Psychic Writer: How Could I KNOW Something Like That?!
When I connect with my Muse, the weirdest things happen—PSYCHIC things! What’s weirder, the more I write, the more these magical moments occur.
Case in point: my work-in-progress is a Romantic suspense novel (Dance to the Devil’s Tune) set in Denver in 1883. In this novel, my heroine is a Pinkerton, and I’ve pitted her against a criminal mastermind, who steals jewels.
Last week, Writer’s Block snared me in its evil clutches. I had trouble devising the perfect heist for my thief. I thought that my heroine could attend an opera, during which she might observe, or gather clues about, the thief. To make the novel more interesting, I wanted to select an opera with a storyline that paralleled the “live drama” going on between the heroine and the villain.
That’s when I had the “psychic” moment with my muse!
To appreciate how bizarre this incident was, you need to understand that I’m practically clueless about opera. In Book 1 of my series (Devil in Texas,) I exhausted my thimble’s-worth of knowledge when I referenced Carmen. I didn’t think I should reference that opera again.
Without a heist, the plot of Book 2 had come to a screeching halt. I remember groaning and thinking, “Out of the hundreds (maybe thousands) of operas on record, where am I supposed to start my research?”
That’s when my Muse whispered the word, “Faust.”
And I thought, “Huh? Faust? What’s that? Did someone write an opera about Faust?”
So I punched up Google, and sure enough, a Frenchman named, Charles Gounod, composed an opera by that name. But here’s where my Muse REALLY freaked me out:
Until I had started my Google research, I knew only one thing about the title character: he was a doctor who makes a pact with the devil.
Then I learned that the most famous aria in the show is titled, The Jewelry Song. In Act Three, Mephistopheles gives the soprano a necklace. She becomes enchanted, singing about how beautiful she looks, wearing the jewels.
Picture me with my eyes bugging out. “OMG!” I thought. ”That’s PERFECT! “ After a little more research, I learned that Tiffany’s was taking jewelry consignments in 1883. So I decided that my diva would be gifted with a commemorative necklace, copied from the paste ones in her show. My villain steals those jewels, natch!
Faust—that single whisper from my Muse—sparked an idea that gave me half the plot of my novel! I’m still dumbfounded by the experience! Clearly, my mind tapped into something MUCH larger than my short-term memory when it pulled Faust, with its Jewelry Song, out of thin air. (Check out this earlier post about some spooky, déjà vu moments from my historical research.)
Are you a writer? Have you ever inexplicably “known” something that historical research confirmed? Share all your juicy, psychic experiences in the comments section, below!
