Response 2

http://aahblog.blogspot.com

Hooray! This is the first creative project I have seen proposed, so I am very happy to try and help you with some ideas. For those just joining, this project is a poem set in some old yet modern place in some unidentified time, the story involving murder, ghosts and revenge. It sounds exciting. I have a lot of jumbled thoughts about your proposal, so here is my attempt to tell you about them...

There always seems to be a "moral of the story". The morals I got from some of the books we read: Don't focus on one thing all your life (Frankenstein); Follow your heart (Whethering Heights); Fight temptation instead of avoiding it (The Monk); Appreciate what you have or your own power (Interview with the Vampire). These seemingly innocent morals from fairy tales are twisted into something ugly and horrifying by adding some kind of monster. Is your ghost the monster in your story? What moral might it be acting on or against?

As long as we're talking about it, what is the moral of your story? Will you be talking about women's rights or the family or aristocracy? What will make your plot uncanny? Will your story be a metaphor? That might be kind of difficult if you don't have a definite time period or setting.

I like that you are talking about a ghost. We had discussed that ghosts are never just there but that they stand for something. What does your ghost stand for? Think about the other ghosts we've encountered, the bleeding nun, Catherine's ghost, Beloved... What do they do in their stories? How do they relate and iterract with the characters?

A quote for you from Whethering Heights: Heathcliff talking to Catherine's ghost, "He got on to the bed and wrenched open the lattice, bursting, as he pulled at it, into an uncontrollable passion of tears. "Come in! come in!" he sobbed, "Cathy, do come. Oh, do -once more! Oh! my heart's darling hear me this time - catherine, at last!" (Pg. 23). Her ghost is an obsession for him, symbolizing his past, his only love, all his regret. What does it mean that she returns to his house but doesn't talk to him? Does he get anything out of her appearance? Why does she show up in the first place?

Have fun writing!