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?   

 

Overheard at.... Romancing the Genres

“You read my mind.”

Many years ago, in my collage days (so, okay, many, many years ago:>) I got to overhear a psychic talk about how to improve our intuition. Of course most of the students wanted her to read their futures. And, though skeptical, I was no different. But that is a story for another post. What intrigued me, even back then, was the psychic’s day job…. teaching executives in the Silicon Valley how to use their intuition to make better business decision.

If the overall success of the valley is any measure, I would say that for a while at least intuition was running high in that golden atmosphere. I do wonder, though, if along the way, any of the executives thought back to her lessons and thought, huh, something seems off.

But, in any case, the idea that this psychic could make legitimate money teaching people to use intuition was shocking to me. Didn’t everyone rely on their intuition? Even back then it was something I leaned n heavily in my schoolwork and life. And now, as an author, it is critical to how I write my stories. There is a sixth sense that kicks in when I am on the right track with one of my characters or with a plot element. People often ask how I come up with my stories… and by this I believe they mean more than the overarching plot. Even more, it is the little details in a story that give it life and tie each element together to make a whole.

Of course part of this happens by knowing my characters so well that it feels obvious what they would do in any situation. But there is more to it as well. Recently I found myself stuck in a revision I was doing. I needed a reason for the characters to linger in a particular city. As I did my research on where they might go, I found myself drawn to one particular tourist attraction in this city. Ultimately they go to have tea at a special Tisaneria, or tea house. As often happens, tea was already a theme in the book and somehow I had landed them in a spot which reinforced this element.

October is Paranormal Month at Romancing the Genres. So what better time than now to flex our psychic muscles and work on trusting our intuition a bit. Here’s a link to get you started: http://www.essentiallifeskills.net/develop-your-intuition.html

Then come back and let the October authors know how the experiment worked for you. My intuition says October is going to be a great month!

Cheers,
Deanne

www.deannewilsted.com