I just recently completed a scene that moves one of the subplots into stronger conflict. Often character conflict is between two or more characters in the “world” or inner conflict between one character and themselves. The scene I just completed takes the conflict of two characters into the inner world. This concept in itself is not unique. It is the very crux of Robert Lewis Stevenson’s classic Novella, “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” The conflict I have invoked is a conflict of two characters wanting the same body.

Many of the world’s cultures believe in possession of the body by a foreign entity. Some believe that possession to be done only by demons and devils. Others believe it to be done by gods. Some believe a person can be possessed by the ghost of someone else. It is this last possession that the scene works in. As I have written it, the scene takes place in two settings: The real world, where one character does not know what is happening; and the world of dreams. The reader flips from setting to setting within the scene. The writing of the transitions was difficult and it is something I will need to pay close attention to in the next draft.

I do not want to go too far in the description of the scene and its significance to the storyline or how the subplot gets pulled and threaded through the main plot. Instead, I would like to discuss the idea behind the scene. I drew upon many of the world cultures and mixed in some of my own twisted imagination to create the setting. Some cultures describe the act of a ghost possessing another as a dark energy descending upon another, with electrical shocks running through the body. The spirit is then able to interact with the real world in varying levels, depending on the culture’s reports.

I do not claim to believe these reports or cast judgment on them. They are a tool for me to make a story more realistic—as much as a supernatural gothic horror can be. What I would like to ask you, my reader is:

1. Do you believe in the possibilities of possession?
2. If you do, do you believe that angels or demons can possess someone? (after all, if one can why can’t the other)
3. Do you think it would be possible to be possessed by the spirit of someone?
4. If you discovered you had been possessed by an angel, demon, or someone long dead’s spirit, what would you do? How would you react?

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com for up to date information on the articles, blogs, novels, and short stories that I write.