specters hinder or help their human colonists? Would ghosts resent or be thankful for our companionship?

And what if they were not Earthly ghosts, but alien ones?

Is it possible that man’s first ET encounter will be with a dead alien?


Are you shivering yet? Has your heart sped to a gallop? Is your stomach now doing loop-to-loops?

I leave you with one final thought, one that might really excite and titillate your literary psyche:


There are an infinite number of universes existing side by side and through which our consciousnesses constantly pass. In these universes, all possibilities exist. You are alive in some, long dead in others, and never existed in still others. Many of our "ghosts" could indeed be visions of people going about their business in a parallel universe or another time -- or both.
PAUL F. ENO, Faces at the Window

And now, until next month, I bid you adieu.







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Comments

These were the comments from my prior newsletter. Thank you so much for writing in, folks! I really, really appreciate hearing from you. In fact, I LOVE it when people comment!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

plainsue

Poor Grammar! That is me. Was a great article. I like the pictures too. plainsue


Thank you so much for your comments. I am delighted you liked the article and the pictures. I appreciate your giving me some pleasant feedback.

As to the grammar – one step at a time. LOL

Pyper working hard on project
I really enjoyed this newsletter because it is also a pet peeve of mine if I run across too many errors. Some people just have to work harder than others in order to grasp the differences between the same sounding words. The English language is the hardest to learn, so I've heard. Your insight is always appreciated!

Wow! My insight. What a compliment. Thank you, thank you! I have turned purple, pink, lavender, and yellow-striped with enjoyment at such praise.

I think there are always oddities in languages – unless, like Latin, they’re dead. We people are strange, and what we do with the spoken tongue is even stranger. LOL

{suser:(mesonali}
Their Newsletter made some great grammatical and phraseological points there.
It's fantastic, how the newsletter makes its grammatical and phraseological points.
If it makes better grammatical and phraseological points than the next newsletter, which it does, then it is a superb newsletter!

- Sonali

How appreciative I am that you’ve decided to directly apply my phraseological points. (Could you say that three times quickly without a breath? Whew! I teach second grade and don’t normally use such big words! LOL)

Thank you for your comments. I shall take your phrasing into my vernacular and apply in tiny swabs daily. Big hug!

Jules
Hi Shaara,

Thank you for this great newsletter! It's always helpful to be reminded to pay attention to these common grammatical glitches. I like that you highlighted the importance of editing when it comes to these things!

Personally, I find that in principle I know the rules. But I am surprised how many "its" in particular I have to correct when I'm editing, and even find that I am guilty of the occasional "then/than" offence. I firmly believe that first drafts should be fast and furious, so I put these glitches down to the speed at which I type, but that doesn't make them any less offensive!

Yes, first drafts should be fast and unedited, if you can. It’s the editing that takes so much time, though. And then, the moment I finally finish the editing, I have to go back, and I find more mistakes.

It is my belief that those little critters slip back in with a bit of help. I think it’s the mouse that does it. Without a squeak, he changes them around when I’m not looking. Then he meekly appears inanimate, but I’m on to him!



Robert Waltz
Shaara, about your grammar nightmares: these are mistakes almost everyone makes (which is why, as you say, editing is important). Even I, sometimes, when I'm writing too fast. Yes, I know that's a shock. Take a moment to breathe. Then check out "The Unofficial Grammar Newsletter" - a group with a newsletter devoted to avoiding such errors!


Thank you for sharing that site/newsletter. It was new to me. I found all kinds of deliciously unconfusing (new word – unconfused -- it means to analyze the confusing and add clarification. Should I send it to Webster?)

I recommend that we all take a trip to visit this new site/newsletter to get our daily doses of wisdom and unconfusion.

Thanks for you comments and for the valuable site!

Raven

I personally like the StrongBad jingle (I know you probably can't feature him because of copyright or something...) Anyway:

"If it's supposed to be possessive, it's just I-T-S
And if it's supposed to be a contraction, it's I-T-Apostrophe-S!
Scallywag!"

:)

How about a newsletter on fantasy cliches and how to avoid them? I don't mean just obvious things (like all the girls either need rescuing or are ready to fall over backwards into bed, or there are many jolly taverns, or your group of characters consists of a ranger, a wizard, and a thief) but also the un-obvious ones, like having the forests all resemble European forests.


I’d never heard of StrongBad jingle. Thanks for the introduction!

Fantasy clichés would be a delightful idea for my next newsletter. I hereby claim and duly recognize this as the source of a future Fantasy Newsletter. Thanks for the idea!

afineline
Excellent issue! I loved that you added those tricky grammar rules. I myself did not know them for some time, and I was only instructed about a month after joining WDC. This will definitely help people!

One thing you could talk about is the way some authors fail to construct a 'new' world in its entirety. There is nothing worse than reading a piece that talks of people doing something the reader doesn't understand, in a place they've never heard of, without any explanation or introduction.

I’d love to address that idea, however, I think one of my partners at the Fantasy Newsletter has already done that exceedingly well.

Yet, maybe at some future date I can swing back and take a second stab at it. What a delightful concept! YUMMY.

I heartily agree with your juxtaposition – shucks, that really doesn’t fit, but it was such a beautiful word to use. . .
What I mean is that I, like you, turn away from scenes that lose me in the first couple of paragraphs. I can’t swim if the water is oatmeal; I have to have some background and some place to stand (or swim.)

I thank you for another great topic for a future newsletter!




Sticktalker


Shaara,

Thanks again for the lesson on "its-it's"...It's something that has always bugged me and caused my proof-reader, my wife, strain over the years I was in journalism. Even though I know the rule, I more often than not seem to forget it the second I sit down at a typewriter...oops, that kinda dated me, didn't it? ... a keyboard.

Enjoyable newsletter,

Lyle


Thank you for your comments. That particular varmint is so slippery, if I try to think about it, I get confused. It’s like getting up in the morning. I just do it. I don’t ponder whether it would be nice to drift back into sleep again.

How lucky you are to have your own personal proof-reader. Does she do house visits?

Of course, what I really want is an android to look after me. I am sure he can proof-read well, and would be on call 24/7. I bet your wife doesn’t offer that kind of availability. FOFL

As to dated – well, just you wait. I’d say you’re actually ahead of your time. Any day now the Green Guys (I march to their tune most of the time) will tell us that we should do away with our speedy computers and make use of that old manual typewriter, the one sitting under all those dusty cob-webs on the top shelf of our hall closet.

P.S. Thanks for the compliment.




Lynn McKenzie
Wonderful newsletter, Shaara! I completely agree: grammatical mistakes on "it's" and "its" particularly drive me insane. It takes very little effort to be certain these usages are correct, and it gains you a ton of respect for your story.

Thanks for the highlight, too. Since you enjoy historical fiction, here's some historical fantasy to chew on.

Thanks for writing a comment about it. I really appreciate hearing from readers. I shall check out your story.



LJPC - the tortoise
Hey, Shaara! I did write a reply to your lovely newsletter last month...you forgot me.

This one is great, too. My pet peeve list includes:
her's hers
other's others
he laid/layed down he lay down
"Am I?" he said. "Am I?" he asked
it's to far it's too far

And don't even get me started on commas!


Laura


A thousand apologies for missing your comments last time. Please, dear readers, please always place the name of the editor in your comment. There are at least four editors each month, and the comments all go to the same place. We look among them and try to decide which was a comment about our own newsletter. Sometimes it’s really difficult to determine who a comment is meant for unless the writer uses our name.

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Featured Items:

First:

Colin Back on the Ghost Roads
recommends

Invalid Item  This item number is not valid. #1591919 by Not Available.

and says:

This may be of interest to the fantasy readers, as we are looking for fantasy and science fiction stories. Thanks in advance for listing it.

Colin

What fun. Here’s to writing more and submitting all that’s good!

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Now, are you ready for something so fantastic spooky, it can only be read with the lights on? Oh, my. Prepare. Grab a blankie and at least one stuffed animal for the read into the historical/horror/fantasy read.

House of Wax  (13+) Things fall apart; the center cannot hold.--W.B. Yeats #1334867 by Lynn McKenzie

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Nothing makes me happier than a creative read. When a story uses novel descriptions, humor, and that stroke of genius, then I wiggle all over with excitement. This is one of those pieces!

Invalid Item  This item number is not valid. #1600997 by Not Available.

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This is the beginning of what I hope will be a novel. It has an interesting main character who we are shown reason to admire and like. It has an interesting plot, and the potential for a romance – I hope. Great read.

Invalid Item  This item number is not valid. #1401637 by Not Available.

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raidensco writes:

I just wanted to thank everyone for their support and November 21st my book Magical Beasts Investigation Unit will be in book stores. It's available on line now at www.publishAmerica.net/product68663.html Once again I appreciate all the support and thanks for anyone who buys my book.

Scott C. Wilcox

Wow! How impressive. You have a book out. I’m green with jealousy!

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The following items are from the Writer’s Cramp where we’ve been pondering the depths of Halloween:

A poem about the dangers of Haunted Houses. . .

BUYER BEWARE  (13+) Written for Oct. 31 09 Writer's Cramp #1613908 by Cobwebby Space Reader Reindeer

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A second poem about a Haunted House that shouldn’t be entered.

Invalid Item  This item number is not valid. #1614119 by Not Available.

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A scary story about a Haunted House.

Invalid Item  This item number is not valid. #1613924 by Not Available.

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Ah, thank goodness,

now we can move away from such scary tales

into the friendlier times of

cranberries and pumpkin pie!