I'm Not Sure as to Whether I Can Write This or Not... | Your Thoughts on Speaking to the Dead? - Comments

@ Armin Arlert
Yeah... I don't think I'll be talking to the dead anytime soon haha. Sounds terrifying.

I so believe in the supernatural, and my grandmother is a psychic and has taught me to never really be afraid of spirits, but there are still a lot of cases where I just feel creeped out by the idea. I wouldn't recommend using the Ouija board if you're afraid of the spirit, but if you get really scared, I would offer it something, which doesn't sound good but it really is harmless. If you just put a small figurine on a shelf, clearly state that it's for the spirit, then everything should be fine + the spirit should leave you alone.

@ Indigo Umbrella
Haha oh man. My window will give me a heart attack one day.

@ Join the Masquerade
Well, if you go around your room in a clockwise motion and end at the door, you'll make it leave. :D And yes! Sing! Lol. I do the same thing. It's no worries. I almost had a panic attack in the middle of the night last night because I was hearing voices and someone crying and my first reaction was "There's someone in my house" or "It's a ghost!" but then after a minute I realized my window was open and some neighbors were having a fight on the lawn.

@ Post Mortem
Thank you for the advice. I feel a bit better about it all now that it's daytime haha

@ Airi.
Thanks for the input :) I don't believe that all spirits are evil. Maybe even of those that are, it might not be intentional. And ah, that's a relief - another that thinks writing a story won't attract any spirits.

@ Indigo Umbrella
Thank you for the kit idea :) I have considered doing the line of salt thing at my bedroom door to separate me from the living room where I feel an energy but then I think, what if it's in my room at the time and I trap it in? haha
Lmao so you're telling me that my singing wards away the living and the dead XD
I overthink noises all the time. It is a little unnerving though when there isn't an immediately apparent explanation.

@ Join the Masquerade
*Squeals*

Oh yeah. I understand that. I live with an asthmatic now so I can't burn things. But in the kit I was talking about, I made my sister a spray that was a combination of sea salt, dried sage, lavender sprigs, fireplace ash, and water. And then I just told her to spray down the windows and doors in a clockwise motion. You can make the same thing with or without certain ingredients. Just as long as you have salt (table salt works too) as a base you can add or remove whatever you want to it. You can also use it as a carpet freshener thing. Like sprinkle the mixture on your carpet and vacuum it up. It has the same effect. So long as you remove the vacuum contents from the property after you've cleaned it up. And the bells thing. Bells and chimes ward away negative energy. (Ex. church gongs, windchimes). So does singing, humming, and chanting.

Your head is very powerful though! Lol. There are some people who believe you can make things manifest just by believing in them. Not to freak you out. Sorry. And when you're freaked out you can overthink common household noises and scare yourself. But yeah, you should be fine if you just remind yourself that you're fine. And shout at them.

If you feel comfortable with the idea of writing outside of your comfort zone then I do encourage you to go for it. I always encourage writers to try and venture outside their comfort zones. Moving outside of your comfort zone can help you learn and improve you as a writer. However, not everyone can handle trying something new and if you can't then that is fine. It's up to you whether you try something new or not. It's up to you if you think you'd be comfortable writing something that's different than what you're used to.

As for writing disabilities... Do research. Look things up on the Internet and if you can, try to find someone who has that disability. If you explain what you're doing and why you want them to explain things to you, I'm sure they'd be understanding and willing to speak. It's important to note that not everyone is confident in their disabilities and won't agree to speak. If they say no, accept it and find someone else. But really, with things like disabilities, offense can be easily avoided if more authors would simply research thoroughly. The thing is that most on Mibba simply don't bother to do that. I've written illnesses that I've never experienced but I've never been told I've portrayed them offensively because I'm done the proper research. ^.^

I can't say I'm a full believer in the paranormal, although I can say that I've personally experienced questionable things. I do experience times of skepticism and times of belief. Despite the idea that most people perpetuate about spirits, they're not bad things to be in contact with. Yes, some of them have ill intent but they're not all evil. It's such a lie for someone to say spirits are automatically always evil. The type of spirit you deal with largely depends on the type of energy you're putting out when you call it. If you call a spirit expecting it to be evil, you're filling the room with negativity and thus have a higher chance of calling a negative spirit. If you're calling a spirit and feeling skeptic then you're filling the room with negativity. If you feel more positive emotions/thoughts then you have a higher chance of calling a good spirit because you're not calling the spirit with negativity.

With that said, Ouija Boards can be safely used. I'm not religious so I don't consider them "demonic" anything but rather simply 'spirit boards'. They're rituals in a way which can attract spirits. I've used Ouija Boards before and have had questionable experiences but nothing ever truly bad because I've always made sure my friends aren't being negative or else we don't do anything. Something important to remember about using anything to summon a spirit is purification. Things like sage and incense and good for purifying a room when you're done and should always be done. Buddhism has good purification rituals. Countries like China and Japan have good purification methods because they are spiritual countries who haven't been scared of dealing with the spirit realm. I highly suggest you research using things like sage and incense before you do anything like using an Ouija Board.

With that said, I don't believe writing horror/paranormal stories can attract spirits to you. I've been interested in the paranormal, horror, the occult, ect. since I was a small child and nothing bad has happened to me. People say these things can attract spirits to you simply because they don't understand and are just perpetuating scares to try and keep people away from them.

Honestly, I believe in spirits and supernatural type of things because I've been experiencing it my whole life. I've always felt that if I acknowledge something like that whether it be a spirit or whatever, that it gives it more power. It could just be my fears but I would never use a Quija board personally. When you intentionally try to communicate with something, even if it doesn't respond, it shows you're trying to make contact and that you're acknowledging it enough to give it more and existence in your life more if that makes sense? However, I'm not entirely sure writing stories or about your experiences can be too harmful. It's not like you're trying to contact it through a story but if it makes you uncomfortable or frightened, then don't force yourself into it.

Honestly, I believe in spirits and supernatural type of things because I've been experiencing it my whole life. I've always felt that if I acknowledge something like that whether it be a spirit or whatever, that it gives it more power. It could just be my fears but I would never use a Quija board personally. When you intentionally try to communicate with something, even if it doesn't respond, it shows you're trying to make contact and that you're acknowledging it enough to give it more and existence in your life more if that makes sense? However, I'm not entirely sure writing stories or about your experiences can be too harmful. It's not like you're trying to contact it through a story but if it makes you uncomfortable or frightened, then don't force yourself into it.

@ Indigo Umbrella
Haha I'm officially a fangirl of how you write your Bucky character

I think that would be a good idea to include a disclaimer like that. I probably would anyway. Where I usually write is a small community and we include trigger warnings for pretty much everything so I'm a bit used to that sort of thing.

I thought you did really well with PTSD and explaining it to an audience that probably wouldn't have experienced it but in a way that they could understand. I found it believable.

In theory I'm a very spiritual person. Candles burning and certain incense bring me a weird sort of calm that I can't really explain. But in practice, I have 2 parrot friends living under the same roof so burning of things with harmful scents to them is entirely out of the question.

I guess as long as people like yourself that seem to know what they're talking about are telling me I should be fine then... I should be fine haha. I'm pretty sure it's in my head. I do feed it a lot but at the same time, others in my house have felt it before so it has me wonder...

Oh my gosh. I opened this to comment about speaking to the dead, but oh my gosh. I am so flattered. Oh lord. Oh jeez. I don’t know what to say. I’m glad you like my story! Oh my gosh.

But moving on. I feel like I should tell you that I had a lot of doubts about writing my Bucky story too. I was really afraid of writing a story featuring a main character suffering from PTSD. I was afraid that I wasn’t going to do Jo justice, or that I was going to make her negative traits a reflection of her condition. But that’s the thing about writing. Sometimes you just have to take risks. Although, I do have experience with PTSD, I have never been a soldier. And so I was really nervous about the story in the beginning. But I wrote it and it came out and I learned from it. The only advice I can give is letting your readers know that you do not have a prosthetic limb, and be willing to make changes if someone with a prosthetic were to come up and tell you something that contradicts your character. Just be open to adjust your story if you need to. But I think you'll be fine.

As for communicating with the dead, you writing about the supernatural probably is more feeding your own fears, rather than opening whatever spirit is in your home to you. However, some spirits can feed off of those fears too. A Ouija board is just cardboard and plastic, but using any kind of communication CAN open yourself up to trouble. I actually wrote a Halloween blog about this last year. Basically, you just need to do a lot of cleansing. Cleanse your space with clean smoke (sage, lavender, incense), salt, bell chimes, humming. Tell whatever is listening that negative or mean spirits aren’t allowed in your space and they need to leave. Seriously, you can just yell at them to leave you alone. If you are just planning on WRITING about the supernatural then you shouldn’t have anything to worry about, especially if you cleanse the area before and after. The likelihood of accidentally opening communication is low. Especially if you make it clear from the start that you have no intention of doing so. I know it sounds weird, but spirits generally listen to you. Even the bad ones. But! If you need anymore information about this stuff I can help you out. I once made my sister a protection kit because she had some trouble with a spirit. I can tell you what I put in it so you can make one for yourself if you want. It seems to have worked for her since she hasn't had the problem since.

@ Not Your Mascot
He's not all bad. I had a massive heartagram on my bedroom wall that he wasn't weird about, even though that's half a pentagram. He still has glow in the dark stars on his (he's 25 haha XD)

Lol ahh, if only I had friends XD But nah. No way. Not in this life haha

Ah, so there's not really much of a grey area with him then? Just don't tell him, get some friends who are into it if you really want to do it and if he hears about it just say "Nope that's a bunch of bollocks, why would I do that?" and skip off into the sunset But we're totally having two conversations haha whoops

@ Not Your Mascot
I'm very much the same - sensitive to things. But I'm also incredibly susceptible to ideas. Sometimes it's hard to tell if I'm feeling something that's real, or if I'm only believing my own bullshit :P

He's very... well he's not very christian, but comes from that background. Very straight with his ideas and what he thinks is right and wrong. I don't really like to condemn "wrong" things without understanding them first.

It really helps honestly! Because you don't have to keep it in the order you write either, the first scene you write can be really short but you can decide it finishes the story after being fleshed out. I was against it until well, now, and it's been going great this week.

Yeah? It's actually really terrible. I had some sort of shadow being follow me once. But, I'm a sensitive and so I can feel things without actually inviting them. In the end I think it would come down to what you believe and what those around you believe as energy attracts energy. Just let your boyfriend know that witchcraft isn't a bad thing, and a lot of it is just misrepresented. Black magic and magic are two completely different things, and lightwork isn't even considered a craft but shares much of the same thoughts. A park is a good place for a ritual because it won't tie anything to the space you live in, and you can cleanse the area and yourself and leave

@ Not Your Mascot
I never usually write outside of the chronological order, but I might actually give that a go. That's a brilliant idea. I can now to to bed and write something :D

My grandma had a spirit attached to her once. Caused all sorts of horrible things before she could be rid of it :(
Oh, I don't. I was just trying to remember where I once heard about how bringing an Ouija board home can give a spirit the idea that you want to talk. It must have been a movie. I'm most definitely not getting one. I think my bf would break up with me XD He's very... anti-witchcraft haha

You can write what comes to mind and fill in what you don't know or aren't sure of after research has been done! I've been doing random scenes while I wait for my latest story banner.

White candles are to bring positive energy and vibrations to you. White energy is pure, and offers protection. Not sure if you'll find that but it is what my teacher has taught me, and it always works for me. Though also, Ouija boards used in your house aren't a good idea because many thing that even with protection energy can still come through and the last thing you want is something attached to your house. That's much harder to cleanse. Why would you need the Ouija, though, if you don't mind my asking?

@ Not Your Mascot
Thank you for the advice. Research will need to be done. I'm frustrated, because I wanna write something right now, but can't research things until I've done my uni exams. Ugh :/

White candles? I'll have to look that up. I guess I'm just paranoid of upsetting something I don't quite understand.

Well for me, and I know rape is typical in some band fics here, I wrote an original fic about it. I'm actually still doing it. But I watch an extreme amount of crime television and often read the stories of victims or listen to my friends' experiences. Though I've never been a victim of rape, I have been sexually harassed so I'm familiar with the gist of things and how terrible they can be. All of my feedback has been positive.

My old theatre teacher wrote a series of three plays called The War Cycle. I don't believe he was ever enlisted, but I do know he did an extreme amount of research, talked to victims of bombs that had lost arms or legs or sight, etc., and even visited the hospital that he wrote about. He put years of research in to making these three plays come to life and they were so beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. I think when writing about something you have not experienced you just have to be willing to do the research because not everyone experiences things the same so it's different from when you write of your own life.

As someone who has practiced both the craft and lightwork, I can tell you it's all about the energy you put out when it comes to spirit and negative energies. Using a spirit board will obviously give the idea that you want to communicate, but there are ways to seal off so nothing can get through or you don't connect to negative energies. There was a blog floating around, and I added a comment with more information if you're interested in actually using a board. And though I don't recommend it, there's a really nice community of witches that I've befriended on tumblr that would be sure to give you good advice.

As for supernatural and the dead. My NaNo story is about just that. A girl that can see her dead friend, much like I was able to for a while. I don't think writing about it or reading about it could give a sign that you want to communicate with them, though if that is a real fear of yours white candles and sage will become your best friend.

Let me know how it goes and message me if you need anything!

@ kitsch
Ehh, I guess it'll all come out when it wants to.

Haha imagine if they were cool beans with it though. Like, thought we were cute, screwing around with them all the time XD