Young Writers Society

So, I had this idea while watching the show Supernatural for a story.

What if it was written from the perspective of the host of someone who was posessed? Normally this would just be a limited third person (I think), but what if he had partial control over his body? As in there were two people in one head, constantly communicating and operating the same body. How would you do that?

The main problems I see are dialogue, and distinguishing who is who (however for my story this would become less important as the story progressed).

What difficulties could you see? and how would you go about solving those two problems?

I'd say yeah, the main difficulty would be in the differentiating who's talking/acting at any one time. However, there are be ways to go around that.

I think the main thing here is that you have to properly set it up. Once it's well-established in the reader's mind that there are indeed two entities sharing the same body, then everything's going to flow a lot smoother.

For dialogue, I've seen this done in different ways. You can change format for one of them, for example have the possessor talk in italics or in a different font, or just by using something other than "" for speech (I've seen //, ::, []... Just take something that isn't too annoying to look at, stick to it, and it works fine), or just making it clear in the narration who's in control at the time. Actions mainly rely on your narration, so just be careful with that, and make sure it's clear.

For differentiating who's talking: Different fonts?

Ah... Oh. Looks like that might not be possible here on YWS. XD

I think if you had some sort of "fight" where the host got more control, than the host lost control, and each period was more clearly marked, then you'd get rid of a lot of problems. Then you'd have the host do a block of actions, the possessor would take over and do another block, ect. Those transitions could be less marked after while, and I'm not even sure that fits the style of the story, but it's an idea.

thats sort of what I was going for. at the beginning the personalities would be distinct, so you could tell who was in control, but about halfway through or so I would try and make it less distinguished.

Having the character who is being 'possessed' experience a deep anxiety or dissatisfaction with his own feelings or actions might also point to a force beyond his control influencing him. You wouldn't necessarily have to differentiate as much as express the character's hostility and perhaps eventual acceptance of the actions which are being inspired by the 'possessor'.

If you want to write for two perspectives at the same time, that would flow better. But if you want to write for two distinct perspectives and acknowledge the voices of both, switching narrators every scene/chapter might work well.

Hope that helps!

I wouldn't actually recommend differentiating between them using italics or font or any of that, since that unecessarily stops the flow as the reader tries to adjust to the new way of writing. Of course, the voice of the character needs to be different enough so as to allow us to distinguish between them easily - but the strange thing here is the fact that they're in the same body, meaning we can't tell who's who just by their immediate surroundings and circumstances.

So...here's a proposition (since I have read many novels where there have been five or so distinct narrators): what about separating out each narrator's bit with their name as the title? You might like to have a quick scroll down this story to see what I mean.

Hope that helps!

EDIT: I just remembered what this reminds me of. 'The Host' by Meyer. Make of that what you will.

eww... meyer...

Possession is generally of the aggressive kind. You possess a person, and if the spirit is demonic, then it could very well be interesting. Since Supernatural deals with the supernatural variety (pun fully intended), I'm gonna assume you're talking about something demonic.

I'd advise you read "The Exorcist" by William Peter Blatty. It isn't in the possessed's POV, but the way that the demon slowly gains control and grows stronger is very well-written. (No wonder it was so dang popular, right?) You want to be able to start with the original soul fully in control, and then at the climax, the new soul is winning the battle for ownership, even if the new soul can control his thing.

Also, this could very easily become comical or a sympathetic story. So, if you want it to strike the right chord--a supernatural thriller or a horror story?--you need to be able to exercise careful word choice/control and build the atmospheric tension well as it progresses.

If you do post this on YWS, PM me! I'd love to read it.

If you want an awesome reason to research possession/transformation, I suggest watching Jekyll, a BBC production of Jekyll and Hyde.

It's a good fall back; it shows the changes in the main character, and it's really creepy.