A Christmas Carol: The Ghost of Christmas Past

 Christmas Carol Part 2. The First Spirit.

I am enjoying this story. It's a long time since I've read it, and I'd forgotten a lot of the detail. I do like Dickens's writing. His description of the Ghost of Christmas Past with its extinguisher (a candle-snuffer I think) and its sparkling belt.

His description of the country lane they appear on on Christmas Day where young Scrooge is alone is wonderful.

With all these stories that go over more than one episode there isn't much to say in the show notes. 

The only thing that occurred to me as I was driving along today is that writers today are told to cut things out—extraneous scenes and superfluous words must go! Dickens didn't work like that. He was paid by the word so he puts scenes in that the story could probably do without and still get its message along. I mean the scene with Fezziwig dancing and some of the others. When they make adaptations of the story, they cut out huge swathes.

But it made me think that these scenes are a delight. It doesn't matter that they aren't essential to the story; they are fun. It's like telling a composer to cut out the extra bits that aren't essential to the story. Those pieces of music are what we listen for, and these extra scenes in A Christmas Carol are to the story, not take away from it.

I shall make my stories three times as long.

More Christmas Ghost Stories Ebook & Paperback

Oh, did I mention my More Christmas Ghost Stories it out? The paperback and ebook are done and the audiobook is being approved now. So you can get it if you want. The stories are good, and improved by the attention of my Beta Readers.

Music

The opening music is Some Come Back by The Heartwood Institute. Check out their new release Witchseason. Listen to it for many reasons but at least one of those should be to hear the insane comments in Witchphase 1.5 from the King of The Witches, Alex Sanders. Who knew he was so mad?

The first track after my commentary is The Haunted Cabaret by Kentin Jivek and The Hare and The Moon.

The second is Circle of Protection by The Heartwood Institute.

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