Engineering the Paranormal - Guest Post!
- J.H. Jones
- Oct 30
- 4 min read
Feedback can present writers with both challenges and opportunities. This post by NICHELLE SEELY about A VISION OF VIOLENCE, her second book in her Audrey Lake investigation series, puts the spotlight on how she used feedback to open a creative door. She tapped the insight of a writing group buddy to enrich her main character, demonstrating her commitment to the integrity of her story as well as the sensibilities of her readers. You can learn more about her writing on her web site, www.nichelleseely.com and follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
When I started workshopping the second book in my Audrey Lake Investigations series, A Vision of Violence, I had just joined a new critique group. I knew one of the writers, having been with her in another group that had dissolved, but I didn’t know the others. I trusted my friend not to steer me wrong, but still felt some anxiety.
Every reader brings their own lens to the story, their likes and dislikes, their personal experiences and beliefs. With writers, they bring their knowledge of craft and incisive opinions about content and process. I was nervous to bring my rough draft chapters to these strangers, to hear it read aloud by another person, and then be open and vulnerable to their comments.
My new group proved to be insightful and thoughtful in their critique. But there was one issue. One of the members (I’ll call him George), was an engineer, and did not resonate with my story. He did not believe in anything that couldn’t be explained by science. A hint of the paranormal pulled him right out of the story, and he became the skeptical inquirer.
Let me be clear. My novels don’t have vampires, ghosts, demons, magic, or any other typical aspect of the paranormal. But they do feature a reluctant, emotionally damaged psychic for a protagonist. And when Audrey Lake’s often-misfiring ability manifested in the narrative, George’s pointed skepticism made me uncomfortable, and I found myself resisting his critique. I didn’t know him well enough to know how much weight I should give to his objections.
But at the same time, I worried that some readers might have similar reactions. Would the psychic aspect turn them away? Reading fiction is akin to sharing an author’s imaginary dream, and requires the acceptance of the premise to fully immerse oneself in the story. When that acceptance is broken, it pulls the reader out of the dream. How could I engage a reader who felt my premise was hooey from the get-go?
Rather than change the premise, I decided to face this possibility head-on. To mirror a reader’s possible doubt, I made my private investigator protagonist skeptical of her own ability, and suspicious of anyone who claims to have psychic powers. She adamantly disbelieves in ghosts. She insists on attributing her visions to her PTSD rather than a newly-awakened mental sensitivity (and to make things more complicated, she does sometimes hallucinate, as well as manifesting other symptoms from her past trauma).
In addition, I posited an explanation, one I had come across while researching for the first novel: the stone tape theory. Simply put, when conditions are optimal, the theory posits that an event can be recorded into the environment like a hologram. The greater the emotional energy of the event, the more likely it is to be recorded, and sensitive individuals can tap into this energy and ‘see’ what happened. I wrote a scene where a paranormal investigator explains this to my skeptical detective, and because Audrey does have this extra sense, she must believe, however reluctantly.
When George read this scene, he said something along the lines of “Oh. That seems at least semi-plausible. Okay, I’ll go along with it.”
Cue the happy dance. I had succeeded in enabling a reluctant reader’s suspension of disbelief, and in the process I deepened my character and added another layer to the narrative, resulting in a better book. And I learned not to resist difficult feedback, but to find a creative way to address a reader issue.
I’ve been in this group for a couple of years now, and I have learned to value George’s input, precisely because he has a different way of looking at things than I. His ability to seize on niggling details (or the lack thereof), while sometimes frustrating, has made my writing better. I hope I have helped him in the same way.
Nichelle Seely (she, her) is a writer and an Author Accelerator-certified book coach and developmental editor. She is the author of the Audrey Lake Investigations series as well as multiple serial fiction titles in various genres. As a coach and editor, she is passionate about helping writers of genre fiction and memoir find their voices and get their books into the world. She has a BA in English and attends conferences and workshops to enhance her craft and industry knowledge. Nichelle lives in Colorado with her web designer husband and thousands of books. For information about her coaching and editing services, please visit https://plotandpen.com. To find out more about her books, go to https://nichelleseely.com.
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