# How to write a ghost possession scene correctly? (1 Viewer)



## takadote26 (Sep 6, 2016)

I love writing horror, but when I write scenes where ghosts (or other souls) possess characters in story, they are not taken very seriously by the audience. How do I show the ghost possession, instead of telling the audience about how a female ghost is possessing a lady to speak to Zachary, her former boyfriend?


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## patskywriter (Sep 7, 2016)

I doubt if many (if any) have ever seen such a thing—so why not let your imagination go and describe the event in such detail that it seems real.


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## Ann-Russell (Sep 9, 2016)

Without knowing exactly what kind of scene you want to write (is this a gradual possession or more of a seance type thing?) it's hard to give specific advice. I will say: go watch some horror movies regarding possession. Insidious 2 automatically comes to mind, but there are a lot out there. If its a gradual possession, you can show how the character's behavior changes over time. If this is a ouija board/seance situation, show how the woman being possessed physically reacts. Do her eyes roll back in her head, or cloud over? Do her limbs stiffen or move with rigid motions?

And don't forget to clue us in to how the POV view character is reacting. How would you react if someone in front of you was suddenly possessed? Play up the fear and trepidation.


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## Jay Greenstein (Sep 9, 2016)

you have two viable choices: present the scene from the viewpoint of the ghost or that of the one talking with it. If you choose the one listening, the reader will know the character's doubt , wonder,and gradual acceptance. We'll know what questions the protagonist discards and which s/he keeps and asks—and why. We'll know the encounter from the protagonist's emotional center.

If told from the ghost's viewpoint we know how/when the ghost arrives, and experience the battle for control. We'll know the decisions the ghost makes so far as how to convince the one with them that what's happening is real.

What won't work is the storyteller explaining the situation as an outsider talking _about_ what's happening.

Remember, your reader is seeking to be entertained, not informed. And to be entertained means they have to know the scene from the inside out—as the protagonist—not the outside in. One of the best articles I've found on providing a strong character viewpoint is here. It's a condensation of a very strong technique, one every fiction writer should know because it has the power to place the reader so deeply into the story that when someone swings at our protagonist the reader ducks. Chew on it till it makes sense. Then look at some modern fiction that made you feel as if you were living the story on the scene in real-time, to see how that author used the technique. 

If, after that you feel that knowing more about it would be beneficial, pick up a copy of the book the article was based on, because it's full of tricks like that. Like the man who wrote the article, I feel it's a book every hopeful writer should own.

Hope this helps.


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## J Anfinson (Sep 9, 2016)

I can give a quick example of something you might do. Use it however you wish.

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His head was pounding. Paul shook another two asprin from the bottle and put it away. He couldn't keep swallowing pills. Something was going to have to give, one way or the other. The blonde-haired flight attendant who'd brought him a martini earlier was staring at him again. Was it so obvious something was wrong with him? He'd thought he was hiding it well.

_Let me in, Paul. I'll even make it quick_.

No! He forced the voice away again. It was growing insistent, slowly creeping up in the back of his head until--
_
You can't win, you know. I'm going to kill her. And you're going to watch_.

"You're not real," Paul moaned.

_Is that what you really believe? 

_The pain was overwhelming. It was hard to concentrate on anything. The flight attendant was moving toward him now, she was calling to him.

"Sir, are you okay?" Her voice seemed faint, then he realized he couldn't hear anything else any better. Darkness was closing in at the edge of his vision. A spreading tide of black that would mean the end of him, as well as the girl.

_Here I come, Paul. _The voice giggled.

Growing darker.
Darker.
Dark.


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## takadote26 (Sep 13, 2016)

One more thing I forgot to mention, the possession of Kotone by Arydas is a_ gradual_ one and it's written from a third-person perspective, plus there is some creepy parts to the whole paragraphs.


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## Non Serviam (Sep 13, 2016)

John paused.  For a moment, his eyes looked in different directions.  He grasped the edge of the table with his right hand; his left seemed to reach for something in empty space.  His right leg remained straight but his left moved as if trying to walk around the table.  An instant later, he fell to the ground with a crash.

Incoherent, inarticulate sounds issued from the side of his mouth, and his hand moved to his lips as if to hold them shut.  He writhed, and groaned, and then his eyes rolled back in his head.  A rictus seemed to seize his facial muscles.  His back arched, his heels drummed on the floor, and then without transition it was as if a woman lay there --- the posture, the movements, which had been masculine, somehow took on an indefinably feminine cast.

Eyes opened, and a lighter, less booming voice issued from his man's throat:- "Attend closely to my words now, for I have very little time on this plane."


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