Ghost Stories

[primeideal]

A few months ago I outlined an original short story about a ghost. I wasn't really able to get past the time lapse issues (ghosts don't sleep), so I put it down for a while, but I'd like to try picking it up again since I'm hoping to start a real-world job relatively soon and I'll probably have less writing time.

As I was sending off some other stories to magazines (not particularly optimistic, but hey, it's worth a shot), I came across this list of "stories we've seen too often" from Strange Horizons. And, uh, my premise is pretty squarely under #48:

 

Someone dies and then wanders around as a ghost.

a. They meet other ghosts who've been around longer and who show them the ropes, and/or help them come to terms with being dead, and/or explain that nobody knows what happens after ghosts move on to the next stage of the afterlife.

b. They're initially stuck in the place where they died or the place where their body is. In some cases, they eventually figure out how to roam the world.

 

(My guy doesn't figure out how to roam the world but, the point stands.)

I'm not worried about Strange Horizons per se, it seems a little too "issue-ficcy" for whatever I come up with, but is this overdone in fantasy in general? Part of my story is "figuring out why some humans can talk to ghosts and others can't," but a lot of it is just ghost fare. Any ideas how to avoid overplayed tropes? Am I just doomed?

Comments

[melannen]

I think the key to remember with this kind of angst is that overplayed tropes aren't the problem with most of what's on that list; it's when there's nothing to the story *except* the overplayed part. Is "person becomes a ghost, meets other ghosts, learns ghost ropes" the entire story, or is there something else interesting going on? Is there a mystery plot or a character arc or a love story or a really evocative setting or something - and is that interesting?

Like, idk, one of the first things on that list was "AI escapes to the internet". But one of the most well-loved SF short stories of the last five years was "Cat pictures please" which is about... and AI escaping to the internet. But the part that makes the story isn't "There's an AI on the internet", it's what the AI does while it's on the internet, right?

So if the point of your story is "Ghost learns how to ghost", that's probably overplayed, no matter how interesting your ghost mechanics are. If it's "story happens while ghost is learning how to ghost", that's something else entirely.

[primeideal]

Thanks, appreciated. I'm not sure how much of my listlessness is story-based and how much is just burnout!