22. Magical thinking for practical writers

Explicit content warning

10/25/24 • 25 min

1 Listener

This month, sort of in honor of Halloween and sort of just because, I want to share and explore a single phrase about writing that has been inspiring me lately:

Your characters are your ancestors.

This idea unlocks all sorts of potential for me – but I admit that it also feels a little overly sentimental. Even for creatives, there can be disdain around ways of thinking about writing that feel precious instead of practical. There’s a sense that while of course art is magical in its way, your perspective on your own work better not be, or you risk being naïve and unserious.

And it’s not like there’s zero truth to that. When you get too precious about every word that hits the page, you can’t work through projects, and you can’t keep improving.

But magical thinking doesn’t necessarily have to lead to precious thinking – I’d actually say that in the creative life, you have to find ways to maintain a strong dose of it if you want to thrive.

And in that sense, magical thinking can be practical magic.

Tune in to unpack how a magical mindset can help even Very Serious Writers do deep and liberating creative work.

_____

If your writing life feels more like a doom spiral than a drafting process... join the newsletter circle to access the Creative Rescue Kit, a set of three easy-to-implement tools to help you reclaim your creative path.

You’ll also receive monthly tips to put the pod into practice, delivered right to your inbox.

_____

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month, sort of in honor of Halloween and sort of just because, I want to share and explore a single phrase about writing that has been inspiring me lately:

Your characters are your ancestors.

And it’s not like there’s zero truth to that. When you get too precious about every word that hits the page, you can’t work through projects, and you can’t keep improving.

And in that sense, magical thinking can be practical magic.

Tune in to unpack how a magical mindset can help even Very Serious Writers do deep and liberating creative work.

_____

You’ll also receive monthly tips to put the pod into practice, delivered right to your inbox.

_____

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

21. The story is not the territory (Or, stories as maps)

Today’s pod is coming to you from the messy middle of something I’ve been mulling over for a long time. Something I don’t have a tagline for yet, but that still feels worth sharing, in all its in-process, still-forming glory.

If there’s anything I believe in, it’s the power and necessity of creative expression. But I’m going to be talking this month about the limitations of story – the ways that turning our life experiences into stories can maybe keep us from actually living what we experience.

One way to think about the role of storytelling is that stories are maps – ways of navigating the stuff of life. And as maps, stories are representations of something bigger and deeper than any single narrative can encompass.

Or, to borrow a commonly used phrase: The map is not the territory.

This feels pretty self-evident... until you realize how deeply story maps are ingrained into the way you think about how your life is supposed to happen, and what kind of meaning you’re supposed to make out of what happens.

This month, let’s get real about navigating with story maps (and when it might be time to get a bit lost instead).

_____

You’ll also receive monthly tips to put the pod into practice, delivered right to your inbox.

_____

Episode links:

Marisa Goudy, KnotWork Storytelling: A Story About Getting Unstoried | S5 Ep12

Feminist takes on the Hero’s Journey model

Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction”
The Heroine Journeys Project, a website that includes summaries of some of the major feminist responses to Joseph Campbell’s theory

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

23. The creativity of longing (Or, crafting hopeful stories)

I allude pretty clearly to my political leanings on the podcast, but I don’t generally structure entire episodes around specific political issues. And I do like for this to be a kind of quiet space where you can come to recollect your creative self, whatever’s going on in the world and in your life.

But I decided it wouldn’t feel genuine to not talk about the fallout of the US election this month. Because it’s certainly affected my creative practice, and I’d imagine that may be true for you as well.

I’ve realized that the practical aims of the election, and of politics as a whole, have had the effect of substituting a desired strategic outcome for what I actually desire in my life and in this world. Basically, I’ve lost touch with my longing.

And the most immediate and vital way I can reconnect with my longing in the daily way I live is to live creatively – to let my creative sensibility feed and shape the way I interact with others, and the actions I take.

Join me to explore a model of storytelling (from the mind of Ursula Le Guin) that’s been giving me hope and nurturing my creative longing... even when the strategic outlook isn’t so inspiring.

_____

You’ll also receive monthly tips to put the pod into practice, delivered right to your inbox.

_____

Episode links:

Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction”

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.