22. Magical thinking for practical writers

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.

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Writing praxis tips

As promised in the episode, here are two ways to bring an ancestral view of your characters into your current practice. First up is the practical tip, and then the magical one.

• This hands-on writing prompt will help uncover deeper connections with your characters, revealing aspects of common ground that might not have surfaced yet in your drafting.
  
  (And remember, you can take the idea of “characters” loosely, if that makes sense for your genre; maybe your character is a setting, for example.)
  
  
  • First, jot out some notes and impressions about this character’s life story or backstory—the kind of semi-official account they’d give of themselves. If you’ve done backstory brainstorming already while working with this character, take at least a couple minutes to run through it again and see if anything new emerges.
    
  • Next, imagine that this character is sharing an unexpected secret with you, something they’d never include in that official account of their life. What’s their secret story? And what does it reveal about the official one?
    
  • Consider the full picture you’re unearthing about this character. Which aspects are resonant for you? Where do you feel related to this character, like you’re growing from common ground (even if you don’t experience it the same way)?
    
  • Why did this character think you would want or need to hear their secret story?
    
    
• A common ritual practice for the season of All Souls, and for ancestor veneration in general, is to prepare a dumb supper.
  
  (Yeah, the name’s not the best—it means “silent” in this context, and it predates the problematic modern associations with the word. I wanted to use it so you can successfully google if you want to learn more about the history of the practice.)
  
  In many traditions, the living prepare a special meal to share with their beloved dead, consisting of foods that are appropriate either for the ancestors in general or for specific loved ones. A place is set at the table for the dead, and the meal is shared with them in silence.
  
  If the idea of spending some ritual time with your characters appeals, you can create your own version of an ancestor supper. Think about foods that might be polite to offer, and then see what ideas emerge as you prepare this food and share it with your character (or characters).
  
  Actually cooking something can be powerful if that’s your thing, but it’s not at all required, so try not to let that element become a distraction. Focus more on figuring out what mood and presentation feels right, and then focus on the experience of eating in ceremony with your character.
  
  And of course, jot down or record what emerges, both immediately after (or during) the supper and in the days that follow.