Writing visionary fiction requires three simple steps: Have visionary experiences Learn to write Write about your visionary experiences. You may feel that this list oversimplifies an intuitive and cognitive discipline that plumbs the heights and depths of the soul. That’s true, but it’s a useful way of looking at the problem. 1. HAVE VISIONARY EXPERIENCES…
To read or review “Carl Jung and Visionary Fiction, Part 1, click HERE. “Universal in Worldview and Scope” The VFA characterizes Visionary Fiction as “universal in worldview and scope.” The Jungian visionary novel “is not concerned with the individual even when it is written about an individual,” Keyes says. “Exploring the individual experience is a…
Psychological Fiction versus Visionary Fiction It may come as a shock, or at least a revelation, to Visionary Fiction readers and writers that Carl Jung, the eminent Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology, defined Visionary Fiction and described it in detail in a lecture delivered in 1929, “Psychology and Literature,” included in the…
If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, what about ugliness? How do we define ugly? What repulses us? And why? In his latest novel, INNOCENCE, Dean Koontz shows us ugly. Little by little, step by step, he immerses us in ugly; until we are in ugly’s head. And then he holds up a…
Those of us who write visionary fiction oftentimes transcend alongside our characters. I’d like to share with you the most recent evolution within my life that I owe to Jessie’s Song. Little did I know that the protagonist’s journey to find himself in jazz would lead me on my own journey to rediscover my love…
What follows is a compilation of several posts Maria Barry made to the Visionary Fiction Group blog on Goodreads.com. She agreed to our reposting them, with a few editorial liberties, here on the VFA site. About Maria Barry I am a publisher/publicist, part of the UK based John Hunt Publishing Ltd. My background is mind,…
The Goodreads book giveaway will be going on until November 30th, 2014. Click here to enter. To paraphrase Mark Twain, everyone talks about climate change but no one does anything about it. No one, particularly those in power, wants to make the necessary sacrifices. For example, the US government refuses to comply with international environmental agreements. And…
How much does a spirit weigh? In 1901, after numerous experiments on people and animals, Dr. Duncan MacDougall determined that the human spirit weighed an average of 21 grams and that dogs didn’t have spirits. However, his results were considered false due to flawed methodology. All subsequent experiments using better methods and equipment have shown…
Too smart for ageless wisdom teachings? We don’t need wisdom teachings from the past to guide us on our journeys toward self-discovery, right? We have science. We have technological gadgets galore. We are so full of confidence, determination and eagerness to push forward that we hardly even read the instructions that come with our purchases and assignments anymore. As my granddaughter says when…
Summer has exhaled and faded. The nights are beginning to lengthen. Leaves burnish in shades of red, gold, and orange, and drop from the trees. The last of the harvest is gathered, and the remains of the crops are tilled back into the fields to nourish the soil for next year’s planting. Our lived life is…
I’ll handle this question in one sentence: There is no way to overcome radio stage fright. Every time I’m on the radio is the first time. Before every interview, I sit in front of my home altar, repeating my mantra so that my over-heated heart does not explode and squirt blood out of my ears….
Reading I don’t recall learning to read. Nor do I remember ever not reading. With two parents who read and wrote as regularly as they breathed, it was natural to follow suit. I grew up on an isolated farm without a radio or TV, so books were it for information and entertainment. But I was…
Clea and Visionary Fiction. This takes me back quite a few years. I bumped into a friend in Town — Simon. I’d just got out of my car on the way to the Post Office, when he called me and he asked if I’d done any more writing since we last met. I told him…
A Novelist’s Turning Point, Mid-Atlantic (Summer 1997) Even from the farthest reach of the dock on New York’s 53rd Street, the Queen Elizabeth 2 was too long to photograph. I couldn’t, with a wide-angle lens, get the whole ship into the frame at once. So I shot it by halves, the front and then the…
“Buen Camino!” These words offer wishes of good fortune to travelers of the Camino, or ‘The Way,’ – a pilgrimage on the Compostela de Santiago trail that runs from southern France through northern Spain. A friend from my writing critique group recently invited me to trek this 500 mile path with her. I was excited…
Just today, Sept 4, 2013, I received the following email from Monty Jones, author of the classic Visionary Fiction Booker series (Naked into the Night, Lost in Las Vegas, Dead Water Rights), and I want to share his generous offer on what may be the final edition of his printed works with members of…
August has been a rewarding month for Visionary Fiction, first with Jodine Turner winning Honorable Mention in the Global eBook Awards and now with my book, Jessie’s Song, taking home the bronze medal in the Readers’ Favorite Book Awards. May more VF authors win awards and bring recognition to this uplifting and thought provoking genre….
I didn’t choose to write visionary fiction; it chose me. This may sound strange to you and what I’m about to share even stranger, but I can think of no better way to explain how I ended up writing in a genre that parallels the new neural sciences and has yet to find a receptive audience. A word from…
We all like to be acknowledged for our talents, for our creativity, for our accomplishments. Writers are no different. We get input from our critique groups, our beta readers, our agents, editors, and publishers. But we especially appreciate the feedback and reviews received from readers. We love to know if our book touched them, helped…
Visionary fiction has always been my favorite genre, even before I knew it existed as a genre. This post is about who influenced me to write visionary fiction. It’s bound to cause some controversy. The drumroll please… The author whom I most identify with is Ayn Rand. “The secrets of this earth are not for…
The yellow lights came on, flashing furiously, at the blurb describing Perri Birney’s, PURE VISION, The Magdalene Revelation: stolen ancient artifact…dangerous journey…legendary treasures…clandestine pseudo-Masonic group.
Dreaming Worlds Awake is the newest book by VFA member Esme Ellis. This is a book that offers glimpses into the soul journey of the author. It could have gone the way of many memoir or Visionary Fiction books and been self-absorbed or pedantic. This does not happen in ‘Dreaming Worlds Awake’. Esme expresses her…
Charcoal smoke surged over me in a thick stream obscuring the stars, along with the events that forced me down onto this cold, hard sidewalk. I stared into the flames streaking out of the second-story window until my senses were hypnotized, and the searing pain from the bullet that pierced my abdomen disappeared. “Stardust” began…
Wow! That’s how I’ll start my review on this book. Philip Dick uses the vehicle of fiction to understand the meaning behind his spiritual experience. I have had a similar experience, and much of what is revealed in Valis runs parallel to what happened to me, which is why I personally resonated with the story….
I write visionary fiction. Unfortunately, mainstream agents and publishers do not recognize visionary fiction as a genre. In fact, they have dubbed it “the kiss of death” with the flat of their swords. In the past, visionary fiction was heavy on preaching and light on storytelling, so it deserved temporary banishment to the time-out corner. But…
Review by Pat Perrin This is a personal book, a narrative of experience that leads the reader through some very nice juxtapositions. In her introduction, the author says, “Of its own volition something began to take shape. Stories arose, dreams came, a poem or two, a letter here and there.” And that is what the…