A Haunted Idea

 William Hussey, author of Haunted, talks about where ideas come from…

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‘Where do you get your ideas?’ That’s the question writers dread most, because, you see, often it’s as much a mystery to us as to anyone!

How does the first spark of a story ignite? I believe that the writer’s unconscious mind does most of the work: half-listening to that phone-in show on the car radio during which a caller’s dilemma triggers the bare bones of a plot; snatching a glimpse of that poster on the Tube which suggests a character or scenario; a dream which suddenly connects one distant memory from childhood with a more recent experience and crafts from the two the starting point for a story. But here’s the thing: in many cases, writers find it impossible to track back to the precise moment when the idea came to them.

HAUNTED

For my new supernatural thriller, Haunted, I’m in the rare position to tell you exactly how I got the idea

Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison

I love reading biographies – opening that window onto another life and breathing in the loves and losses, achievements and disasters of a stranger. I was reading a biography of the brilliant inventor Thomas Alva Edison (the ‘Wizard of Menlo Park’ – creator and developer of, among many other scientific miracles, the light bulb, the movie camera, the telephone and the record player) when my eye chanced upon a tiny detail… and a startling fact.

In 1920 Edison claimed to the press that he was on the verge of inventing a telephone for talking with the dead! Now, Thomas was a great practical joker, especially with journalists, so when he died ten years later and no evidence of this ‘Ghost Machine’ could be found among his detailed laboratory notes, everyone thought he’d been pulling their legs and the story was pretty much forgotten. But this bizarre claim got me thinking…What if…? (Now that simple question is the starting point for all ideas that eventually become books). What if Edison wasn’t joking? What if he really did invent the Ghost Machine? What then became of it? In the interviews he proclaimed the machine boldly to the world, so why would he afterwards never mention it again? Did something awful, something terrifying happen when he first tested it? Yes, I thought… But Edison was as vain as he was brilliant. Could he really bring himself to destroy such a remarkable device?

Hello...? Is anybody there...?

Hello…? Is anybody there…?

And so I wondered, what if the Ghost Machine is still around? And what if it turned up in a small English town in dead of winter? A town cut off by a snowstorm, maybe… Yes! (I was getting excited now!). And what if someone was using this diabolical device to call back the spirits of the dead to our world? The hungry departed, who, arriving in the helpless town of Milton Lake, begin to possess the living, one soul at a time…

So there you have it. After the initial idea struck there was, of course, a lot of work to do. I had to come up with loads of exciting twists and turns, as well as a mystery with, I hope, a shocking solution. I also needed a strong main character to drive the story forward. This last challenge was perhaps the most daunting and rewarding. For the first time I’d be writing from the point of view of a female hero, the determined and damaged Emma Rhodes…

But to learn more about Emma, the dangers she faces, the lessons she learns, and the devastating secrets she uncovers, well, you’ll just have to read the book!

IMG_8361William Hussey has a Masters Degree in Writing from Sheffield Hallam University. His novels are inspired by long walks in the lonely Fenlands of Lincolnshire and by a lifetime devoted to horror stories, folklore and legends. William lives in Skegness and writes stories about things that go bump in the night…

Follow him on Twitter @WHusseyAuthor or visit his website.

Read Turn Her Face to the Wall, a special short story by William.

Haunted is out now.

HAUNTED

One thought on “A Haunted Idea

  1. Photo Girl says:

    Looks like a really amazing little read, I think my little nephew will just adore it! Great to see about some of his influences too.

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