Welcome to my offering for The A to Z Blogging Challenge 2018.
My theme this year is Ghostly Inspirations:
a collection of spirits that have been prompted by my encounters with places and times. Some are spooky, some more about atmosphere. I'll be describing each inspiration and the phantom that came to my mind, and then I will share a drabble, which I hope will entertain. :)
Disclaimer: The places and experienced I have used for my inspiration are real, but my ghosts and drabbles are complete fiction, linked to nothing and no-one, alive or dead. When writing about my inspirations, I may have changed names and obfuscated specific details to 'protect the innocent' :).
~
N is for Novel
Inspiration:
Most people have heard of the Bronte sisters, famous for Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and other novels. They lived in Haworth in Yorkshire, in their father’s parsonage. That house is now a museum run by the Bronte Society. It is right next door to the church and churchyard, which is packed with gravestones and monuments.
I visited the museum a few years ago and it was a fascinating time. The rooms in the place are actually quite small, and you could understand why on a cold winter day, the parsonage and its surrounds could be very bleak. It may be the tragedies associated with the Brontes, how young they died, their brother’s drunken madness, Jane’s unrequited love for her professor, but the place had a certain air about it, a dour stoicism in stonework on the edge of a wild place, the moors.
This environment inspired the savagery of Wuthering Heights and equally the personal strength of Jane Eyre. It is this melting pot of literature that has also inspired me today.
Since this story is totally fictitious, I am calling the village Hawthorne and my novelists, the Brownes.
Ghost:
Most people have heard of the Bronte sisters, famous for Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and other novels. They lived in Haworth in Yorkshire, in their father’s parsonage. That house is now a museum run by the Bronte Society. It is right next door to the church and churchyard, which is packed with gravestones and monuments.
I visited the museum a few years ago and it was a fascinating time. The rooms in the place are actually quite small, and you could understand why on a cold winter day, the parsonage and its surrounds could be very bleak. It may be the tragedies associated with the Brontes, how young they died, their brother’s drunken madness, Jane’s unrequited love for her professor, but the place had a certain air about it, a dour stoicism in stonework on the edge of a wild place, the moors.
This environment inspired the savagery of Wuthering Heights and equally the personal strength of Jane Eyre. It is this melting pot of literature that has also inspired me today.
Since this story is totally fictitious, I am calling the village Hawthorne and my novelists, the Brownes.
If you’re a ghost, a museum can be an interesting place to spend the afterlife.
~
Personal Heroines
Elaine had been waiting for this school trip all year. Hawthorne, home of the Browne sisters. Companions running ahead, nervously, she sat down at the table where the novelists had worked.
“That’s not really allowed.”
Elaine gasped and looked around. A petite woman in corseted gown stood there.
“Caroline Browne?”
A nod. Elaine beamed: she had hoped the story was true.
“I love your books.” She held out her battered copy of ‘Jean Air’. “I had to meet you.”
“Not many see me.”
“Nor I.”
“Nor I.”
Her three favourite authors sat down with her. Elaine almost jumped for joy.
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“That’s not really allowed.”
Elaine gasped and looked around. A petite woman in corseted gown stood there.
“Caroline Browne?”
A nod. Elaine beamed: she had hoped the story was true.
“I love your books.” She held out her battered copy of ‘Jean Air’. “I had to meet you.”
“Not many see me.”
“Nor I.”
“Nor I.”
Her three favourite authors sat down with her. Elaine almost jumped for joy.
~
Other paranormal and spooky stories by Sophie Duncan.
~
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Cute story! It might be nice, in the afterlife, to meet fans - pity you couldn't autograph their books!
ReplyDeleteAussie Children's Writers - N is for Garth Nix
https://suebursztynski.blogspot.com.au/2018/04/a-to-z-blogging-challenge-n-is-for.html
Well done Sophie - oh if only there was time in places where ghosts would appear to talk to us ... but love thinking about this - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great day to be had by the heroine of your story :-)
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it be awesome if you could meet the ghosts of much-loved authors? I'd want to sit with Enid Blyton and LM Montgomery =)
ReplyDeleteIf I become a ghost, I do want to haunt a museum :D
ReplyDeleteLovely little story :) I wouldn't mind meeting some of my literary heroes either...
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How lovely. I hope it wan't all a dream.
ReplyDeleteMy Friend Rosey - N is for Nude!
Delightful. I imagine ghosts around me but I always think they're friendly!
ReplyDeleteWell that's one way to meet your favourites :) It's all in the belief I suppose.
ReplyDeleteTasha
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