Question

what is the central idea of the story a shady plot

Answer 1

Heya Mahender! !  The central idea of the story -A Shady Plot is about the author getting his ideas to pen down his novels from ghosts, who, being writers in their former lives, could understand the grievances and the plight  of writers who were constantly under the pressure of writing stories . So the ghosts are generous enough to help the narrator by infusing ideas for the plot in his mind and thereby enabling him to write down marvelous ghost stories.    Hope that helps!