Working Notes

A note on working notes -

I share these with others simply because I find them useful for myself. Most of these ideas are gleaned from others and some are what simply makes sense to me and original. Where I have used someone else's words, they are marked as quotations, with the source beneath them and in the list at the end. Click on the links for further information.

Blessings,

M.J. King

Mythical Reality

❝ Trust your original voice! While considering feedback from others is crucial, and learning and absorbing relevant techniques from other writers can be valuable, remember that your voice and words are unique. Trusting your writer's instinct will set you apart from your peers and ground you throughout your journey into story telling. ❞

— From my notes on others' teaching; original source not recorded.

The Mythic Method

In Irish mythology, a Silver Branch was used as a passport to gain access to the 'Other world' and 'Silver Branch perception' is a return from there to perceiving this world as if for the first time, with new eyes.

— After W. Y. Evans-Wentz, The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries (1911), on the silver branch as a passport to the Otherworld; and Kat Scott, "Silver Branch Perception", The Trailblazery (2018). "Silver Branch perception" is the philosopher John Moriarty's phrase.

"A telling that inspires action."  Tell, Listen, Re-Tell.

— Bard Mythologies, "About Mythology".

(Giambattista Vico - Ideal Eternal History)

1. Mythos = Telling and Immersion - Seraph Hunter series, Four Kingdoms cycle, De Danann cycle, Midnight Sun cycle.
2. Philos = Analysis and Reflection - where people think about and discuss what they have just heard and its relevance to their own world. Seraph Hunter Clubs.
3. Mythos + Philos + action = become the Bard - in whatever medium fits - writing, painting, story telling, poetry, music, website creation or some other form of action. The point is to become the storyteller. Seraph Hunter Fan Fiction.

— The method is Bard Mythologies' "Mythic Method" (About Mythology; The Mythic Method), in my own shorthand. The Seraph Hunter examples are mine.

The Idea of the Mythic Journey

When people journey through the realms of Seraph Hunter, they experience a freedom to explore things and truths that cannot be examined in normal, everyday life. 

Thus, like being a world traveler, after immersing themselves in these supernatural realms, they return with a different perspective on everyday, natural life. 

Moreover, compared to logic and argument, Seraph Hunter functions differently; the stories work through revelation and emotion (a personal journey of feeling) transporting the reader into a greater reality - allowing them to touch upon eternal truths.

— The three paragraphs above are adapted from my notes on others' teaching; original source not recorded.

Seraph Hunter is Mythical Reality expressed in words:

1. Our world is a subset of a greater, more profound reality. 
2. This larger reality can only be accessed through a mythical retelling of it. Any less of a framework is inadequate to encompass what actually exists beyond our five senses and intellectual comprehension.  We cannot fully know Seraph Hunter through natural means,  it is a revelation.

Warning: For those with Pandaphobia, this image may be triggering

The goal of every masterful story is to create, in the reader's mind,  an experience indistinguishable from real life - making it so close to reality they actually live it. Like an artist painting a 3-dimensional scene on a 2-dimensional canvas, a great writer tricks the reader's brain into believing they are experiencing real life from the pages of your book.  This is the essence of Real Fantasy. 

Readers like getting as near to the Reality Threshold as possible - they enjoy imagining that their fictional story is real. Memories from stories can even last longer, because of their emotional impact, than real life events. 

— The two paragraphs above are from my notes on others' teaching; original source not recorded.

Create Amazingly Developed and Nuanced Characters with: 

Top 10 Fantasy Books With Strong Female Characters

Galaxy Quest example. I knew it!

Justin: Grounded cognition - Inner dialogue draws the reader in close to your character. You want the reader to “live the character's life - to feel like they are actually present in their world.” It feels so real to the reader that it generates emotional experiences in their minds and bodies exactly as real life does - producing the types of stress responses they feel in a similar situation. Do everything you can to support and enhance the reader's lucid dream - strive for mesmerization. Write about your characters honestly.  Lower yourself fully into their lives, be in there with them, let them resonate with you and they will resonate with your reader.   

— Justin's words, from my notes; original source not recorded. (The "Grounded cognition" link is a separate talk from Emory University.)

Cognition includes "all forms of knowing and awareness, such as perceiving, conceiving, remembering, reasoning, judging, imagining, and problem solving. Along with affect and conation, it is one of the three traditionally identified components of mind" (feeling, willing and knowing).

— American Psychological Association, APA Dictionary of Psychology, "cognition".

"Grounded cognition proposes that modal simulations, bodily states, and situated action underlie cognition."

— Lawrence W. Barsalou, "Grounded Cognition," Annual Review of Psychology 59 (2008).

The four E’s of cognition

Cognition Definition:

• The mental process of knowing, including aspects such as awareness, perception, reasoning, and judgment.
• That which comes to be known, as through perception, reasoning, or intuition; knowledge.
• The act of knowing; knowledge; perception.

Knowing Definition:

Possessing knowledge, information, or understanding.

— Definitions quoted from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th ed. (the first two for "cognition", and "knowing"), and Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 (the third for "cognition").

Natural Perception Definition:

The process of perceiving something through our natural body through our five senses.

Spiritual Perception Definition:

The process of perceiving something beyond our natural reality, through our spiritual body, with our the five spiritual senses :

1. Spirit sight - Visions, dreams
2. Spirit hearing - the voice of God
3. Spirit touch - Sensing spiritual beings
4. Spirit taste - Tasting good and bad
5. Spirit smell - Smelling angels and demons

Spiritual bodies are not subject to the natural constraints of time or space but move independently of each.  

1. Embodied cognition - "Embodied cognition is an approach to cognition that has roots in motor behavior. This approach emphasizes that cognition typically involves acting with a physical body on an environment in which that body is immersed." — Sebastian Schneegans and Gregor Schöner, in Handbook of Cognitive Science: An Embodied Approach (2008).

2. Embedded cognition - Cognitive activity is not something that simply happens internally, but involves a continuous transaction between current states of the brain, body, and the environment. — From my notes; original source not recorded.

3. Enactive cognition - "A position in cognitive science that argues that cognition arises through a dynamic interaction between an acting organism and its environment." — Wikipedia, "Enactivism" (January 2023 text), CC BY-SA.

4. Extended cognition - "Takes the idea that your mind is 'on' your smartphone literally. It says that human cognitive states and processes sometimes spill outside our heads and into objects in our environment." (George R. R. Martin’s home is an example of this.) — Mark Sprevak, "Extended Cognition", Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2019).

The only way a reader's brain can “interact” with the natural environment around it is through its body.  Therefore, an immersive story must provide its readers with the same sensory input that mimics natural world input as if it were really happening in order for them to “live it” and “fully engage” in the story world.  

— From my notes on others' teaching; original source not recorded.

I want people to latch onto Seraph Hunter and make it their own, feeling that they are part of the story.  (Inspired by Jewel Staite, on how Firefly fans made the show their own, The Sackhoff Show, 2024.)

Sources

1. American Psychological Association. APA Dictionary of Psychology, "cognition." dictionary.apa.org
2. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th ed. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016. "cognition," "knowing."
3. Bard Mythologies. "About Mythology" and "The Mythic Method." bardmythologies.com
4. Barsalou, Lawrence W. "Grounded Cognition." Annual Review of Psychology 59 (2008): 617–645.
5. Evans-Wentz, W. Y. The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries. 1911.
6. Schneegans, Sebastian, and Gregor Schöner. "Dynamic Field Theory as a Framework for Understanding Embodied Cognition." In Handbook of Cognitive Science: An Embodied Approach, ed. P. Calvo and A. Gomila. Elsevier, 2008.
7. Scott, Kat. "Silver Branch Perception." The Trailblazery, 2018.
8. Sprevak, Mark. "Extended Cognition." Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2019.
9. Staite, Jewel. Interview on The Sackhoff Show, reported by Bleeding Cool, 28 August 2024.
10. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. 1913. "cognition."
11. Wikipedia. "Enactivism." Text of January 2023, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
12. Passages marked "original source not recorded" are from my working notes on others' teaching; I will credit them as soon as I trace them.