So, if you’ve been following this series, your character now has a misbelief—the Lie—and a goal—the Want. But we haven’t yet discussed the reasoning behind it all. Why does your MC believe the Lie? Why do they desire to have the Want? The answer to that is the Ghost.

This is the Ghost of your character’s past… an event that shaped the person they are today. And, in order to overcome the Lie and the Want, they will also need to come to grips with the Ghost. A Ghost can come in many shapes in sizes… from a traumatic childhood event to a life-changing conversation. Today, we’ll be going over a few crucial points in order to help you build a Ghost for your own MC.

1. The cause of the Lie

Every effect must have a cause, and the Lie is no exception. Think about it… the beliefs you hold today are anchored in the events of your past. When you have no reason to believe something, your trust in it will be very shaky. And this is why a Ghost is extremely important. Your MC will not soon be moved from the Lie because they think they have a good reason to believe in it.

Now, this ties in to making the Lie plausible. Even Hitler had reasons behind what he did. Were they right reasons? No. But they were reasons. So, while you should use the Ghost to make the Lie plausible, never use it to make the Lie excusable.

Let’s take a look at our examples to see how this is done:

Will’s Ghost is his own deeds—all the crimes and cruelties he committed while working for the East India Company. These deeds have led him to believe that, since he got himself into his evil state, he must be the one to get himself out of it.

Tad’s Ghost is growing up on the streets and in orphanages. Though the story never specifies, he was most likely taken advantage of during his childhood, making him very wary of other people. This caused him to conclude that he can’t trust anyone—including God.

Notice how plausible these Ghosts are. They are realistic without excusing the character’s belief in the Lie. Yes, the protagonist is putting his faith in something wrong. However, now that we know his past, we can sympathize with him a little more. This also makes him relatable—again, without excusing the Lie.

2. The cause of the Want

Depending on the nature of your Want (remember the two categories), it may already be caused by the Lie, which, in turn, is caused by the Ghost. But the Want also ties into the Ghost more directly. Again, look at the goals you have as a person… most likely, they are connected to your past in some way.

As we discussed previously in this series, a Want can be either good or bad. However, it will be grounded in the Ghost no matter where it lies morally. Any kind of life-changing event will certainly have an effect on one’s wants and wishes.

Will’s desire to gain redemption stems right from his Ghost. After all… would he have need for redemption if he weren’t a sinner? Once he began to regret what he did in the past, Will formed his Want, which paved the way for the rest of the story to happen.

Tad’s shaky past full of untrustworthy people made him resolve to never trust anyone again. He is determined to protect his sister, and he’s determined to do it alone.

3. The cause of the symptoms

Yes, the Lie is the main cause of the symptoms. However, since the Ghost caused the Lie, it’s still very much connected to your character’s flaws.

As we determined in a previous post, Will’s main symptom is guilt. This makes perfect sense when you look at his Ghost. Having caused pain for so many people, it’s only natural that guilt will follow.

Tad’s symptom is mistrust. Having been treated ill in the past formed his standoffish and somewhat rude appearance. He pretty much makes himself unapproachable (though that doesn’t seem to stop Reverend Sheppard, as we’ll later see).

4. The reveal

Before we get into the actual reveal of the Ghost, I did want to mention its real-time placement. Typically, the Ghost will have happened in the MC’s past. There are instances where a Ghost is placed within the First Act as part of the actual story, but that’s not as common.

Now let’s move on to the reveal… this is the part that will actually come out in your story, whereas the other points were more of the inner workings. The reveal also the place where many writers fail… they’ve got an awesome Ghost, but they have no idea how to reveal it.

There’s really a lot of wiggle room for a Ghost reveal. Depending on how complex it is, you may want to just reveal it during the First Act. But for a more complicated backstory, I would strongly encourage you to save the reveal for later on in the story.

There are a few reasons for waiting to reveal the Ghost.

First, you’ll have more opportunities to drop subtle hints. That way, when the reveal finally comes, you won’t have to unload a big info dump. Your readers will already have many of the puzzle pieces, and you’ll simply have to supply them with the remaining ones. Also, keep in mind that readers are smarter than you might think. Small reveals—accompanied by meaningful subtext—is often all that you need to get the point across.

Second, saving the Ghost reveal for later on can provide a very effective plot point. The First Plot Point, the Midpoint, and the Third Plot Point are great places to put a Ghost reveal. Typically, the longer you wait to unveil the Ghost, the bigger impact the final reveal will have on the story. This also means that, if the Ghost reveal isn’t going to be that huge, you should probably just place it earlier in the story… don’t draw it out unnecessarily.

Now, this doesn’t mean that you should always wait to reveal the Ghost. It really just depends on your story’s needs, and what kind of effect you want the reveal to have on the audience.

You can also choose to reveal the Ghost through a flashback. This is a great method when you’re not sure how to write a Ghost reveal without “telling” too much. A flashback is the easiest way to “show” the Ghost, and, when done right, can draw your readers further into the story.

In “Beyond the Mask,” Will’s Ghost is revealed mainly by flashback. Up until past the Inciting Event, we’ve only gotten little hints of his past through conversations and subtext. And then the Ghost is revealed in a sequence that’s really a combination of a daydream, a flashback, and an allegory.

Will’s mind takes him to a village in India, where he is surrounded by screaming natives and soldiers who laugh in cruelty as they set the thatched huts on fire. Suddenly, Will hears a cry of pain and scans the area. A muscular man, his back to Will, is mercilessly beating an Indian woman. Filled with righteous anger, Will strides towards the man, lays a hand on his arm, and spins him around. Then he steps back in horror and shock as he realizes that the man looks exactly like himself.

Of course, the result is especially painful once the viewers realize that Will at one time was that man—and, really, he still is.

Tad’s Ghost in “In Time of Need” is a little less dramatic than Will’s, and since it was a short story, I chose not to even reveal the entire thing. During the story, Tad mentions that he and his sister had been in an orphanage before, and, at the Third Plot Point, it’s stated that the only homes he’d ever known were orphanages and tenement houses. Because the story isn’t really about Tad’s past so much as it’s about his journey in the present, these small reveals are the only ones necessary.

Here are a few other examples of Ghosts for you to analyze:

1. His betrayal and his mother’s and sister’s arrests (Judah ben-Hur, “Ben-Hur”)

2. His wife’s death (Carl Fredrickson, “Up”)

3. His lot in life (George Bailey, “It’s a Wonderful Life”)

4. Bad experiences with religion in the past (Lee Strobel, “The Case for Christ)

5. Always being in control of Headquarters; seeing the effects of sorrow on other people (Joy, “Inside Out”)

(Note: Three of these Ghosts do occur in the First Act of their respective stories, so check them out if you’re curious about going that route.)

I hope you’ve seen how the Ghost brings a lot of these elements even closer together. If not, you may want to return to previous posts so that you’re well-versed in the Truth, Lie, Want, Need, and Ghost by the time we dive into the actual plot points.

Comment below what your favorite character’s Ghost is!