I've plucked up courage and posted one of my short stories, which I wrote a couple of years ago. This is the first time I've put my work on a public forum so I'd welcome any feedback - good or bad.
Thanks.
Dee.

Thank you for the feedback. This was just a little piece I did for a writing class I used to go to. I thought I'd get a feel of the reactions before I did anything more with it and, yes, you're right, it could be considerably longer. And I can see what to do with it now. Thank you.
It was the first - and I have to say only - time I've used the second person POV. I do think it gives a dream-like quality to the scene but, actually, he wasn't dreaming. He had, without realising it, been temporarily jerked out of his own time.
I don't believe that time is a linear event. I'm fascinated by ghosts and hauntings and have a theory that sometimes, when we see ghosts, it's not us having a glimpse into the past but someone else being drawn forward into their future - which is, of course, our present.I'm sure this can account for tales of ghosts who appear to be confused and distressed.
Am I making sense? We generally assume that ghosts are from the past because we don't want to consider that the future is already in existence.
I'm sure hauntings from the future are more rare than those from the past but sometimes, when an event touches the collective unconscious on a global scale in the way 9/11 did, it can disrupt the time layers and allow things to leak through.
There - that's me confirmed as a nutter. What about the rest of you?
Dee.

Hi,

loved the story...

Apart from our ages (actually I'm one month older!) we share the same interest in ghosts, hauntings, supernatural, etc...

that's two nutters then...

regards,

writersblock

Yes - I'm fascinated by ghosts too Dee, and time-warps. I think it makes excellent subject matter for stories... It is one of those areas where 'truth', if you believe the 'real-life ghost stories' .. is certainly stranger than fiction.

What you said about hauntings - and your ghost theory of people being drawn into the future sounds as plausible as any other theory.

It is what lies behind coincidences, fluctuations in 'the field' can create ripples in time.

Andrew )

The problem with 'real ghost stories', Andrew, is that they aren't dramatic enough for a short story. I have a ghost in my house - two actually but I've only seen one of them. I woke up once in the middle of the night and he was standing in my bedroom doorway. Then, just as suddenly, he'd gone. Another time I saw him sitting in an armchair with my cat on his lap. I blinked and he was gone again, leaving only the cat asleep on the chair.
I suppose I could construct a story around that but it's not much of a base, is it.
Cheers,
Dee.

You might try looking at the ghost through the eyes of your cat? Perhaps the cat sees the ghost all the time, and regards him as his best mate?

I know what you mean about ghosts being boring, I suppose some are, those that just appear and don't do anything - but a lot are not - there was one in Wales, a ten year old boy in a lawnmower workshop that played tricks on people all the time, moving their tools and hiding them .. and throwing things around - I don't know if the boy's grown up yet?

Andrew )

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(don't think ghosts ever age - do they? - they remain whatever age they died forever)

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If your theory about ghosts being people drawn from the past into the future is right - then someone could appear as a ghost at any stage in their life and you might get ghosts of people that hadn't died)

great! i'll try and look at it next week. unfortunately I am away fior the w/e from tomorrow! but glad you posted.

This could explain the phenomenon known as 'astral projection' where a person can - deliberately or unconsciously - project their astral body to a different place, and possibly time, from their physical body.
It fascinates me.
I saw the TV programme about the young boy in the lawnmower repair shop. He's a little bugger, isn't he. As to age... I don't know. I've heard a theory that a spirit can choose to stck at whatever age they prefer. But I'm not convinced about that.
Dee.

Amazing that you saw that program about the welsh lawnmower boy and knew what I was on about - it was only on Discovery Channel and I no longer have access to that.

'Remote viewing' is the phenomenum that you are describing, I don't know whether people who have undertaken 'remote viewing' have been witnessed as manifesting in the remote place by others as ghosts - perhaps someone knows the answer?

Andrew )

It's a small world, isn't it, Andrew.

I've never heard the term 'remote viewing' but it might relate to an experience I had a few years ago. I'd rather not go into too much detail on a public site like this but, briefly, I was once seen in two places in the same room at the same time.

Are we drifting off the subject of writing here? I'm fascinated but not sure how others feel about this. Would anyone else like to chip in?

Dee.

Dee

RE RV - You might want to have a shufti on the net - or this site is pretty good -
http://www.firedocs.com/remoteviewing/

I'm no expert in RV but there have been several TV documantaries about it over the years with what the Russians and US Dept of Defence.

And always happy for others to join in - that's the whole point of forums. As it's your forum I am guided by you as to the subject matter. It just sounded like RV from your description.

Maybe we all go into a state something akin to Remote Viewing when we fall into deep-thought mode in our imaginations and writing stories.

Looks like no one else knows what we're on about?

Andrew )


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You're experience may have not been Remote Viewing - sounds more like astral projection from your description

Hi, you two,

I'll happily join in. I'm not confident with the terminology in this area but, it really all comes down to energy, doesn't it? Principally electric. We are walking, talking dynamoes, and leave energy behind wherever we have been. This, I believe, explains ghosts and visions. If you can receive BBC 4, you may want to watch it on Wednesday at 10.10, when they are showing Nigel Kneale's astonishing story, 'The Stone Tape', which deals with exactly this subject. It will send you off on a magnificent loop!

Best,

Mike

Imagine being around when the wireless was invented - it must have seemed like magic. We know of the existence of different invisible waves - what of the ones we don't know? I love true stories about the inexplicable, also fiction that goes beyond present scientific boundaries.

I thought I'd given up TV, but will be watching that programme on Wednesday night if I remember - thanks Mike.

To be honest, Nell, I think what we're doing right now is magic. You've typed something into your PC and I'm replying to it. You could be on the other side of the world or in the next room. Yes, I know there is a techno explanation for it but I still think it's magic.
Anyway, back to the discussion.

Mike - I'll watch that programme too, if I remember. I love stuff like that but I still don't think I understand the difference between astral projection and remote viewing.
I wonder if The Stone Tape is about the theory that rocks and the stone of buildings can record the vibrations of people who have been there. It reminds me about someone (I forget his name but he's very famous for his work on ley lines). He was dousing for ley lines once and his wife was with him. She was wandering about, picking blackberries or something, and another woman came and started talking to her. The three of them had a long conversation about the area and then the woman left. It wasn't until days later, when the couple were talking about her, that they realised they had seen two completely different women. One of them had apparently been talking to a middle-aged woman with grey hair and a brown dress. The other one had seen a young woman with blonde hair and a red coat. They got an artist friend to draw their impressions and came to the conclusion that they had both seen the same woman but at different times in her life... eek!

Not long to Samhain now.
Dee.

Goosebumps...

What about that man - I believe he was a caretaker at a castle? who saw a line of Roman soldiers walk through the wall? He was in the basement up a ladder at the time, but the really odd thing was that they were walking on a lower level and he couldn't see them from the knees down. He described them accurately, and they didn't seem to be able to see him. Later it was found that the ground level had been much lower in Roman times.