I’m truly curious about how many authors can claim psychic abilities. I’m going to be on a panel addressing this area and woke this morning wondering if I have to admit I have some psychic talent.
It’s like rattling my closet skeletons. I’m so nervous. People will think I’m weird. I’ll be pointed at on the street and have to move or change my name. Boy, am I going off on a tangent.
Writers are the most accepting people in the world. We understand what makes people different and value all the quirks. It all adds to the characters and plot we create.
I use psychic abilities to round out my characters, but it’s usually a secondary part of their personality. Annie knows her child is threatened. Rachel senses her twin’s feelings. That’s recorded and researched ability. Lily sees auras, but not on everyone or even when it will reveal the villain.
I don’t share those talents, but I do know how it feels to have that unexplainable episode occur. I am puzzled, even confused. For a minute I question why the people around me didn’t see or hear that ‘other’. I always have a lag time. My reality has to accept the unreality as real.
Confusing? Oh yes. I think my mother had a talent, too, but she died young and I didn’t know enough to ask. She always explained to me that it was all right. I remember once waking from a vivid dream of a recently deceased person who grabbed my arm. I had a finger pattern of bruises on my bicep. Mom said I was the only one she could reach and to pray for her soul. Scary now that I look back.
I have vivid dreams that sometimes do come true. I also dream my story before I start writing. Along with a few other things I didn’t mention.
Let me know what you think. Do you use psychic abilities is your stories? Do you have one?
Author Barbara Edwards is a featured panelist at the RTBookReview Conference in Columbus, Ohio April 28 – May 2, 2010
The panel is named PSYCHIC AWAKENINGS: Walk through the light of hope, healing
and love. How does psychic awareness develop characters, add layers to your story and provide that wonderful happily ever after?
PANELISTS: Barbara Edwards, Elysa Hendricks, Jade Lee, Melissa Lopez, Susanne Saville, Elissa Wilds
