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:
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!
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!
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!
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