by Ane Mulligan  @AneMulligan

I had planned to write a post about Christmas traditions, but then I commented on a Georgia Writer’s blog, and that changed what I wanted to say here. The post was about not getting stressed over NaNoWriMo, just write.

I realized my favorite part of writing is the discovery stage when I just write my main characters’ backstory. That is an exercise in turning your imagination loose. You’re not writing a story. There’s no plot. No character arch. Nothing but imagination and a blank screen.

Your character will know if you are listening to them or manipulating them. If you listen, soon they will start to reveal their secrets. It’s almost a spiritual moment of creation. Except in my case, God is whispering to my heart. My heart whispers back, stimulating my imagination.

I almost titled this “Are Writers Certifiable?”

Creatives have vivid and active imaginations—mine is hyperactive. Our imaginations allow us to do what we do. And the only way to explain our brains is that they don’t work like the non-creative.

I spoke at a book club one night. I had just finished saying one of my characters refused to go any further if I didn’t change her name. One woman looked at me like I’d suddenly sprouted another head and said, “I don’t understand how the mind of an author works.”

How do you answer that? Is it a matter of our minds or our hearts? Where do our imaginations begin? Physically, I suppose it’s in the brain, but Karen Ball once said something that resonated within me: “God whispers to our hearts, and our hearts whisper back in stories.”

I know that I don’t “think” as I write. The words flow; not always, mind you, but when I’m in the zone, they flow from somewhere. You, who are reading this, are most likely writers, so you understand what I’m saying.

Try telling a non-creative that process, and they think you’re crazy—certifiable.

So, join the conversation. How do YOU explain how your mind works?

Ane Mulligan lives life from a director’s chair, both in theatre and at her desk, creating novels. Entranced with story by age three, at five, she saw PETER PAN onstage and was struck with a fever from which she never recovered—stage fever. One day, her passions collided, and an award-winning, bestselling novelist emerged. She believes chocolate and coffee are two of the four major food groups and lives in Sugar Hill, GA, with her artist husband and a rascally Rottweiler. Find Ane on her website, Amazon Author page, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, The Write Conversation, and Blue Ridge Conference Blog.