More research off the beaten path

When I started working on my current book in progress I realized I wanted my main character to have certain abilities which help her solve an art theft with international implications and work as part of a shadow team for the FBI’s art squad. (Also see this blog post)

I had some knowledge and minor experiences with what for lack of a better explanation you could call psychic abilities/phenomenon. But what I really wanted to know more about was the nature of energy, the many ways energy works, not just for or on an individual but also how energy interconnects all living things.

When I first arrived in Boulder, CO, at the beginning of my new adventure, I met a woman who is a Reiki master. We talked for some time because I was curious and knew nothing about Reiki. After those first few hours of talking it sounded like Reiki offered a good starting point. Something practical and not just book knowledge. There’s only so much a lay person can read about quantum physics.

I got ‘attuned’ to level 1 and though I started it as purely research, I now find myself actually offering healing energy treatments to others. I’m strongest from a distance even a very great distance – probably because of my deep interest in the nature of energy, I push myself to reach further - and I’ve gotten reports back of remarkable benefits after I ‘send Reiki’. It’s only adding to my understanding of energy and allowing me to create a far more human, yet complex, character for my novel.

From the International Center for Reiki Training website: http://www.reiki.org/

“Reiki is a simple, natural and safe method of spiritual healing and self-improvement that everyone can use. It has been effective in helping virtually every known illness and malady and always creates a beneficial effect. It also works in conjunction with all other medical or therapeutic techniques to relieve side effects and promote recovery.

An amazingly simple technique to learn, the ability to use Reiki is not taught in the usual sense, but is transferred to the student during a Reiki class. This ability is passed on during an "attunement" given by a Reiki master and allows the student to tap into an unlimited supply of "life force energy" to improve one's health and enhance the quality of life.”

We write to learn and explore who we are and the world around us. I don’t recall who said that first, but it’s true.

PS: Animals love it too and will ‘ask’ for it from me when they need it by pushing against my hands and positioning themselves just so under my hands.

Putting your characters on the couch

In the beginning there were the simple forms to fill out per story character: favorite color, height, eye color, best subject in school, best friend, worst friend, favorite music, etc. But I now see that’s no different than the simple introductions at teambuilding events or summer camp. 

Instead of sharing around the campfire, let’s dig a little deeper for truly rich characters. 

I put one of my main characters in a novel I’m working on - SuperSense - on the couch and applied some psycho-analytic tools to find out who she really is. The results surprised me. 

I assembled skills learned from many books and diverse workbooks. 

The process takes you beyond the basics and beyond archetypes, into the heart and soul of your character. Much of the information I learned probably won’t make it directly into the novel, but it will inform Natasha's behavior, her responses, her choices and her actions. 

Next up I grabbed at the villain in the story and discovered the similarities in background, but differences in how they each opted to use that background. How past trauma and upbringing affected the choices they each made. 

We all have things in our past - good or bad - that changed us, made us question our path and choices. If we’re willing to look at those events and find a way to understand how they shaped us, then we can use that information to grow and also to develop richer characters for stories. 

For example: using these psycho analytical processes I was able to discover the reason for Natasha’s reluctance to use her special skills even though she’s sought out by others to use them. I now see the internal conflict she wrestles with almost daily, which is only exacerbated by the initial response she gets from her highly science-driven and logical teammates when she’s tossed into the team.

Natasha was raised by her grandmother (this was news to me until I put her on the couch) and her grandmother was a celebrated psychiatrist who kindly dismissed the girl’s abilities as a form of ‘hysterical’ coping mechanism after the traumas in her early life. 

You can see how that might set up feelings of shame and a reluctance to open up to others about the skills she has. 

I am still refining this character building tool for writers, but I am open to sharing the information and potentially setting up a series of online workshops if there is enough interest. 

Leave a comment, email, tweet or even an old fashioned snail-mail letter to my PO box (address on www.elynnhwriting.com) and I will respond.