Grabbing The Terror Dog By The Horns

If you’ve made it this far through my blog, it’s quite obvious I’m a huge geek. Even more obvious is the fact that I’m a lifelong Ghostbusters fan – especially after my recent post where I shared with you the blurb for my very own fanfiction novel. But what does Ghostbusters have to do with my love for writing? It was some time in the very early nineties, I think – I must have been six or seven – when my mum bought me a tie-in novel for the first movie. I loved it, and it was this that led me into reading, but also into writing fanfiction as a hobby.

So how did the idea for Ghostbusters Academy come about? Well, during the summer of 2015, I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated - and obsessed - with moths. Yes, moths! My house was being infested with them and, perhaps pathetically, the things I was worried about being damaged the most by those pesky, fabric-eating pests were my Ghostbusters clothes. So I set out on a mission to exterminate my new squatters by, well, squatting them.

Strangely, or perhaps not so much, it’s this that got me thinking, “What if ghosts were real and actually haunted people?” It’s not something I think would necessarily be funny, though, as often depicted in the Ghostbusters movies. It would be pretty serious. In fact, if ghosts were real, we’d be up to our necks in them! But how would they affect people? For starters, they wouldn’t just be a nuisance like those moths - they’d no doubt affect people psychologically. So who would you actually call?

Mothbusters is my Plan B Career

And so this eventually led me to a darker, grittier and somewhat more grounded vision for some Ghostbusters fanfiction. Well, as grounded as such a concept can be. After all, we’re talking about anthropomorphic marshmallows and dancing toasters. My story focuses on how hauntings can drive people to the point where they're forced to act on it, to figure out a way of fighting back. But for the most part the idea started off only as a means for me to acquire the disciplines involved in one day producing my own original novel (that dream novel); a way, I suppose, of consolidating my learnings from the comprehensive creative writing course I’m currently battling. That was the initial idea anyway. It’s since taken on a life – or an afterlife - of its own.

You could argue that I’ve spent far too much time on this project and that I’m taking it far too seriously. After all, it's just fanfiction. What can come of it? Well, nothing from a commercial aspect. I’m just trying to get my name out there, and the Ghostbusters fanbase is of biblical proportions, to say the least. But if writing this novel also helps set me in good stead for writing the next one – an original one – then the lessons I’m learning in how to construct one of these monsters we call “books” are pretty invaluable.

If I can teach you something from all of this, it’s to just keep writing that book – whatever it is you’re working on. Don’t underestimate the importance of your current writing project. And whatever you do, don’t cross the streams. By this I mean don’t focus on more than one novel project, unless of course you can afford the time to do so. I’m not suggesting you don’t keep your fingers in many pies. Quite the contrary. I’m working on Ghostbusters Academy, my assignments, writing movie reviews, and even keeping this blog going. But recently I tried to focus on both the fanfiction project as well as my original one, and to cut a long story short, it’s just too much. After all, you wouldn’t try wrangling more than one ghost with a single stream, would you? 

Too much writing can land you in a sticky spot

I don't just want to focus on the fanfiction project here, though. Whatever it is you're doing, whether it's a novel, a short story, articles for submission or blogging, keep going. The only real way to perfect your writing is to keep doing it, and the only way to get your name and your work out there is to attain some visibility on the almost-supernatural ether that is the Internet. Make the most out of the entities that are social media platforms, and above all, write every day if you can - even if it's only a little bit here and there. Unfortunately writing is a one man-mission - you have to put just as much work into the actual writing itself as you do working on your online presence. 

Keep your PKE Meter at the ready for more updates on Ghostbusters Academy, as well as tips on writing. Have any suggestions yourself? Then comment in the section below, and become a Curious Subscriber for future updates. And why not check out my Ghostbusters Academy blurb too:-

Ghostbusters Academy Blurb

In the meantime, keep writing, and grab that Terror Dog by the horns...