Thank you for speaking the magic, the woo with no apologies for being able to notice the subtleties in life, the waves of being and seeing only some of us woo people put into words. As you know, I had one of those “a character spoke to me” events that spurred me on to write my first novel. Yay to these special moments and even sharing them!
I experienced a lot of woo writing my memoir, but wanted to share what I heard Dani Shapiro say last night at a book event. In 2020 she came across 100 pages she'd written in 2010. The doctor-father- character was fully formed at that point. She liked the pages and they became the basis of her novel "Signal Fires." When she finished the manuscript her son pointed out something that - amazingly-hadn't occurred to her. The doctor character was eerily ("mystically," she said) similar to her biological father-both pulmonologists, and alike in appearance and temperament- whose existence she didn't become aware of until 2016. (As you probably know, that discovery was the subject of her memoir, "Inheritance"). Somehow her subconscious was aware of her biological father years before her discovery....
Oh yes, this. Dani talks about the "unthought known" in Inheritance, and I think this is not exactly the same but falls into this territory, of what we know but don't know. Part of the magic of the unfolding. Thanks for sharing!
I love your reflections, Brooke. Your thoughts on the woo, synchronicity, the magic of writing are empowering. You’ve put me in a great frame of mind for writing this morning.
This describes so well how my ideas come to me. I've had so many "woo-woo" experiences unrelated to writing, but I'll never forget something that happened I was writing my novel THINKING STRAIGHT. The story bogged down about 3/4 through. I sat back and asked my main character where I went wrong. He reached out a figurative hand, took mine, and said, "Here. This part is wrong. Charles and I stay roommates." I deleted everything I'd written after I'd split the boys up, and the story took off.
I often say that I don't write my stories. My characters do. And often what happens when they interact surprises me.
I never believed in WOO until I started writing in earnest. Now I love my oracle cards. I have 4 decks that I use when I'm stuck in my writing. I almost always get something WOO from them.
It *almost* makes me a believer in other woo things too. But if you would have told me a few years ago that I would own a deck of oracle cards, I would have told you that you were crazy... So there's hope for me and my logical mind.
I love your posts, Brooke. They are so honest and insightful. As a fiction novel writer, I need to embrace the woo and the magic. I think that's where the fun is at.
This is marvelous, Brooke! You gather so beautifully the coincidences and animal sightings and unexpected findings into a whole and give it a name. When I hear people describe this or that as 'woo-woo,' it makes me sad; it seems like a fearful rejection of anything unfamiliar or bigger than ourselves.
that's why we need to reclaim the "woo." I don't mind the term, just find that so many people disparage it when it's really just universal connection, right?
This reminds me so much of how Liz Gilbert writes about collaborating with creativity and how the spirit of a story will find us from somewhere else. I absolutely believe it's true. Recently, I've noticed this a lot in my dreams. As I'm prepping to write a novel for NaNoWriMo, I keep dreaming of the chimney swifts that will be a centerpiece and backdrop to the character's stories. It's all signs, everywhere we look.
True story: I'd already written the scene in my mystery-thriller (since published) where the protagonist finds the remains of a red pompom in the woods--a key piece of evidence--when, walking through some woods (in real life), a bright red scrap of something caught my eye several feet off the trail. I knew then I had to finish the book.
Yes to the Woo! Since I published my memoir (with She Writes Press, thank you very much), one of the first questions I get is why did it take 30 years for you to write this story. My answer: the story comes when the writer is ready to receive it. During the writing, so many synchronicities of time/events/replays appeared, I began to keep a separate journal about them. How I love this. Thanks for this wonderful and wonder-full post.
Wow. This is the first piece I've read that's captured how I sometimes feel about my writing, the synchronicity to things in my past and then future events after I've written something, like the spotting of an animal I've given meaning to in my writing...
Glad it resonates! What's one of the animals you've given meaning to? I see this with my writers so much that when I started having this experience with my dad I was just happy rather than surprised. :)
A white dove, pretty generic but I used to see some on the way to school. I gave that to a maim character in my novel, and she saw it as some sort of sign, then later the dove actually became a character. Then I went to Italy and was the one to spot one in this church's cloister, literally sitting on a sign
You and Linda Joy Myers are part of the woo in my life, coming along just as I was being called to write my memoir. So many gifts like this from the universe coaxing us toward pieces of our soul’s purpose. Thanks for writing this ♥️!
I just reposted this essay but I hadn't quite finished it. When I went back to finish it, I read that you referred to Epictetus… Whose writings I have just discovered and am reading. Synchronicity? Magic? Woo? Or all of it. Thank you...again. ♥️
Thank you for speaking the magic, the woo with no apologies for being able to notice the subtleties in life, the waves of being and seeing only some of us woo people put into words. As you know, I had one of those “a character spoke to me” events that spurred me on to write my first novel. Yay to these special moments and even sharing them!
Love this and thought of Cesar whispering in your ear—and all that we teach about memoir writing, of course. ❤️
I experienced a lot of woo writing my memoir, but wanted to share what I heard Dani Shapiro say last night at a book event. In 2020 she came across 100 pages she'd written in 2010. The doctor-father- character was fully formed at that point. She liked the pages and they became the basis of her novel "Signal Fires." When she finished the manuscript her son pointed out something that - amazingly-hadn't occurred to her. The doctor character was eerily ("mystically," she said) similar to her biological father-both pulmonologists, and alike in appearance and temperament- whose existence she didn't become aware of until 2016. (As you probably know, that discovery was the subject of her memoir, "Inheritance"). Somehow her subconscious was aware of her biological father years before her discovery....
Oh yes, this. Dani talks about the "unthought known" in Inheritance, and I think this is not exactly the same but falls into this territory, of what we know but don't know. Part of the magic of the unfolding. Thanks for sharing!
I love your reflections, Brooke. Your thoughts on the woo, synchronicity, the magic of writing are empowering. You’ve put me in a great frame of mind for writing this morning.
Thrilled to hear this, Laura. Thanks for reading and subscribing. I truly appreciate that.
I loved the sentence, "We become more porous as we write." Thanks for letting it out on the page.
This describes so well how my ideas come to me. I've had so many "woo-woo" experiences unrelated to writing, but I'll never forget something that happened I was writing my novel THINKING STRAIGHT. The story bogged down about 3/4 through. I sat back and asked my main character where I went wrong. He reached out a figurative hand, took mine, and said, "Here. This part is wrong. Charles and I stay roommates." I deleted everything I'd written after I'd split the boys up, and the story took off.
I often say that I don't write my stories. My characters do. And often what happens when they interact surprises me.
Super cool story. It's pretty amazing all the stories I hear similar to this. Love it. It's like communicating with other worlds.
I never believed in WOO until I started writing in earnest. Now I love my oracle cards. I have 4 decks that I use when I'm stuck in my writing. I almost always get something WOO from them.
It *almost* makes me a believer in other woo things too. But if you would have told me a few years ago that I would own a deck of oracle cards, I would have told you that you were crazy... So there's hope for me and my logical mind.
I love this. A convert. Thanks for sharing, Jenn!
I love your posts, Brooke. They are so honest and insightful. As a fiction novel writer, I need to embrace the woo and the magic. I think that's where the fun is at.
Thank you, Evelyn. And yes!
This is marvelous, Brooke! You gather so beautifully the coincidences and animal sightings and unexpected findings into a whole and give it a name. When I hear people describe this or that as 'woo-woo,' it makes me sad; it seems like a fearful rejection of anything unfamiliar or bigger than ourselves.
that's why we need to reclaim the "woo." I don't mind the term, just find that so many people disparage it when it's really just universal connection, right?
This reminds me so much of how Liz Gilbert writes about collaborating with creativity and how the spirit of a story will find us from somewhere else. I absolutely believe it's true. Recently, I've noticed this a lot in my dreams. As I'm prepping to write a novel for NaNoWriMo, I keep dreaming of the chimney swifts that will be a centerpiece and backdrop to the character's stories. It's all signs, everywhere we look.
Will be happy to be on the NaNoWriMo journey with you! And yes, Liz is all up in the Magic. Love all of it. :)
True story: I'd already written the scene in my mystery-thriller (since published) where the protagonist finds the remains of a red pompom in the woods--a key piece of evidence--when, walking through some woods (in real life), a bright red scrap of something caught my eye several feet off the trail. I knew then I had to finish the book.
❤️
Yes to the Woo! Since I published my memoir (with She Writes Press, thank you very much), one of the first questions I get is why did it take 30 years for you to write this story. My answer: the story comes when the writer is ready to receive it. During the writing, so many synchronicities of time/events/replays appeared, I began to keep a separate journal about them. How I love this. Thanks for this wonderful and wonder-full post.
Wow. This is the first piece I've read that's captured how I sometimes feel about my writing, the synchronicity to things in my past and then future events after I've written something, like the spotting of an animal I've given meaning to in my writing...
Glad it resonates! What's one of the animals you've given meaning to? I see this with my writers so much that when I started having this experience with my dad I was just happy rather than surprised. :)
A white dove, pretty generic but I used to see some on the way to school. I gave that to a maim character in my novel, and she saw it as some sort of sign, then later the dove actually became a character. Then I went to Italy and was the one to spot one in this church's cloister, literally sitting on a sign
Maybe generic, maybe among the most symbolic creatures that exist. :)
Yeah that's what I like about it, the universal mythology I'm trying to portray/create in my writing
You and Linda Joy Myers are part of the woo in my life, coming along just as I was being called to write my memoir. So many gifts like this from the universe coaxing us toward pieces of our soul’s purpose. Thanks for writing this ♥️!
Love working with you—and being in the swirl of inspiration.
I just reposted this essay but I hadn't quite finished it. When I went back to finish it, I read that you referred to Epictetus… Whose writings I have just discovered and am reading. Synchronicity? Magic? Woo? Or all of it. Thank you...again. ♥️
Perfection, and yes—synchronicity for sure. All over the place.
"I think it’s the openness to it all that matters." 👏 💯 🫶