Thursday, June 19, 2014

DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC?


I am currently in Denver for the RomCom conference, so I'm posting an edited version of a post I did a while back. Enjoy!!


How much do you believe in the supernatural? Do you check your horoscope on a regular basis? Have you ever had your cards thrown? Or had your palm read?

I think everyone has a sense of magic in them. But, by my definition, magic doesn't mean having the power to cast spells or make yourself float in midair...to me magic is about emotion, how strong your heart is, how strong your bond with everyone and everything around you.

I've always had a strong intuition and could always sense when someone or something wasn’t quite right. Of course, I didn’t always trust my gut, but when I did, I managed to get out of some pretty hairy situations.

I never really tried to hone that gift, but I call on it every time I start a new book.  Mainly because, when I write, I see the story as a movie with myself as the main character/s so I can see and feel everything they experience. Adding this sense of realism is what makes my work successful.

When I was researching my novel Dark Obsession I focused my search on Curanderismo, spirituality, and pretty much anything having to do with witchcraft, mysticism, etc. The information I came across was all very interesting. I even had a chance to speak with a man in west Texas who has done years of research on Curanderismo and his insight made for great conflict in my story (and future stories). My research also took me on a road trip with my aunt and cousin, to the Rio Grande Valley, (in Texas). I went to get visuals (since it had been several years since I lived there) and gather stories from the various family members who live there.  As a detective with the Brownsville Police Department stated during an investigation of a ritual killing  you can't be born or raised near Mexico without believing the possibility that the magic exists.”

While we were in the valley, my aunt's sister-in-law told me about a (healing) incident she witnessed with a (colicky) baby, a raw egg and a glass of salt water. This particular healing (called a limpia) was written into my novel Dark Obsession.  

Now, I wouldn't say I'm a firm believer in what I researched, but I can admit there's something there to consider. I mean, really, don't we all wish we could have just a little bit of magic ala Samantha Stevens?   

 

3 comments:

Sarah Raplee said...

What a fascinating research trip!There is so much in life we don't understand. Some deny it; some accept it; some embrace it.

I love stories that acknowledge this fact!

Hope you rocked it at RomCon!
Great post!

Judith Ashley said...

Have fun at RomCom! Would love to read about your experience there.

And Samantha Stevens? How I wish with a twitch of my nose my house would be clean, laundry done, plants watered, meals prepared - there are some things (like writing) I want to do on my own but those daily tasks? not so much!

Is this the same trip you took where everyone got sick after going to the building where the old woman did her potions? Wow! You've got material for many, many books!

Diana McCollum said...

Great post! I'd love to twitch my nose and have all the awful chores done for me! Instead, I have to find my own magic in each day. In the way the flowers grow, the way things come together in time to make (fill in the blank), when a cooking error turns out to be the best dish ever! I write witch stories and I do believe there is magic in this world. I've had intuitive experiences my whole life. Where I think about someone I haven't heard from in a while, and the phone rings and it's that person. Great post!