Karen Bence

At a recent author event, I was asked what possessed me to include “ghosts” in my “mystery” novel. The gentleman who asked the question wrote murder mysteries, but veered away from ever using paranormal elements in his novels. He seemed truly dumbfounded as to why I would take a perfectly mainstream genre and muck it up with supernatural elements. What was perplexing to him was perfectly clear to me—using “ghosts” or any other kind of paranormal characters, offers authors incredible freedom in expanding the story in ways that would be impossible by only using “flesh and blood” human characters. Of course they can create a chilling tension, but more importantly, these otherworldly creatures lend depth and breadth to a story.

It really doesn’t matter whether or not you believe in the existence of ghosts, vampires or witches for the paranormal to be used as an effective device in writing. As a fiction writer, there isn’t a pre-requisite that states you need to be a medium, a certified “paranormal investigator,” or a Wiccan priestess to create a haunting landscape rich with creatures existing “outside” of everyday reality. Characters that defy the human limits of time, space, and the five senses can weave their way through a plot, dropping strategic clues for the protagonist to decipher. Ghosts from the past can appear with messages, warnings, and advice. Where physical boundaries, such as walls or great distances, obstruct humans, supernatural characters have a distinct advantage.

In my novel, Midnight Revelations, the ghosts that haunt its pages draw the main character, Sara, gradually toward a dark secret. She has to take a “leap of faith,” along with the reader, to piece together the “mystery” laid out by the ghosts from the past. Could the story have been told without the use of ghosts? Of course, but in this case, the plot was enriched by having the “back story” told by those who were “there.” The physical intrusion of the “ghosts” into Sara’s life propelled her toward the truth about her own identity.

Being able to suspend reality is the hurdle that all fiction takes, so enlisting the “supernatural” in the service of storytelling fits right in with that objective. If you look at the exponential growth of television programs, books and online websites devoted to paranormal events and “ghost hunting,” it would be a shame to pass up the opportunity to attract this audience in order to strictly stick to one of those “mainstream genres.”

Karen M Bence graduated with a bachelor of arts in Psychology from Dickinson College and a master's degree in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania. A former social worker, psychotherapist and educator, Ms. Bence is also an avid equestrian and dog breeder.

When creating the characters for a novel or short story, it’s pretty typical to start with the obvious–physical appearance. Tall, short, dark-haired, blonde, African-American, Asian, blue-eyed, olive skinned, etc.–the list can go on and on. Professions usually play an equally important role. Your protagonist may be an adventurer, archeologist, teacher, doctor, forensic scientist, detective, lawyer, priest, student, stay at-home mother, or any number of possibilities. All of this helps to create an emerging picture of who that character is, but it falls short of making them three-dimensional. In order to feel the character’s presence–to have them step off the page and emotionally connect with the reader, we need to mimic reality. By this I mean that each one of us has a complex past that has molded us and brought us to this day. It defines how we exist in the present and influences who we want to be tomorrow. Dissecting the human experience and then attaching it to our characters is the key to creating a believable, three-dimensional world that pulls readers in and sweeps them away!

We all have psychological ghosts that linger from our past. These are not paranormal entities, but rather the life scripts that we have adopted by living a particular life surrounded by a particular family during a specific period in time. Thinking of your characters in the same way will fill them up and lift them off the page. An excellent exercise for developing your chosen cast is to write a page or two about someone you know very well. What? Why? you ask. It seems like this would be a waste of valuable time, a futile exercise when you have no intention of including friends or family in your story. But hold on! There is a valid answer. We have a greater depth of knowledge about a real person than any of our characters who are just now materializing. Writing about a close friend, a family member, a lover, or even a well worn foe will illustrate the amount of background your characters require to come to life. In turn, this will help you translate that kind of detail into the empty shell of your fictional creations.

Start out by choosing a person close to you – for examples sake, I will say it is your father. Critically think about his family and life experiences. Was he the oldest, youngest, middle, or only child? Was he a twin? Was he adopted? Did he feel loved or disposable? Did he serve a particular purpose in his family? Did he grow up poor, middle-class, or wealthy? Did he live on a farm, in the suburbs, or in a city? Did he work when he was young? Did he finish high school, go to college, or go beyond? Was he a blue-collar worker and white? Did he have any major losses of a parent, sibling, or friend? What were the expectations laid upon him about work, family, religion, life? How did he handle conflict? Was there any history of mental illness, addictions, or violence in the family? Did he marry, get divorced, become widowed? Did he discover that he was gay? What was his chosen profession? Was he successful at it, passionate about it, or did he dread going to work every day? What were his hobbies? Did he like animals? What were his fears? What was he proud of and what did he regret? Was he stubborn, a push-over, or a skilled negotiator? What did he think about money? Was he practical and analytical or a creative, free-spirit? Was he emotional or distant? Etc. Knowing your father best (or whomever you chose), you can probably think of other areas to examine.

Once you have a well-rounded picture of the person’s past, write about the present. How does that person navigate the world today? What ghosts have lingered, directing how the person lives in the present? How are they influencing what steps will be taken in the future? Finish up the exercise by describing the future based on the picture you have created. With this complete, you are ready to tackle the creation of multi-layered, complex characters that feel like real people.

Think about the plot to your story and who will be living on those pages. Using the same exercise, create the details to each character’s life. It’s best to do this prior to beginning the work, but it’s not too late to go back and add depth and breadth once underway. What are their past circumstances–the ghosts that haunt them? How have you readied them to carry your story with authenticity? Once the reader starts to recognize the common human thread, he or she will be drawn farther into the tale to learn more and more about the “people” you have created.

Karen M Bence graduated with a bachelor of arts in Psychology from Dickinson College and a master's degree in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania. A former social worker, psychotherapist and educator, Ms. Bence is also an avid equestrian and dog breeder.

If you’ve been following this series of articles, you know that I’ve been writing about banishing the “mental ghosts” that hamper your writing versus the ethereal spirits that fill the pages of my novel, Midnight Revelations. In weeks past, you have identified your counter-productive voices, challenged them with rational responses, and developed a plan to translate your revised thoughts into action. The last step in keeping the ghosts at bay is to expand these new and improved scripts into other areas of your life. It’s remarkably easy to allow negativity and self-doubt to creep in from the sidelines if you are not vigilant.

Picture a writer who, by using a new “script,” has finally broken out of a self-imposed shell. Imagine that writer gathering the confidence to walk into a bookstore, ask for the manager, and then successfully sell the idea of the shop hosting an author event. When the event comes around, the author meets with fans, discusses the story and signs dozens upon dozens of books. What a tremendous change and one that should be applauded! But, does the confidence extend beyond this setting? If the answer is yes, then celebrate with a hardy pat on the back; however if the answer is no, then there is still work to do!

If the same writer leaves the bookstore, returns home to an empty house and doesn’t see or talk to anyone other than the pizza delivery man for the next two weeks, chances are that the ghosts aren’t really gone. They have simply taken a holiday with their cousins, who happen to fill up the other areas of this writer’s psyche. And the thing about vacations is that they always have an end.

So what is the answer to achieve sustainable ghost–free living? Building up and out! Take the plan and apply it to the other areas of your life. Using a critical eye, take an honest inventory of how you negotiate the world. Is your life so restricted that the only living you do is through the characters in your novel? Or do you live a full and satisfying existence with only one or two areas of self-doubt? If the task seems daunting, remember to start small and proceed step by step, slowly expanding into all the corners and crevices where ghosts can hide. With methodical determination and consistent effort, you’ll find that living ghost–free becomes the only way to live!

Be sure to catch my next article that will take “ghosts from the past” in a whole new direction… adding them to your characters to make them more complex and three-dimensional.

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Karen M Bence graduated with a bachelor of arts in Psychology from Dickinson College and a master's degree in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania. A former social worker, psychotherapist and educator, Ms. Bence is also an avid equestrian and dog breeder.

Thus far, you’ve completed step one and two in breaking free from those stubborn mental scripts haunting your life. In the first installment, I asked you to pull the sheet off your Ghosts and expose them to the light. At that time, you identified the insidious little whispers that were guiding your decisions and actions in ways that were hindering the achievement of your goals. In the second article, you countered each of these negative and irrational self-statements with alternatives that challenged your psychic status quo. Over the last couple of weeks, you have been rehearsing these new lines, substituting them into your mind each time a ghost tried to gain control, which brings us to Step Three - Translating Thoughts into Action! Are you ready?

The way we think about the world, our place in it and our ability to negotiate the ever changing current of life has a direct relationship to our decisions and behavior. If you don’t think you can talk to crowds because you expect to look foolish, it is highly unlikely you will seek out and embrace those opportunities. But if you did your homework, you’re now armed with a new arsenal that can exorcise the Ghosts rattling around in your head. This new way of thinking sets you up for a different outcome. If that old ghost starts saying that “everyone is going to know that your writing stinks”, you now know to immediately silence that voice by answering it with, “My writing is authentic. I can do this. I know my characters, my plot, and my process inside and out.” Baby steps lead to bigger steps, so start out with a trial or two. The best way to solidify your gains is to begin small. If your particular hurdle is related to talking to groups, invite five or ten friends over for a practice run. Each time the ghost tries to resurface, it gets blocked by your refurbished self-statements. Focus in on only one person at a time, breathe slowly and deeply then start talking. When you’re done, ask for honest feedback. Be sure to absorb the positive and cherry pick the rest. Identify what is valuable advice to build on so that your next event will shine even brighter. Don’t let the typical filter that zeroes in on the negative have free reign or else the ghosts will swoop right back in to take up residence.

The key to successfully translating your thoughts into action is developing an incremental plan that incorporates a series of reasonable steps to test out these new scripts. You shouldn’t jump from avoiding groups at all costs to being booked as a speaker for a group of 500! This would be a recipe for failure. Go through your unique list of mental ghosts, the revised “lines” you have written for yourself, and develop a plan to test out and practice these in several less intimidating ways. It takes reinforcement for healthy self-statements to take hold, gain in strength, and consistently translate into a new repertoire of action! Remember, success begets success.

Be sure to catch the next installment of Break Free from the Ghosts that Haunt You! Step Four – Generalizing and Expanding on your Success.

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Karen M Bence graduated with a bachelor of arts in Psychology from Dickinson College and a master's degree in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania. A former social worker, psychotherapist and educator, Ms. Bence is also an avid equestrian and dog breeder.

In the first installment of Break Free from the Ghosts that Haunt You, I encouraged readers to heighten their awareness and identify the internal ghosts or scripts that are limiting your potential. These are not the kind of ethereal spirits that fill the pages of Midnight Revelations, but rather the haunting whispers that were created from each person’s unique family of origin and life experience. The first step in ridding yourself of these counter-productive voices was to keep track of when they appeared and what they were saying. You may have several self-defeating lines recorded or you may have been surprised to discover only one tenacious and toxic self-doubt that your “ghost” repeats over and over again.

After completing this exercise, are you ready to silence this destructive chorus? Or, is giving up the “ghost” too terrifying? This latter question may sound odd to some, but living with ghosts can become…well, easy. Living without these negative and irrational scripts means accepting full responsibility for your life–fearlessly stepping up to challenges, creating and seizing opportunities, and pushing yourself beyond what is comfortable. So if your answer is a resounding “Yes!”, then let’s move forward to Step Two – The Challenge.

For each counter-productive thought you had, I want you to write down at least one alternative, challenging sentence. Let me give you a few examples:

1: Ghost whisper: “Why am I bothering to write anymore? I’ll never get published.”
Challenge: “I love to write. I will get published, even if it takes a while and a few manuscripts to get picked-up. I believe in my work.”

2: Ghost whisper: “My writing stinks!”
Challenge: “I really like what I write. Since I’m not certain how others will like it, I’m going to sign up for a writer’s workshop to get honest feedback.”

3: Ghost whisper: “I can’t speak in front of a group of people. I’m going to get tongue-
tied and make a fool of myself.
Challenge: “I’m an expert on my book…heck, I wrote the darn thing. Even though I am nervous, I’m going to take a deep breath, speak clearly, and savor the chance to talk about my work.”

Even if you don’t initially believe the challenges you write down, remember that these negative scripts have been around for a long time, sometimes reaching back generations. These mental ghosts can be stubbornly attached to the house they are haunting – aka, your mind. So like an actor, you need to rehearse this alternative script over and over again for it to become automatic.
Be sure to catch the next installment of Break Free from the Ghosts that Haunt You. I’ll be tackling Step Three – Translating Thoughts into Action.

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Karen M Bence graduated with a bachelor of arts in Psychology from Dickinson College and a master's degree in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania. A former social worker, psychotherapist and educator, Ms. Bence is also an avid equestrian and dog breeder.

I may write about paranormal phenomena in my novel, Midnight Revelations, but in this instance I’m referring to something different. I’m talking about the kind of ghosts that you keep locked in your head–those counter-productive and often irrational little voices that are adept at throwing obstacles in the way of your success. You may find the idea of ghosts rattling around in your psyche to be a strange concept, but the fact is that no one goes through life in a vacuum. We all come out of a family with a unique style of navigating the world. Our actions and relationships commonly reflect how we have assimilated these strategies into our identity. How we handle pressure, expectations, attention, disappointment, conflict and success, as well as a whole range of human emotions have their deepest and earliest roots in our family of origin and preceding generations. The challenge is in recognizing which of these coping skills work in our favor and which ones become the ghosts that haunt and hinder our lives.

The first step in ridding your life of these invisible stumbling blocks is by heightening your awareness and then listening to your internal script. These may include statements ranging from some occasional self-doubt to outright self-contempt. When you allow these ghosts to haunt your thoughts, they invariably contaminate your self-confidence and erode your ability to seize opportunities.

Sitting in front of the computer screen poised to start a new manuscript, do you question your abilities? If the sentences come flowing out like water rushing down a mountain stream, do you celebrate or do you listen to the whispers that nobody will want to read it anyway? As you’re about to embark on a speaking tour, do you embrace the excitement and or do you stay awake all night convinced you are going to make a fool out of yourself? Are you able to silence that single passing doubt or do you let it turn into a familiar and repetitive chorus? Remember, a negative self-defeating attitude is the quickest and most effective way to achieve absolutely nothing.

So, what are your ghosts telling you? Keep track of it…write it down so you can recognize them when they start chipping away at your self-confidence, because ultimately it chips away at more than your self-esteem…namely, your book sales.
I was recently asked to be part of a multi-author book festival held at a large national book retailer. I was amazed to witness author after author quietly sitting behind a pile of books. Patrons would pass by their tables while they passively sat by and watched. Sadly, only four or five authors of the twenty in attendance stood up and stepped out to greet their potential customers. They told them what their books were about and why they should purchase a signed copy. What a shocking sight–a whole convention of ghosts congregated that day!

If you only care to see your manuscript bound and printed and to sell a hundred copies to your friends and family, then by all means, settle in with Casper; but if you want to be successful, to reach a broader audience, and make a career for yourself, then pull off the old sheet and expose the ghosts to the light. You’ll be one step farther on the path to being free to achieve your full potential.

Be sure to catch the next installment of Breaking Free from the Ghosts that Haunt You.

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Karen M Bence graduated with a bachelor of arts in Psychology from Dickinson College and a master's degree in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania. A former social worker, psychotherapist and educator, Ms. Bence is also an avid equestrian and dog breeder.