Hi
So I’ve finished the first draft of my ghost story novel. But I don’t want to talk about that so much as something odd that has happened in the last few of days of writing it.
To put this in perspective I need to tell you a bit about the novel. It is a story of a ghost, or possibly of necromancy, or possibly of shared madness. Its title, importantly, is “The Circles“. The circles in this context are levels of consciousness, the web of energy through which life passes to death and possibly back again to new life. The occultist in the novel talks a lot about the concept – it is central to his beliefs and his aims.
He also talks a lot about coincidence and synchronicity, which raises the question of where the first leads to the second, or where the second may be mistaken for the first. In the last third of the novel he makes the comment that the synchronicities in his life are increasing and that this always happens when something important is occurring from a broader, spiritual sense.
So, I’m busy writing that theme and near the end of the book and I take a break (for my aging back’s sake) to watch the latest Jonathan Creek episode I’d taped from the ABC a couple of nights before. Imagine my surprise when a central part of that is a text message saying “remember the year of the Circles”.
Still, one instance is probably a coincidence.
A couple of days later I’m reading through some of my favourite blogs and I come across a poem ( at: http://bashoandjung.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/1-8-14-dream-haiku-what-the-hell-wednesday/ ) that refers to gravity making everyone run ‘in circles’.
Hhhmm, I thought. Interesting.
Then, on a slightly different but related theme, I get my copy of S.K Nicholls wonderful book ‘Red Clay and Roses’ in the mail (which I am currently reading and it is a delight, I highly recommend it!! – the all important link is at: http://redclayandroses1.wordpress.com/redclayandrose/ ). And in my novel there is a psychiatrist that my narrator calls ‘the good doctor’. In ‘Red Clay and Roses’ a key character, as I discover, is also called ‘The Good Doctor’.
Common enough term I suppose, but still, seeing it so soon after using the term in my writing was intriguing.
Then this morning I was reading Skye’s wonderful photography blog and find this post: http://ohthethingsweshallsee.com/2014/01/10/have-you-always-had-that-circle-spinning-around-on-your-forehead/ which talks about the ‘circles’ we get when computers run slow.
So, how many does it take to move from coincidence to synchronicity? Well, probably depends on what you believe about the world and how you see it, which also happens to be a major theme of the novel I just drafted.
So it got me thinking how strange the creative process can be. There’s a phenomenon I’ve read about called morphic resonance, where people simultaneously across the world come up with the same new, inventive idea, without any actual connection between them. I guess synchronicity works a bit like that.
So it really makes you wonder….. (cue Led Zeppelin Stairway music, LOL) – so I thought I’d ask my fellow writers – have any of you had strange connections and synchronicities, or anything else a bit spooky, while you wrote?
Cheers
Helen V
helenvalentina 