July 2014

An interesting article called “Wraiths don’t show up on CCTV” appeared in The Guardian of 5th July (Review section p14). Joanna Briscoe (author of recently published “Touched”) suggests the reader may be more chilled by what is unseen and feared, through the atmosphere created by the writer, than the very explicit portrayals in modern crime and horror dramas. That reminded me of “Rats” a half-hour TV drama of years ago about a pack of man-eaters on the loose. It was spine-chillingly scary but you never saw a single rat (heard them though!). Briscoe points out that ghost novels tend to be short (how long can you suspend disbelief?) and while the human story may be brought to a conclusion the paranormal may be left unexplained (“less is more”). It’s not a genre I’ve tried but this helpful article gives some useful pointers if I decide to have a go.