Category Archives: Feature

The Flow of Life, the Flow of Story Structure

  By Eleni | September 25, 2013 - 07:49 | , , , ,
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Before I begin this post, I’d like to announce that I’ll soon be releasing the 2nd edition of Unison that will include a lexicon, cast sheet and behind the scenes look at what inspired me to write this novel.

Life has been very busy as of late. In addition to my writing, I homeschool and have become a soccer mom, girl scout mom and dance class mom. All the running around stressed me out a little, and I grounded myself with mindful awareness meditation. Little did I know that I was about to enter the ordeal stage of the hero’s journey when I was reminded how there are people who will attack you for reasons you may never know. It happened three times in one week! I didn’t respond to these people as I didn’t want to be pulled into their drama, which is what they subconsciously crave. Instead, I offered the individuals who challenged me love and kindness. I meditated until I felt it sincerely in my heart. By not reacting to the negativity, I uncover  lessons I need to learn, and I emerge stronger and more resolute that I’m on the right path. It never ceases to amaze me how negative people can help us grow positively! To quote the message my Higher Self sent me while meditating:

“It’s not about being right or wrong.  It’s all about the experience.”

That one little message from my meditation has saved me so many times and continues to help me grow. It’s the only way to live a happy and fulfilling life. It’s also something I teach my children. There will always be nasty and vindictive people in the world, and you’ll come out on top if you handle it with grace. You do that by continuing to do what you’re doing. If you’re on the right path, no one can knock you off of it, even with a mack truck!

Now on to the writing stuff!

Throughout these last few difficult weeks, I continued with my editing of The Sixth, which is the second book in the Spheral Series.  As with all my other novels, I plotted it using the hero’s journey and then fine tuned it with Dramatica, which helps me to detect plot holes, even before I begin writing.  The main reason I appreciate Dramatica is it presents the story as a grand argument. It taps into my inner-geek. I find that the emotional hero’s journey, and the intellectual Dramatica have almost a yin-yang quality when used together.  Interestingly, I was focusing on the ordeal stage of the hero’s journey for my story. Talk about synchronicity!

When Art Imitates Life

The ordeal is the eighth plot point in the hero’s journey. Ideally, it should fall at the halfway point of a novel. For some reason, which I’ve yet to figure out, this plot point always gives me the most trouble and is typically the last one to come together for me. And it usually does so when I edit. As I’m an organic writer, I don’t like to force a scene. I know that it will come to me when it’s ready to reveal itself. I was also reserved to the possibility that this story might not need a physical life/death ordeal. I had accomplished that symbolically and emotionally. In Unison, the shift was similar. My protagonist’s old way of thinking was forced out by a revelation that revealed a hidden aspect of himself. However, The Sixth is more of a straight-forward adventure. My intuition told me I needed a more active scene.

Before I went to bed, I’d asked for an ordeal scene to come to me.  I knew where it would most likely happen and envisioned the scene as I’d written it. Moments later, it expanded and played out before me, without words. (Verbal cues typically come to me in the morning, when I’m first waking up).  The next morning I wrote the scene while I sipped my morning Starbucks coffee. I’ll just state here that Stephen King was spot on when he said that if you have a great scene, you don’t have to write it down because you won’t forget it. Phrases are entirely different. I write them down as soon as they come to me.

I was a truly happy writer after I’d completed the scene. It added more intensity, deepened the characterization and foreshadowed the return of the elixir, the last plot point, in part three.

The best stories have constant motion. They keep moving even during lulls, and the goal should always be obvious, even when it isn’t outwardly mentioned. My writer’s intuition has strengthened to the point where I can tell when something is missing. Understanding structure keeps me from having to do many rewrites and gives me the confidence to know my story works before I write the first draft.

Love and light,

Eleni

Jessie’s Song Awarded Bronze Medal

  By Eleni | September 2, 2013 - 13:36 | ,
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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. My hope is that more visionary fiction authors win awards and bring recognition to this uplifting and thought provoking genre.

I’m pleased that Jessie’s Song has been well received, and my hope is for Unison to meet with similar success. I’m blessed to have found a career that makes me feel complete and is part of my spiritual practice. The biggest reward is that my win helps demonstrate to my daughters the value of hard work. They’re witnesses to the many hours I spend plotting and writing my books. It’s important that I practice what I preach in order for them to see that hard work pays off. It really does!

Love and light,

Eleni

On My Own Hero’s Journey

  By Eleni | August 29, 2013 - 07:31 | , ,
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It’s been a tough month for me as a writer.  I don’t need to get into the details here, but what I will say is that my psychological resolve has been tested, and I’ve come out of it stronger. As usual, mindful awareness meditation saved me.

I’m currently plotting my new novel, The True Vanessa and editing The Sixth, the second book of The Spheral Series. I’ll also be re-releasing Unison sometime in September. It’s going through another edit. There’s nothing wrong with the book. There aren’t any typos, structural problems or anything that would come back and embarrass me. I felt it needed a formal edit to make it the best it could be. And since I’m working on the second book, I see the potential for this series to turn into something big.

I’ve been asked which of my books is my favorite. After two published books, five first drafts and two screenplays that I’ll be turning into novels, I view Unison as my Magnus Opus. It’s the most involved story I’ve ever written, and I still can’t believe I’m its author. I didn’t think I was good enough to pull it off when it unexpectedly blew up into an epic. I had to make charts, graphs, create new worlds and cultures and come up with a scientific concept that connected to my visions. It took lots of research for me to explain it clearly. And even after that, I thought it was too crazy of a concept to present to readers. Being that I was always on the eccentric side, I continued on.

Getting the book to publication took almost everything out of me. I wondered if it was worth all the energy—and money—that I was investing in it. Upon completion, I knew that it was. The characters and story won me over. And now that I’m editing the second book in the series, I’m even more determined. The characters feel so real to me.

Damon, the protagonist, stands for a personal ideal I’m continuously striving for. He’s my hero, epitomizing the power and meaning behind the hero’s journey. Becoming Damon was my own call to adventure, his challenges forced me to jump out of the proverbial box. Each time I wanted to jump back in, he’d throw me another challenge to keep me going. When I felt like giving up, I’d take a day off to rest. A new scene would then come to me, and I’d rush over to my computer to get it down.

I’ve grown both spiritually and as a writer. I learned that the story isn’t about me. It’s about the characters and their journeys as presented to me. It’s about letting go and allowing them to develop organically. I heard a Stephen King interview yesterday where he discussed how he created his characters. He allows them to develop on their own. Although I’m a plotter, it works the same way for me. Inspiration comes from the same place, irrespective of one’s writing style. In Unison, Sephroy, the dingy innkeeper with rotting teeth, was supposed to be a minor character. He now has a starring role because I let him speak for himself. I’ll never forget the day it happened. I jumped out of my chair in disbelief. Sephroy will speak even more in the second book as he shares the narration with Damon and Flora.

A major lesson I’ve learned through all of my writing experiences is that writing to the best of my ability requires faith. It requires that I humble myself and  surrender to inspiration. I  trust that it will give me a better story than anything I can come up with. It always has in the past, which is why I have faith that it will continue to do so.

Interview at The Bookcast

  By Eleni | July 17, 2013 - 12:13 | , ,
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I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Bill Thompson over at The Bookcast.  He really is as friendly as he sounds, and he made my first author interview an enjoyable experience. I appreciate how Bill mentioned visionary fiction during the interview and how he also included the genre in the listing. The introduction music he read the synopsis over was very atmospheric. It has a Greek/Arabic goth rock flavor, something Markos would’ve been influenced by during his time spent hanging out at the Limelight. And the same goes for me!

To listen to the interview, click here.

What Bill Thompson is doing with The Bookcast is beneficial for indie authors.  To show your support, please take the time to listen to some of the other interviews on the site and check back often.

Love and light,

Eleni

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Jessie's Song by Eleni Papanou

Jessie’s Song

by Eleni Papanou

Giveaway ends August 01, 2013.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

 

Creatives Next on the Pop Psychology Hit List

  By Eleni | July 12, 2013 - 08:23 | ,
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The war against the individual is moving forward at full speed, and the creatives are next on the list of being targeted for having a mental deficit. As a creative, I see this as dangerous. Equating creative people as having any kind of deficit is the first step to inventing a new mental illness.

A study was conducted on creatives who were put through a series of tests. The creatives scored lower at identifying a large letter that was composed of   smaller ones that were  of a different letter. Creatives were deemed as having a deficit because there was no difference in the way both creatives and non-creatives shifted their focus from tree to forest level focus. The test doesn’t demonstrate any deficit. All it shows is that we’re all different in how we act and perceive things. Technically, the way I see it is that either letter answered would be correct as both are present. I can clearly now see why being  a big picture thinker made it harder for me to take tests at school. I saw too many variables at getting to the answer. This is a major reason why outlining and plotting is so important to me as a writer. I’d be all over the place without them!

I hyper-focus, easily missing things that are happening around me when I’m writing, including a very loud hurricane alarm! This actually happened during the last tsunami warning when I lived in Oahu. I heard it in the back of my mind. I knew what it was, but I didn’t process the information. The next morning, I told my family about it, and I was concerned as to how shut off I was from the outside world. After some reflection, I concluded that on a sub-conscious level, I must’ve known we weren’t in any immediate danger as we lived in an area that was not in the evacuation zone. Not that I trust human calculations and planning when it comes to surviving a natural catastrophe, but that’s a whole other topic, so I’ll end my digression here.

Just how intense is my hyper-focus? My husband told me when I work, I remind him of his autistic friend. Interestingly, the article states something similar by mentioning ADHD and autism.

“The general idea is that [people with ADHD] are not able to focus on anything. But really there are two different parts of the disorder, and one is that if they really get interested in something, they become almost like autistic people: really focused, so much so that they are not able to practice anything else.” 

I find it revealing that they’d mention ADHD and Autism in an article about creatives who supposedly have a mental deficit. The article also states that creatives achieve success by “stubbornly clinging to ideas.”

“The research may help explain why autistic people, who tend to focus obsessively, can often be highly creative. Paradoxically, it may also help explain the link between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and creative success.” Maia Szalavitz (from the linked article)

Apparently having drive and focusing on something until you find success is now a stubborn trait and a mental deficit. If that’s the case, I say, stubborn is great—which I did happen to tell my daughters a while back. I told them that if you’re going to be stubborn, be stubborn where it counts. Be stubborn when it comes to your art and to your interests because that’s what it will take to produce your best work.

From Quirky to ADHD

Before I even clicked on the article, I had a strong suspicion that ADHD was going to be mentioned. There was a book I read that was first printed in the seventies, The Career Guide for Creative and Unconventional People. Most of the ADHD traits were listed in there:

“Again and Again, the findings from psychological and vocational studies indicate interests in art, music and literature are associated with more neurotic problems.” Carol Eikleberry

If you’d like to read the review I wrote for the book at Amazon way back in 2007, click here. Flash forward to 2013, and we find the article like the one I linked to above. What does all this say about ADHD? Personally, I don’t believe it’s a disease. I’m not here to start a war against those who think it’s real. That’s my personal opinion, and as a person that would’ve been drugged to the max had I grown up at this time, I can state it with authority. I just choose not to label myself as having a mental deficit as I don’t feel that I have one. I prefer to say I have an over-abundance of creative energy, and when I’m not spending it, I certainly exhibit neurotic characteristics. I was also diagnosed with borderline personality disorder in my teens, and that’s another label I ignore now.

ADHD Characters in My Writing

In my stories, I champion the ADHD personality-type. My protagonist in Jessie’s Song deals with his creative energy through music. In Six Pack, which will be released in 2015, my protagonist, finds her focus through bodybuilding. That particular book is semi-autobiographical, and I hope that it will inspire women to nurture their own quirkiness. I struggled to fit in most of my life, but now I appreciate my quirkiness. I told my landlord that when I was a child, I felt like a freak. As an adult, I’m glad to exist outside of the fringe of perceived normality.No. I’m not “normal,” and I say that with pride. We’re all different, and that’s something to celebrate.

Love and light,

Eleni

Twist of Fate – Charity Anthology Published

  By Eleni | July 1, 2013 - 08:37 | ,
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I’d like to mention a very special anthology I was a part of. The proceeds from Twist of Fate will go to help the victims of the destruction caused by the tornadoes in Oklahoma. Get your copy here.

From the back cover:

“Representing the Indies In Action group, 60 authors have combined to contribute 78 different writings in a charity anthology to help tornado victims in Oklahoma. The authors represent people from all around the globe. Nine countries are represented, and several of the contributors actually live in or have lived in “Tornado Alley.” It is a grassroots, group effort to help those who need it the most. The writing and photos mix to create an experience you will want to share.”

Spirituality, Madness and Valis

  By Eleni | June 19, 2013 - 09:11 | , ,
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I became intrigued by Philip K. Dick after hearing Dr. Jeff Kripal discuss his book Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal. It inspired a post and my fascination with finding other creatives who’ve had mystical experiences. I recently completed reading Philip K. Dick’s book, Valis, a semi-autobiographical account of his own spiritual experience. Dick’s terminology is different, but our experiences were similar. While reading the book, I felt as if  I were having a conversation with someone who understood me.

In Valis, we follow Horselover Fat, Dick’s alter ego that he calls his theophany. He describes it as being struck by a pink beam of light that downloaded information into his brain. He came to the realization that the entirety of the universe is, in essence, information. Afterward, he experiences a precognitive awareness about his son being sick, and it turns out to be true. PKD spends most of the book attempting to figure out the meaning of what had happened to him. Further complicating matters is that he has difficulty comprehending why he can save his son but can do nothing to save a friend who has terminal cancer. During his quest towards enlightenment, friends view him as having gone mad.

Spiritual insights pepper the story and flow through both the narration and entries in Horselover Fat’s exegesis. PDK’s use of both first and third-person narrative gives the narrator distance, allowing a more objective view about his spiritual experience. The inner dialogue between the two voices creates a Socratic feel, an odyssey about self-inquiry that forces out questions about previously held beliefs.

Birds of a Feather

Like Philip K. Dick, I spent years trying to understand what had happened to me. At times, I felt as though I were going crazy. After my kundalini awakening, a psychological torrent of fears and past hurts flooded my consciousness, forcing me to deal with them. I had to eventually accept that everything I held as truth my whole life was a myth. I then wondered what the point of life was.

Here are some of the questions I asked:

What does it mean? 

Was it God?

What is God? 

Are we living in a live organism?

Am I plugged into a giant hologram?

Is what I see every day reality?

Is this part of some clandestine psychological operation?

I had my kundalini awakening when I was thirty. I’m now forty-six. I haven’t answered any of the above questions with any certainty. This self-inquiry eventually led me to becoming a spiritual agnostic. Getting caught up in trying to find absolute answers to questions can drive you insane if you let it!

At first, Philip K. Dick believed that what had happened to him resulted from medication he’d taken for an impacted wisdom tooth. However, when his visions persisted, he knew the explanation was implausible. I don’t take drugs, and my experience happened while I was meditating, so I knew my experience wasn’t a reaction to any drug!

“I experienced an invasion of my mind by a transcendentally rational mind, as if I had been insane all my life and suddenly I had become sane.” Philip K. Dick

Looking back, it seems as though I’d lived my first thirty years in a delusional state. I now have clarity of mind, something I never had before as I suffered from clinical depression and a host of other psychological disturbances. Today, I’m no longer depressed and those other conditions that have plagued me have also faded. Meditation keeps me in balance.

“Alike and equal are not the same thing, you have to find your own beat.” Meg from Wrinkle In Time

I would’ve either been dead or on antidepressants if it weren’t for seeing the proverbial light. So dealing with a little madness along the way to spiritual recovery was worth it!

“Many claim to speak for god, but there is only one god and that god is man himself.” Phillip K. Dick

We can all connect to a greater reality without a guru to assist us. U.G. Krishnamurti made similar statements, which is why he referred to himself as an anti-guru. Through my own journey, I’ve reached a similar state of mind and don’t follow any gurus or religion.

“You are the authority.” Philip K. Dick

Being a skeptic is actually the safest way to experience life as I’m not easily led astray or manipulated. I emerged as a stronger person from my experience and that’s one statement I can make absolutely.

Love and light,

Eleni

Jessie’s Song is Ready to Go Live and Gets 5 Stars!

  By Eleni | June 5, 2013 - 09:37 | , , , ,
4 Comments

Before I begin the post, I wanted to mention that Unison has been reviewed by Fiction For A New Age.  You can read the review here.

As of this week, I’ve completed the final proof of Jessie’s Song, and I’m happy to announce that it will be published on June 20th in eBook format at Amazon. The paperback version will be released in the fall. If you’d like to read the first chapter, you can do so here. I had so much fun working with the protagonist, Markos Adams, that I decided to start a new series with him. I ended up deleting the prologue and epilogue, which I liked immensely. Nevertheless, I’m truly excited to keep Markos’s story going. I’ve already started to plot out the next book.

Jessie’s Song is completely different in setting and tone than Unison. It’s still visionary fiction but told with an urban fantasy flavor. My lead characters always tend to interact with some humor and with urban fantasy, it felt organic to the storytelling style.

The protagonist, Markos Adams, is a Greek-American jazz guitarist and poet who also happens to make a killer baklava. I had fun using my culture in this book, particularly with coffee ground reading. I’ve also included some of Markos’s poetry at the end of the book, some of which has his sense of humor and some that also depict his love for his ex-wife and first love. It was a surreal experience to write love poetry from a male perspective, but we women know what we’d love to hear written about us in a poem! One of the poems from the book is here, and it’s going to be part of a charity anthology, Twist of Fate, to benefit the victims of the tornados that recently ravaged Oklahoma. As soon as the book becomes available, I’ll post the information on where to purchase the book. Being a part of the project inspired me to write more poems, and I plan on releasing a poetry book in the future.

Jessie’s Song Gets 5 Stars!

When I woke up this morning, I got my first review back from Jessie’s Song. It’s always great to get a glowing review before publishing.

Markos Adams, a well-known Jazz musician, has just committed yet another suicide attempt and it is all over the news. A year later, he is back on stage while struggling to shape up, trying to straighten out his life. Through his ordeals to keep his sanity, he spends time with his daughter Jessie, and still loves his ex-wife Stella, although they are no longer together. A day after his return to the spotlight, his daughter is abducted and things go out of hand. He must determine the identity of his daughter’s kidnapper; otherwise he feels he must kill himself and he must do so within the next twenty-four hours. Will this finally be Markos’s last day on earth, and will he face death without seeing his daughter?

“Jessie’s Song” is a wonderfully crafted mystery novel that explores themes of life, love, art, sanity and death, in rather unusual ways. When reading the book, it is as if various items were neatly packed in a box for us to enjoy unraveling and perusing piece by piece. Many portions of the book give us insights into art, what with the author also being a songwriter, among others. Fast-paced and action-packed, it is a most uncommon, yet exciting case of abduction to read about, written with thrilling passages and sequences. Moreover, the love that Markos shares with his daughter, and the strong emotions he still holds for his wife are absolutely heart-wrenching, especially as Markos struggles with his possibly impending death to save his daughter. “Jessie’s Song” is definitely worth keeping in one’s collection. I really enjoyed reading this book! – Maria Beltran  of Reader’s Favorite

Neuron Symphony

  By Eleni | May 30, 2013 - 08:38 | ,
2 Comments

 

Each night I play inside my dream.

I wake up somewhere in midstream.

I hear the music calling me.

Performed by a neuron symphony.

 

The ground is pulled from under my feet.

I land on a familiar city street.

A mystic realm where spirits roam free.

Performed by a neuron symphony.

 

Familiar faces shadow each day.

The remnants of a past today.

No hiding from this ghostly spree.

Performed by a neuron symphony.

 

Existing somewhere between two scenes.

My past projected on multiple screens.

Ending with a reborn version of me.

Performed by a neuron symphony.

 

©2013 Eleni Papanou

 

Spiritual Objectivism Series – Part 1

  By Eleni | May 9, 2013 - 07:10 | , , ,
4 Comments

When I found visionary fiction, I felt as if I had come home. My stories fit the genre perfectly. Nevertheless, it encompasses many sub-genres. For a robust discussion on visionary fiction, please click here. It demonstrates the dynamics of the genre and the challenges it faces.

Unison, Book One of the Spheral Series, is science fiction in tone and style, but I wanted to see if I could narrow it down even more, so I could connect to the type of readers who would appreciate my book. I recently discovered Libertarian science fiction, and I knew I found another genre that would also fit my series, in particular.

For a recent bloghops, I was asked to compare my book to other books, and that took a lot of thought. I finally came up with the following:


Imagine Atlas Shrugged that champions the individual’s mind and all it can achieve when unbound; the Stand, that promotes strength of faith and will, and A Brave New World, where the individual is controlled by drugs and distraction. Throw them all together and you have Unison!  

Whoa! How do I market that? Although the theme of the series is spiritual and deals with the evolution of human consciousness, the characters embrace the importance of individualism and how they can only find the truth by championing who they are as individuals and not by giving themselves over to anyone else’s authority.

The setting begins in Unity, an oppressive government run by the Corporate Hierarchy that tries to control everyone. Damon, the protagonist, seeks to become a  leader. He spends most of his efforts trying to make a name for himself. During his ascent, he has precognitive visions of his friend’s death and of a woman who leaves him cryptic messages. It may seem like a Dystopian tale, but I don’t consider it in that it’s not the main aspect of the story. It’s about the quest for liberation on an individual and spiritual level, and most of the journey takes place out of Unity.

Many Libertarians embrace Objectivism philosophy. I was first introduced to the philosophy by Ayn Rand and was captivated by her novella, Anthem. I also read Atlas Shrugged in three days! That was over twenty years ago. Since then, I’ve noticed a synergistic connection between Objectivism and spiritual evolution. Objectivism allows the individual the freedom to  unmask his or her own uniqueness. It’s an under-appreciated philosophy due to Ayn Rand’s use of the word selfish. It doesn’t help that money manipulators such as Alan Greenspan had cited her as an influence. If she truly had been his influence, he completely misunderstood her. Greenspan supports a corrupt system whereas Rand’s protagonists abhor corruption. They’re driven by the need to turn their inner-visions into a reality, irrespective of whether they’ll become rich or famous. Take Howard Rourk, from The Fountainhead. He was willing to have someone else take credit for his work just so he could see the building he’d designed come to life. He only asked that it be built exactly to his specifications. For Rourk, it was about seeing his vision realized, not about money or fame. That was the modus operandi for the person who had taken credit for his work. As a creative person, I can understand Rourk’s drive. If I couldn’t publish my book because I lived in a society that shunned individuality, I would probably do the same.

The selfishness of which Ayn Rand speaks of is not about making money or stepping on other people; it’s about valuing ourselves and not sacrificing ourselves to the will of others; to live out our dreams and not sacrifice them to others.  She took issue with the idea of stripping away our own rights to prop up the rights of others. I completely agree with that sentiment because it makes sense. If we don’t treat ourselves as though we’re worthy of happiness and self-fulfillment, how can we desire it for others?

Rand often stated that our highest achievement is happiness. She insisted that self-sacrifice makes us sacrificial objects and believed we were all entitled to be happy and that we must achieve it for ourselves. In other words, we shouldn’t force others to give up their happiness to make us happy. We also  shouldn’t be forced to sacrifice ourselves for the happiness of others. Makes sense to me. What type of people would we become if we had to sacrifice our happiness to make others happy? We should all have access to happiness.

One thing I learned on my spiritual journey is that happiness must come from within me. To rely on others for my personal happiness doesn’t make sense to me anymore. People aren’t perfect. They will do hurtful things, either intentionally or unintentionally. It’s during these times where having inner peace, joy and happiness gives us the strength to persevere.

This topic resonated strongly with me, and I had to break it into four posts. Clickhere for part two where I discuss how I connect spirituality to objectivism.

Click here for part 2.

Love and light,

Eleni