(As long as my head’s still full of Novocain, I might as well just keep on writing.)
The girl in the boat is named Gurun. She originated as the central character in a dream I had one night. I made her a character in my books; and then cover artist Kirk DouPonce brought her to life. Almost alarmingly so! He painted her exactly as I saw her, first in a dream, then in my mind’s eye as I wrote about her. I don’t know how he does that.
People ask me how real the world of my fantasy novels is to me, its creator. “Unknowable” was wondering about that today. Well, Gurun seems real to me; and she was also real to Kirk.
I have to be able to “see” it and “hear” it as if it were a movie playing in my head; that if I don’t, I can’t write it. In that sense it’s real to me. While I’m writing it, I have to be, as it were, in the scene I’m writing about. As if I were standing there in person, watching and listening. I don’t imagine this comes to any writer except with many years of practice and literally by the grace of God: it is a gift of God, so I can’t brag about it. I’m grateful He has allowed me to do this!
I can hardly wait to see what ideas He’ll give me for the next book.
So yes, in a way, it is like really being there. I lose track of the time, once I really get going.
And then I close the legal pad and put down my pen, and I’m back in New Jersey.
I don’t mean to be tiresome with my references to music, but it’s the only point of reference I have in creative ventures. I have had songs come to me in dreams. In one case, I heard a song playing in my dream, woke and and recorded what I had heard and then went back to sleep. A few minor adjustments later and I had the verse(s) for a pretty decent song. Somehow, the verses were complete, unchangeable and absolutely as much a part of my consciousness as my name. Other songs I’ve written, in some cases nearly 40 years ago, are the same way.
The most recent song still lacked a chorus. I had sang a chorus into my cell-phone recorder a few weeks back, but something wasn’t quite right. This morning, my spirits were high and the original concept I had for the chorus came into my mind as solidly as if it were transcribed into notation. I sang that into my phone, but that was cheap insurance. It’s a permanent part of my consciousness at this point. I’ve never played it on an instrument, but I know that it works.
Any abilities of this nature that I possess are a reflection of my Creator’s glory. My songs are secular, but always positive and uplifting. I believe that music should be a positive force and that even serious music should reflect the dignity with which mankind has been created. Even when I play Rock n’ Roll, I play music that is fun and light hearted, and not the heavier sounds prominent in so much of the last fifty year’s music.
But I digress. My point is that somehow, creating works take on an identity of their own at some point and our creations stand on their own as being truly complete Once they reach that point, it’s almost as if they were real. From reading your words above, Lee, I have no doubt that we are talking about one and the same phenomena.
We’re kind of doing the same thing, but in different media (if that’s the right word). And we both harness dreams to our purpose.
I hope that’s not malarkey. My head still feels like someone bounced it down the stairs.
You’re both very talented and gifted of God. And the rest of us are blessed by it, at least in Lee’s case. Are we to find any of your music in any public forum, Unknowable?
Maybe you could use a chuckle, Lee, so here’s a bit more fantasy – I was not aware, until today, that there’s a waiting list for sainthood:
https://fellowshipoftheminds.com/2018/02/23/delusional-pope-francis-says-hes-on-waiting-list-to-be-a-saint/
This pope certainly has some unusual ideas.
What a hoser.
PS: Not public as in social media, since I don’t participate in any of them. I meant like ITunes, etc 🙂
Gurun is the queen who doesn’t think she should be a queen – the best kind of queen there is. I am so glad she made her appearance in Book Five because she will have a long story life. I am curious why she is older than King Ryons but i know the creator of this story will iron it all out.
Gee, I never saw that as a problem. They aren’t married: Ryons is much too young to marry anyone. People have drafted Gurun into being Queen; it’s not a legal title. At least, not yet.