Tag: flow

Sometimes an ending comes as a surprise

Sometimes an ending comes as a surprise

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Sometimes writers play games with their own minds. They set up little rules. They have superstitions. As I came close to writing the ending of Pierrot’s Song I made a decision. I would write everything but the epilogue. Then I would go back and read all three books again. Only then would I think about writing the epilogue. I wanted to do it justice, and to make sure I wrapped up everything properly.

Photo by ATUL MAURYA from Pexels

Clearly my mind had other ideas. I woke up this morning, far too early, and I could hear the voice of one of my characters in my head. The three books of the Tales of Tarya series are written in the third person. Only the prologue to each book is in the first person. Normally when my characters speak, it is in scenes and dialogue. But this was different. This character had something to say, and I had to get out of bed and write it down immediately.

Avoiding the ending

I’ve been reluctant to write the end of this series. Writing three books is a long journey to undertake. You immerse yourself in a world of your own creation for a long time. It starts to feel as familiar as the real world. My characters are as alive to me as my friends. I know them in that intuitive way where I understand how they will act, without having to think too hard about it.

So I didn’t want to leave them. Saying goodbye is one of the hardest things to do in this life. Especially when you know it is permanent. I remember the agony of farewelling a friend I had met while travelling, not knowing if I would ever see her again since we lived on opposite sides of the world. Of leaving my father’s hospital room for the last time to fly home and go back to work, knowing there wouldn’t be time to come back before he passed away.

I could see the end of my series, drawing closer and closer. And I didn’t want it to arrive.

The unexpected magic of writing

I’m definitely a plotter, not a pantser. Mina’s story is one where secrets are uncovered. There is a puzzle at the heart of Mina’s quest, and only when she solves that can she do what she must. To create a puzzle, you need to plan in advance, planting seeds throughout the books. To uncover secrets you need to hide them, sometimes in plain sight. So I have always known where my final book would end. But writing is not entirely a logical process. Sometimes, perhaps the best of times, the intuitive brain kicks in. You may know what needs to happen, but not the fine detail of how it will happen. I love it when this occurs. But not at 6am!

But there is a story within a story in my trilogy. This is the tale of muses – the inspiration for all creative types. So when the muse tapped me on the shoulder and told me to wake up, I couldn’t really say no.

Finding flow and finding the ending

Photo by Monica Silvestre from Pexels.

So I sat down with a notebook and pen. I didn’t even grab a coffee, because I wanted to capture the words before they dissolved in the morning light. And I wrote. The words ran across the page, paragraph after paragraph. It felt like magic. I knew what I needed to say. I didn’t have to give it any thought. And the ending of my series wrote itself. The voice in my head kept speaking until I had everything I needed written down. And then I was able to get up and start my day.

By doing this I broke my own rule. I still have two scenes left to write in the lead up to the epilogue. But maybe it’s better this way. Because if I had written these words after everything else was complete, I think I’d be feeling terribly bereft now. This is the end of the story after all. The curtain is about to close on the travelling players. But when your central character is a storyteller, I guess you learn some things about storytelling. And one of those things is that a story is a living thing. Sometimes it chooses how it should be told.

 

 

Brilliant darkness: An interview with Isobel Blackthorn

Brilliant darkness: An interview with Isobel Blackthorn

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Today I’m delving into the mind of author Isobel Blackthorn and I have to admit to being both excited and a little nervous. Isobel’s books are brilliant, and having a thrilling dark edginess. She holds a PhD in Western Esotericism and the occult features in most of her writing. So far Isobel has published five novels, The Legacy of Old Gran Parks, The Cabin Sessions, A Perfect Square, The Drago Tree and Asylum, and a short story collection, All Because of You. An avid writer, her current work includes two dark psychological thrillers and a biographical fiction of occultist, Alice Bailey. If this little taste leaves you wanting more, visit her website.

Which writer or writers opened your eyes to the magic of storytelling and why?

I’ve always been an avid reader and it’s hard to single out any particular author. As a child Pastures of the Blue Crane by Hesba Fay Brinsmead left a deep and lasting impression. In my early twenties, I was captivated by Hermann Hesse and Franz Kafka, and then by Doris Lessing. I devoured her entire Children of Violence series, which is set in what was then Rhodesia, and much of her Canopus in Argos Archives, which is amazing science fiction. A little later I read Iain Banks’ The Wasp Factory, and I loved the novel so much I read everything by him I could lay my hands on and there was a stage when I didn’t read any other author. I wasn’t reading much during that phase of my life, it was a dark period, and Iain Banks kept me going. I’ve always felt a profound sense of belonging to the world of novelists, even before I was one, as though the authors whose books I loved were sitting beside me as friends.

Why do you think people need stories in their lives?

Stories give shape to our lives. Stories help us make sense of the world. Stories open us to our own imaginations. Morality, empathy, compassion and understanding, all these qualities are enhanced by reading fiction. For many, stories are a form of escape from the burden of life, a way to unwind, or a form of entertainment. Even then, a story may invite us to ponder or question.

What is your greatest magical power as a writer?

What an interesting question! All storytellers are magicians. All creativity is a form of magic. We cast spells on the minds of our readers, viewers, listeners. We enchant. And we do so to manipulate the reader into seeing the world our way, or another way, if only for a while. We might be trying to transform the reader in some way. Even at the level of pure entertainment, a novel is enchantment, the reader is taken away from their ordinary reality and into their imaginations.

Which mythic archetype or magical character most resonates with you and why?

The Fool. I walk through life and into situations naively and largely unaware of the people around me and their hidden motives and agendas. I have a sort of natural blindness. I take people at face value and in good faith. I accept what they present to me as truth. I fail to see the shadow. Therefore, I have been tricked and deceived, abused and trampled on, or treated as though I am not worth more than as somewhere to wipe one’s feet.

Isobel Blackthorn writes across a range of genres

That said, I do not carry around a sense of victimhood and I am not bitter, I simply keep walking on, just as the Fool keeps walking. Although with age, I am a little wiser. We are all made wiser if we try to learn from situations and our mistakes. I have learned that people lie. I have learned that people run their own agendas. I have learned that the person who tells you to beware of someone stabbing you in the back, is in all likelihood holding the knife. On the up side, I have accumulated a treasure chest of experiences and every writer needs those!

What themes or ideas do you find keep arising in your writing?

The occult crops up in most of my writing as a theme, as do art and social justice. I have a passion for the Canary Islands (Spain), and set some of my stories there. Each novel I write is distinct. I write across genres and I like to explore a range of ideas. A Perfect Square is a good example of the themes I like to explore. On one level, it is a story about different approaches to creativity. It is also a dark mystery concerning two mothers and their daughters.
Flow as a Doorway to Magic

Flow as a Doorway to Magic

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Harlequin’s Riddle is not your typical fantasy. There’s actually not a droplet of magic in it. Mina, the central character, doesn’t learn magic. There is no speaking of spells, hand waving or use of wands anywhere in any of the books.  There are some fantastic books out there that use this sort of overt magic. But I went in a different direction. What interests me is thinking about what magic already exists in the world. We forget how incredible life is, taking for granted all the wondrous things that happen every day. This is especially true for people. Their minds are complex, their lives are fascinating and their achievements can be staggering.

I’m particularly interested in creativity, and how that shapes people. Or, as becomes evident in my book, how people use their creative abilities to shape the world. Art, in whatever form, can change the way we think about things. It can take us out of the moment, transporting us so completely that we forget who we are. It can help us to empathise and connect with others, or heal long-held hurts.

About Flow

In my explorations in creativity over the years I’ve noticed a recurring theme, which is that when people do their creative practice, whatever that might be, they go into a different state, or mindset. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a psychology professor, calls this state ‘flow’. In this state creators become completely absorbed in whatever they are doing. The requirements of the real world (food, ego etc.) fall away in place of a sense of fulfilment. This state can be very productive. Csiszentmihalyi also says the “whole being is involved”.

Flow and Writing

Many writers have had the experience of working on a piece, and having some sort of inexplicable or unusual experience, such as a character ‘coming to life’ and taking control of the story. Or writing about a place they’ve never been to, only to discover when they get there or see photos of it that they’ve described things with an uncanny accuracy. This is what fascinates me about flow – what if it is an opportunity to tap into a different mental state that links you in some way to something bigger than yourself? This was an idea I wanted to play with in my book.

Flow in Tarya

In Harlequin’s Riddle I take this idea of flow as a starting point to the fantastical elements of the story. Rather than a doorway to a different mental state, creativity becomes a literal doorway – to a place called Tarya. It is a place that sits beside the real world. There are spiritual aspects to Tarya, but it is not just a separate realm, like heaven. Events that happen in Tarya can have an effect on the real world. Mina, the central character of the book, discovers she is able to reach Tarya when she tells stories. But more importantly, she is able to bring aspects of her stories into being for her audience.

Writers are endlessly fascinated by the writing process. Sometimes it can definitely feel like it is magic. Having a heroine who can do interesting things with her stories is so much fun as a writer. I’d like to think there’s a little bit of me in Mina – or a little bit of Mina in me. But she may have other ideas…

If you’d like to learn more about Mina’s abilities, sign up to my email list (see the bottom of the page) and I’ll send you a free short story that tells you Mina’s back story.

 

 

Bio

Rachel Nightingale is a writer, playwright, educator and actor. With a passion for story telling and the theatre, it was only natural that her first fantasy series would centre on both. She lives in regional Australia with her family, a very bossy cat and the cutest dog in the world. She is represented by Creative Net speakers.

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