MASTERCLASS
Seeing isn’t always believing
Helen M Walters explores the effect of an illusion and how differences of perception can work in your fiction via a classic tale of the supernatural
Helen M Walters
This month’s story combines horror, supernatural and crime elements in a compelling tale where things may not be what they seem. Was It An Illusion? (subtitled A Parson’s Story) by Amelia B Edwards follows an Inspector of Schools as he visits a remote village and experiences some strange events. As always, you will benefit most from this masterclass if you read the story for yourself: https://writ.rs/illusion.
The narrative falls into three main sections, with a fourth, smaller, section at the end. Each is distinct and adds something different to the story. We are going to look at each section in turn and consider what it tells us, and how it works with the other sections to form the structure of the story.
Usually when I’m teaching short story writing, I advise people not to spend too much time setting the scene. Often it is best to dive into the action rather than waste words on preliminary build up. But, in this story, we do have three paragraphs of ‘scene setting’ before the action gets started in the fourth paragraph. Why has the author chosen to do this?
I think there a few good reasons for it. Firstly, note how the story starts with the narrator, Frazer, referring to
‘facts’ and to things that happened to him personally. Frazer then goes on to establish his credentials. He is a School Inspector, and therefore a trusted member of the community. He is experienced, and in his previous district had become accustomed to mixing with various clergy and gentry. All this is designed to give an air of credibility to what is to come next. Notice also the foreshadowing of the possibility of adventure. The action of the story commences in the fourth paragraph when the narrator arrives in the remote hamlet of Pit End. This heralds the next section of the story, which recounts the perplexing events that happen while Frazer is carrying out his school inspecting duties. This is the section of the story in which we, as readers, will experience illusions along with him.