Egseth’s style is suitably simple for an adolescent narrator, yet subtle enough to capture the nuances of one awakening to the spark of the divine within all things
Editing is deconstruction and reduction; it’s creation by negation. It’s a completely different skill from the invention of story. Yet the modern author is expected to be their own editor. We must pick apart what we have spent months painstakingly assembling and say…no, never mind—not this, not that, this sentence is good, that one is…
The book blurb is also known as the description. It is the key to maximizing potential sales of your book. In the past, perusing book stores to discover the latest and greatest book to add to your collection was an experience unto itself. The atmosphere. The exploring. The smells. The displays. We’d pick up a…
The Goodreads Lists feature is a great way to raise awareness of your books among readers they will appeal to. Let’s say you’ve written a visionary science-fiction novel with a strong female lead character. Readers who’ve enjoyed other sci-fi or visionary novels with a memorable female lead are more likely than the average reader to…
Promoting your book is a form of marketing called “content marketing.” In other words, you really aren’t selling a product, you are selling a feeling, an experience, you are creating content, not potato chips nor adult diapers. The key here is to think … “Where else can I put my content?” Here are a few…
If writing and publishing our books is one of the most exciting things we do; then getting them sold is frequently the most challenging. We’ve spent months toiling over words, plot, and character; fixing pacing problems and plot conundrums. Then we, have a great cover designed and a gorgeous interior layout. We get out books…
It is said that to sit at the feet of the master is to walk across heaven. Writing visionary fiction comes with its own wonder-filled process. (Because my own visionary works are most familiar to me, I will draw my examples from them.) Recently, an interviewer asked if I had a favorite character in my…
By Mary Mackey. Revisited guest post from 10/10/16. Your unconscious is packed with ideas, metaphors, visions, plots, dreams, colors, characters, emotions—in short, everything you need to write a great visionary novel. But how do you get to it? How do you step out of the social agreement we call “reality,” and dip into this incredibly…
While pondering a visionary approach to story structure, I realized that what helped me the most as a writer was becoming aware of the archetypal pattern of storytelling. I call it the Circled Cross. This system is based on the ever-changing cycles in nature where story is no exception. Finding this beneficial, I felt inspired…
This is the second and final part of this two-part article. For the first part, click here. In May 2017, my cousin—a now-retired former chief editor for Reader’s Digest—coached me toward a wonderful self-publishing service offered by Amazon.com called CreateSpace. By the end of the year all three novels of the Osiris Plan trilogy were…
My name is Drew Fisher. I came to planet Earth, this time, in 1958, the last year of the “post war baby boom.” This was the year of Barbie, the hula hoop, the first US satellite launches and the formation of NASA, the post-Korean War recession, the Lituya Bay (SE Alaska) mega-tsunami, the first nuclear…
(Editor’s note – Oftentimes our stories are culled from our life experiences – painful, joyful, mystical, paranormal – and forged into Visionary Fiction. Author Rea Nolan Martin tells her tale of how such an experience shaped her newest novel.) The story behind The Anesthesia Game is very close to my heart. The fifteen-year-old protagonist, Sydney,…
Women’s Visionary Fiction is not a new type of Visionary Fiction. It has been around for decades if not centuries. In fact, for all of recorded history (and thousands of years before writing existed) women have been associated with visions, mystical experiences, spiritual powers, magic, the ability to bring new life into the world, heal…
This summer I saw Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario. Teiresias was in drag, the Chorus intoned like gospel churchgoers, and the blind Oedipus appeared in the nude (an email warned us ahead of time). Despite the wonderful theatricality, I was put in mind how powerful the Oedipus myth is, with…
(Read Part 1 of Rory Mackey’s The Visionary Fiction Revolution here)We tell stories for a reason Mythology, which is storytelling at its most essential level, was not purposeless. It played an important role in shaping and sustaining society and, according to Campbell, had four primary functions. The first was to open the eyes of the…
It’s estimated that nearly 130 million books have been published in modern history. 28 million books are currently in print in English alone. When contemplating writing a book, I can’t help but reflect on these staggering statistics, as indeed I think all authors should. Does the world really need another book to add to those…
Editor’s note: One of our Visionary Fiction Alliance founding members, Margaret Duarte, wrote a review of Rea Martin Nolan’s latest book, Mystic Tea. You can read the review here. We were so pleased with how Rea represented Visionary Fiction that we asked her to share her perspective on what is important in writing Visionary Fiction, and…
Guest Post by Alissa Lukara The Transformational Writers website, like the Visional Fiction Alliance, arose out of my calling to provide a place of support and exploration for writers who aim to explore the evolution of consciousness, alternative realities and write stories that make a positive difference. I wanted to create a haven for visionary…
Guest Post by author Leonide Martin Authors of Visionary Fiction encounter a special challenge when their stories take place in historical settings. Each historic period shapes its cultures through a combination of forces, from evolution to technology and climate. Within cultures, the unique chronicle of events, resources, worldview, and spirituality become defining forces. When cultures…
Harold Ramis: A Comedic Visionary Crosses Over.