Thursday, April 24, 2008

Life Begins With Awakened Imagination

Morgan said...

Your character in Remember Me, Mary Margaret, has a lot of imagination. And yet, she is never happy. You say imagination is the key to how we create our reality. What does that mean?


Hello again Morgan and thanks very much for the question. The answer requires depth and is difficult to put into brief blog form, but I’ll try and would be glad to discuss further.


I understand that this is a mystical statement. The journey of my characters in my trilogy of novels is the journey of my spirit, written in a form meant to entertain. The characters are not me, but their journey reflects my own. In my own journey, I reached a point where I understood unity consciousness, meaning that I am connected to everything in life and everything in my experience is of me. After this, I developed a greater awareness of my role in creating this experience and what it reflects to me in each moment. This is where imagination is key.


Neville Goddard, the 20th century mystic tells us, “Every moment of time you are imagining what you are conscious of, and if you do not forget what you are imagining and it comes to pass, you have found the creative cause of your world.”


I believe this to be true. More of his lectures on imagination can be found with this link:

http://www.nevillelecturehall.com/Lecture54.html


Molly Brogan

Artwork by Vivian George Many thanks.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

There's a Blaze of Light In Every Word

Makram said...

In your book, Chasing Twilight, you begin to explore the role of the artist. Can you say what you consider the role of the artist in society to be, and why you write?


Thanks for the question, Makram. For as long as I can remember, I have written down words that allow me to feel the joy of living in one form or another. I was probably 10 when I put it into the form of a poem and thought about the experience of another reading my words. I have also pondered the divine for just as long. Between the ages of three and seven, my family lived near a large and beautiful church in the Midwest US. I would sit in that church for hours, fall asleep, and the nuns would chase me home.


I believe that the artist inspires our imagination with the works of art that they create. This inspiration can be anything from titillating interest to awakening imagination. We can be inspired in unity or separation but ultimately we are all one expression of the divine, as we are reminded by timeless works of art. It is here that the artist plays a role like no other because our awakened imagination is the key to how we create our reality. We are moved to include new possibility on the foundation of our current belief, and invited into our highest potential. The artist guides us through this movement with an inspiring work of art, transcending the separation between the artist, the work of art, and he who appreciates and allows the inspiration. In this unity process, we awaken. Molly Brogan


Friday, April 4, 2008

Developing Timeless Characters

Blythe said...

Why did you choose for the love interest in Chasing Twilight to be a Scientologist? Was this character taken from real life or did you write his as a Scientologist for a different reason?


This is a great question, Blythe, thanks for asking. How do we create our characters when we write? There are probably as many answers to this question as there are fiction authors. Part of my research for my first novel, Remember Me, was to work with a psychotherapist, who gave me wonderful suggestions as to how to base a character on my personal experience, and yet give it a separate personality that would be congruent with the outcome of the story. In Remember Me, the Mary Margaret character gives up on life. I had to create character traits and behaviors for her that would ultimately lead her in that direction.


For the second novel in my trilogy, Chasing Twilight, the love interest or anti-hero is a Scientologist so that the main character has someone who can understand her spiritual quest. The book is a dialogue between two people, and through the dialogue, the plot of the story and development of the characters are revealed. I chose Scientology because it has a new age, yet rigid doctrine and could provide some resonance, yet stark difference for the main character who believes only in the golden thread of truth that runs through all.


I did quite a bit of research into Scientology, reading and interviews, to build this character. I worked very hard to portray this character as an anti hero in the true sense, not as a villain. The constraints of his character are reflected in his passive aggressive attempts to control the relationship. The value of the faith of Scientology itself is never brought into question, but the main character does present some challenges and is answered, providing an interesting Q&A. I found it to be and extremely effective tool. Thanks again, Blythe. Molly Brogan

Artwork by Cindy Hesse Many thanks.