Mary Jane Essex led our members' Writing Basics
mini class on Historical Accuracy. She warned to watch for appropriate
technology (you can't dial 911 in 1950), consistent language
(what would Edwardian ladies really say over tea?), and period
customs, manners, and morals (didn't all young ladies used to
have a chaperone?). Historical accuracy matters, whether you're
writing about last year, the Middle Ages, the Romans, or the
Clan of the Cave Bear. Your readers expect you to be the authority
on your chosen subject. Let's dazzle them.
Molly Dwyer, author of Requiem for the Author
of Frankenstein: The Life of Mary Shelley, was our invited
presenter. Thirty people enjoyed her rapid romp through synchronicity,
the Romantic poets, dreams, quantum physics, and traveling in
England. She presented one of the clearest summations on the
writing process I have ever experienced. She's going to be keynoting
major writer conferences soon.
Molly defines synchronicity as meaningful coincidence,
an invitation to pay closer attention. Sensibility, in the old
sense of the word, means deep levels of emotional sensitivity.
It is a lively manifestation of feelings. In tribal communities,
the shaman developed sensibility to advise their community.
Over time, the role of the shaman has become transformed into
that of a muse. Creative genius flows amorally, and responds
to calling and stalking, but prefers to be courted. Connection
with our muse is contact with something greater than ourselves,
and the detached observer becomes an active participant.
Modern writers continue the ancient role of tribal
storyteller. A story stalker forages for creative nourishment.
Through shared language and thinking, writers create a virtual
shared world based on words. No other species has this ability
to create and communicate thought designed stories of situations
and characters who have never actually existed except in the
mind of the author, and later, the reader. Observing meaningful
coincidences, was a pastime of Chinese philosophers and astrologers
who sought patterns and recorded what things liked to happen
together. There is a kind of existential magnetism guiding meaningful
arrangements which can be witnessed through conscious listening
with humble respect for the unknown. Invite creative synchronicity.
Molly Dwyer weaves all these abstract concepts
into grounded story. The poets live through us.
