I'm a writer of children's fiction and have long wondered about the curious and fascinating relationship that builds up with my characters during the writing of a book. I have guardian angels and spirit guides, and I communicate with them in much the same way that I would communicate with the characters I write about. It's as though I'm writing about real people, and the story is more like channeling than making stuff up. I wonder if these people are real in some dimension. My stories have a fantastic element to them and seem to be set in a world slightly outside of the one I'm living in. They're usually set in the past, too. I find my characters
leave me little signs, much like my guides and angels do. One smells of smoke, another stands sulking. I entered into a long written correspondence about all sorts of topics with one of them, and yet another boy refused to be drawn into my time wasting
and made me get on with things! (Incidentally, I finished his story first.) I wonder what's going on here, and whether I'm just a victim of my own endless imagination or really seeing stories as they happened. If so - why choose me to write them? Also, does the connection work both ways - are my people aware that I'm writing about them? Sometimes it feels like being in a book within a book, and I wonder if someone is writing about me too. The other thing that pickles my brain is whether I'm actually creating these worlds in some other place as I write. (Perhaps the story didn't exist before I wrote it, but now it does!) Any thoughts about all this?
Starlakid
Astrea:
My uncle is also a writer of children's books, and his characters are all very real to me because when I read about them, I see him in them. There is a little bit of him in every character he creates, just as I'm sure there is some of you in every character you write about. Recently, we attended an opera for which my uncle wrote the libretto, and those characters seemed completely real to me.
In order to come to life, your fictional characters and places must be born, developed, lived with, nurtured, and even fed
from within you. As you clearly have a very well-developed imagination, you are exceptionally gifted at giving your creations life.
I think it's pretty common for writers to feel their characters are as real as the people around them, and to continue to have a sense of relationship to them long after their writing about them has been completed. In fact, I'm sure that writers who are like this are especially good at creating complex, believable characters.
It's only natural for you to relate to your characters as you would real people. How else are you supposed to bring them to life on the page? Corresponding with your characters sounds like a great way to figure out their thoughts and feelings. I think you've hit upon a wonderful writing technique; I'm sure lots of writers would benefit from giving it a try.
Each character you create comes from someone real: YOU. Each one of us is the sum of all the things we have both experienced and imagined. By creating these vivid, true to life characters, you are amalgamating many of your own life experiences. All of your stories and characters existed within you before you found ways to share them through your writing. Perhaps the fact that they were already real within you is what has you feeling the way you do.
Suspending disbelief is important for both the readers of fiction AND its writers. I think your characters have become real to you because you've done so much to make them vivid and believable. There is nothing unusual about getting lost in the creative process. Though you've taken it to an extreme level, perhaps that is just what you need to do in order to make the most of your creative gifts.
These characters aren't real, but that doesn't mean you're crazy: you're just especially good at getting lost in your own imagination. By relating to them as though they are real, you're able to make your characters come alive on the page. Keep up the good work!
*****
Susyn:
A writer's world is often filled with amazing ideas and experiences. I believe that parallel universes do exist, and that our minds can travel in other dimensions when we're lost in thought.
It's said that we are only limited by our beliefs and imagination; because of your own unlimited beliefs and imagination, you possess the ability to experience your characters as real people.
You may indeed be composing stories about your spirit guides, loved ones who have crossed over to the other side, and souls you've spent past lives with. How wonderful to be in contact with all these entities at the same time, and to write their stories for them!
The most important part of this process is to embrace these experiences as they happen. Trust in the feelings these people bring you, the awareness they provide, and the new ideas they fill you with as they urge you to use their stories for your children's books.
No one is more open to the fantastic worlds you write about than children who have not had their beliefs challenged or distorted by society. Of course, it must be the same with you: In order to write freely about all sorts of fantasies,
you must cast off the constraints of mundane reality. As a writer of children's books, it does you far more good to wholeheartedly embrace these characters than to question whether or not they are real.
You ask why these amazing characters would choose you to write their stories, and the answer is simple: Not only can you see, hear and sense them, you understand them. Imagine how difficult it must be to have a story to tell but no one who can hear it. These people trust you to hear and channel their stories into written form so they can be shared with the world.
Yes, they are definitely aware that you are doing for them what they cannot do for themselves. Like the boy who chastised you for wasting time, I'm sure they are very eager to have you turn their visions and experiences into written works.
You've asked if you may be creating these worlds in other dimensions as you write about them, and in some ways, this is a valid idea. The best way to determine where these ideas are coming from is to ponder whether you are channeling this information or drawing from personal experiences or learned knowledge in order to create them. When you are formulating the story or creating the world from within you, you could be creating those people and places in another dimension by writing them into being.
Astrea:
Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.
Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!
While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!
I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!
As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.
I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.
You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!
Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.
A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.
You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.