We love ghost stories of all types and that is why horror is such a big genre amongst local books and films. The irony is that horror stories and films may sell well but compositions featuring ghosts, apparitions and spooks of any form are frowned upon in school. Many schools have an outright ban on horror stories. Write a ghost story in school and you risk failing your composition.
A second irony is that kids actually love ghost stories. Okay, not all kids. Ghost stories is a rather polarising topic for kids - kids either love them or hate 'em. But I've definitely come across more kids who love them than hate them and this is supported by the popularity of certain local fiction series (think Mr Midnight and Singapore Ghost Stories). So what is a kid who loves creepy stories but not allowed to write one to do?
Well, you could write a fake ghost story. And that is what our Intermediate Composition pupils did for Semester 1 Week 13 Composition. What is a fake ghost story? In a fake ghost story, we begin the story like it is a ghost story and the problem is that there seems to be a ghost in the story but in the end, there is a fake-out and it turns out that the eerie event has a happy mundane reason.
Such a topic is also good for teaching children how to describe fear, an emotion that appears in a wide range of stories. Let's take a look at the story for this week to see how it is done. (Words that can be used to describe fear are in bold.)
ALONE AT HOME
It was a stormy night. The wind was howling like a banshee outside the house. Lightning flashed and thunder roared. It was raining cats and dogs. My parents had brought my little brother to the playground. I thought it was too childish for a ten-year-old girl like me to play in the playground so I did not go with them. It seemed very spooky in the lonely night.*
Out of the blue, I heard a soft knock on the window. How weird! I stayed on the third floor. Wild thoughts raced through my mind. Could it be a burglar? A psychopath? Or even a ghost? A vision of a woman with long black hair in a white gown floated across my mind and I felt myself shuddering uncontrollably. Come on! Don't scare me!
Somehow, I managed to muster up my courage. Bracing myself, I dragged my leaden feet to the window. Each step felt like it was my last. It seemed like an eternity had passed before I finally reached the windows. Then, with trembling fingers, I flung the curtain aside.
Peeking gingerly, I saw a helpless bird shivering on the windowsill. It was so wet that it looked like it had just emerged from a swimming pool. It saw me but it could not fly away because its wings were drenched. It was shivering and as it shivered, its beak hit the window. My shoulders slumped in relief. I had been so silly. Seeing how the poor bird was shivering, I took pity on it. I opened the window and gently carried the bird to the sofa where I covered it with a towel. I also fed it with some bread.
When my family returned home, I told them the whole story. We roared with laughter about my foolishness. My parents told me to take care of the bird and I did. Up to today, the bird is still in my house. Every time I see it, I would remember that night and giggle to myself.
Racheal How (P4)
Huamin Primary School
Some notes:
1. In the first paragraph, we broke a general rule of storywriting. We started the story with a very common technique - describing the weather. However, the general guideline is that we can only use weather to start the story if the story begins outdoors. In this case, the story starts indoors. But we went ahead and broke the rule because we wanted to use the stormy weather to create the spooky atmosphere needed for a ghost story.
2. Racheal used the pretext that her parents had gone to the playground with her younger brother to explain why she was all alone at home. In this case, the reason conflicts with the stormy weather so it would have been better to find another pretext (like parents attending a wedding banquet or working overtime). Or she could have added the following lines after the asterisk: But my parents should be home any moment now that it had started to pour. I cheered up at that thought.
3. If you would like to get some vocabulary to describe fear, click here. (The link is not set up yet but it will be done by the end of the week. I'm sorry but that there are only 24 hours in a day and way too many duties.)
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