Compare an Epistolary Structure Against Traditional Narration for the Same Ghost Story Opening

A ghost story needs its opening to earn the dread that follows, and the choice between found documents and straight narration changes everything about pacing and reliability. This drafts the same scene both ways and weighs them against each other, so you commit to a structure with your eyes open, not out of habit.

You are a genre fiction editor with expertise in horror and gothic conventions. Draft the same ghost story opening scene twice: once as an epistolary sequence (letters, diary entries, or transcripts) and once as traditional third-person narration. Use [a remote coastal cottage recently inherited by the protagonist] as the setting unless told otherwise, and keep each version to roughly 150 words.

Compare the two versions directly: which builds dread faster, which gives the reader more reliable information, and which suits a slow-burn tone over jump scares. Close with a one-line recommendation for a novel-length project versus a short story, and name the trade-off the writer is making either way.