(EP. 22) Writing Prompts to Inspire Your Ghost Story

Ever walk into an empty room and feel like you’re being watched? Ever feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end for no apparent reason? Maybe you’ve encountered a real-live ghost. In this week’s spoooooooky episode, we’re talking about things that go bump in the night, particularly phantoms, spirits, apparitions, poltergeists….you know, ghosts! 

Whether you believe in the existence of ghosts or not, you want to create a well-rounded ghost character that makes us true believers. 

But Katrina and Genny are sick of reading the same old clichés. Either ghosts are as friendly as Casper or as evil as demons. We want to read ghost stories that go deeper than the stereotypes. We want to be awed, bewildered, heartbroken, overjoyed, and inspired by ghosts.

Think you got what it takes to write an out-of-the-attic ghost story? Here are some writing prompts to help you get started:

1. Ghosts are dead. All the other details are up to you. 
2. Your ghost is ancient. 
3. Everyone in your story is a ghost except your protagonist. 
4. What if society in your book fully embraced the idea that ghosts exist. In other words, what if what we usually ascribe as pseudoscience became the subject of hard scientific study? 
5. Everything we think we know about the afterlife is dead wrong 
6. Your protagonist can feel themselves disappearing, but no one else notices?
7. A school for ghosts! 
8. A bad ghosts vs. good ghosts war
9. How about a group of friends move into a dorm and become best friends with the ghost(s) that dwells there? A.K.A. Casper Goes to College 
10. How about a haunted island? 

Before we even get to our writing prompts, Katrina and Genny prove that they are true believers in ghosts by sharing their personal encounters with these supernatural beings.

What about you? Have you ever seen a ghost? 

Stay tuned for another spooky episode coming next week!

P.S. We feel the need to apologize in advance for our hyperactiveness in this episode. We're blaming it on too much coffee and the fact that it was the first time we recorded two episodes in a row. Either that or it's almost like we were...possessed ;)

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Let us know what you thought of our episode! You can reach us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or email writingthebroomstick@gmail.com.

Do you like Celtic folklore, YA urban fantasy, AND free stuff? Read the first three chapters of Katrina’s debut novel, “The Wise One”.

And, if you want to see what Genny’s reading lately, check out her Goodreads review page.