Ghosts are the real MVP of supernatural fiction. And worldwide mythology in general. Almost every culture has some form of a ghost—usually many—and there are more questions than answers in the existence of a ghost. Ghost stories will always exist because of this human thirst for something else after death.
Because of their worldwide nature and how so many cultures do so many things different to them—compare Japan’s concept of yuurei to Coco’s colorful and positive Mexican-inspired depiction of the afterlife—it can be difficult to distill ghosts into anything more than “something of a dead person”. Soul, spirit, remnant, grudge, ego, and so on.
But do ghosts need any definition past that?
Not in a general sense.
Ghosts are sort of a carte blanche to write with in fiction. (Witches are similar, with vampires and werewolves sort of in the same vein.) They can be sympathetic or horrific. They can represent other things—ghosts of Christmas future, anyone?—or simply be the avatar of a future death. The grim reaper and its interpretations may or may not be involved in the making of ghosts. There’s really no end to where you can take them as a writer.
In my series, Your Local Guides To The Supernatural, I made ghosts basic bitches. Really! They are purposefully made to be the bottom of the spiritual ladder. Every human can make one, but most pass on through their specific Door—no one knows to where, but passing on is a vaguely positive thing, and I’m not touching on the concept of heaven outside of characters’ discussions of it.
Ghosts are described as wearing white robes, though with splashes of red on their body, if applicable, to demonstrate how they died. They are beings largely made of ego; technically, they can will themselves to appear differently, but most ghosts don’t, because hey, they’re sort of stuck on being ghosts. Dead people don’t care about fashion very much.
Only humans create ghosts in my series, and so they are the only things that have Doors, too. (Technically, anything can use a Door, but it vaporizes anything but a human ghost, and they’re one-use-only, so it kind of shafts the owner. But surely a handy nuke button, right?) Many other kinds of spirits happily snack on ghosts, and the main character is an exorcist who spends many a job herding them into the afterlife to avoid such a sad fate.
Ghosts can only be seen by living humans who have had a near-death experience. This is completely separate from magical ability, and obviously is pretty rare in the general population. But handy for aforementioned exorcist main character!
Of course, they’re not completely powerless (outside of the nuke Door option). Humans are canny and feral if pressed, after all. Ghosts are one of the few spirits capable of possessing others, leading to all sorts of fun horror tropes, I’m sure.
More important to my plot, ghosts can rot into other things—ghouls, poltergeists, and more. These are a little sturdier than the average ghost, and far less friendly. That’s my exorcist’s main job, since it’s more difficult to banish a poltergeist than tell a lovely old lady to walk through a Door. It’s a very large plot point that ghosts are at risk at turning into something nasty, one that is explored quite thoroughly.
Ghosts being such a common and popular aspect of world mythology is really a boon for any writer. It is a familiar concept to most, but leaves the world wide open for them to explore. Maybe check them out next time you want something a touch spooky for your writing, and maybe you’ll come up with something totally new to add to them!
