165. Woo-Woo and Fiction Writing

“Do you like to daydream? I love to daydream. I've always loved to daydream ever since I was a child and when I was a child, I wished I was magic.” - Beth Barany

In this episode of How To Write the Future, host Beth Barany discusses “Woo-Woo and Fiction Writing” by sharing her “woo-woo” interests, her backstory from pre-med to fiction, and the magic of writing. Beth also shares the resources she uses to inspire the characters in her stories, and one of her own resources, the World Building Workbook for Fiction Writers, which is available for listeners to download.

ABOUT THE HOW TO WRITE THE FUTURE PODCAST

The How To Write The Future podcast empowers science fiction and fantasy writers to craft positive futures and navigate the publishing landscape with confidence. Join host Beth Barany, award-winning science fiction novelist and creativity coach, for actionable writing tips and fascinating explorations of humanity's potential.

ABOUT BETH BARANY

Beth Barany, an award-winning fantasy and science fiction novelist, teaches novelists how to write, edit, and publish their books as a coach, teacher, consultant, and developmental editor.

RESOURCES

Related Episode: What if… and Your Brain

https://writersfunzone.com/blog/2022/11/07/18-what-if-and-your-brain/

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Free World Building Workbook for Fiction Writers: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/world-building-resources/

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• SHOW PRODUCTION BY Beth Barany
• SHOW CO-PRODUCTION + NOTES by Kerry-Ann McDade
• EDITORIAL SUPPORT by Iman Llommpart

c. 2025 BETH BARANY

https://bethbarany.com/

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CONNECT
Contact Beth: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/podcast/#tve-jump-185b4422580
Email: beth@bethbarany.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethbarany/

CREDITS
EDITED WITH DESCRIPT: https://get.descript.com/0clwwvlf6e3j
MUSIC: Uppbeat.io
DISTRIBUTED BY BUZZSPROUT: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1994465

Transcript

BETH BARANY: 0:00

Do you like to daydream? I love to daydream. I've always loved to daydream ever since I was a child and when I was a child, I wished I was magic. That was my ardent wish. How about you? What did you wish for when you were a child? Hi everyone. I'm Beth Barany. I run How to Write The Future Podcast. I am a science fiction and fantasy novelist. You can see some of the books behind me, also a writing teacher and a creativity coach with a specialty in and all things- woo woo woo woo. I am from Northern California. I am the child of hippies. I grew up in what you would call a commune, but really also a cult. I'm no longer part of that. I left, I wasn't, the children weren't really a part of it. They never got to elect to be in it, all the adults, all the parents were in it. but what that gave me was, hearing the adults talk about humans-- psychology, philosophy, religion. Both of my parents were very interested in these things-- cross-cultural ideas from other cultures, ideas from other times and places, fairytales, folklore, mythology. All these things were around me when I was a child. And I was deeply interested in folklore and fairytales and read a ton of them. So, yeah, I really wished to be magic. Okay, so today I wanted to do an episode about all things woowoo, all things woowoo. I dunno how to say that. All things woowoo. No. All the things that used to be called New Age. I'm not sure what they're called now. A little bit about my interests, how I use them as a writer, how I've seen others use these tools as writers. And, a few tips for you. Now, I feel like I need to address the fact that dichotomy, on the one hand, I've been very interested in things and let's be specific, astrology, tarot, numerology, Oracle Cards, human design, and some other things. To me, they felt like ways to get to know myself. And I started getting into astrology and tarot when I was about 20 and started learning how to read tarot cards at age 22. I studied at the Berkeley Psychic Institute for a year, did their clairvoyant training program. I wanted to understand how I was wired and how I operated, but also how other people were wired and how they operate. And to that end, I went and studied NLP at NLP Marin and learned a lot of great tools for helping me understand how to get onto your map, how to see through the words you say and how you move and the expression on your face, what might be going on inside. And then to ask questions. I was always very good at asking questions, but then this gave me some more entry points into how to ask more questions, to try and understand how the person in front of me is wired. And this is great. This comes in handy as a writing teacher and a coach really helps me do what I love to do, what I was already inclined to do because of my own makeup, which is really get to understand and get to know another person and help them be a better writer and help them really dive deep into their creative writing practice and really harness your innate strengths and skills and interests and passions, and turn that into a writing practice. It's what I did for myself. It's what I've done for hundreds of writers and what I could do for you. I know, there's that side of me. And then there's this other side of me that wanted to be a doctor since I was a very, little girl. Actually. My mom says I wanted to be a nurse, but she's like, you know, girls can be doctors too. And I was probably six years old and I'm like, okay, I'll be a doctor. I think that stems from two things. One, I was very familiar with the hospital setting, having been born premature, been an incubator the first two months of my life, born with fingers that are different that you might see flying around. And also curious. oh, there's a third element. So very familiar and comfortable with the hospital setting, deeply curious about how the human body works. And number three, wanting to help people. Fast forward to today, i'm not a doctor, obviously. I decided not to be a doctor when I turned 19. I dropped outta pre-med at U.C. Berkeley. I'm like, ah, this isn't for me. pivoted into, the social sciences. but I've always retained my interest in science and, now I write science fiction and fantasy. And to me, being curious, about the world and having wonderment, and also being in awe about the world, to me is connected to science, but it's also connected to this desire to be magical. And when I started keying into, learning a whole bunch of things about being psychic, which was, we can talk about what I really think that is later. And also learning about NLP and also learning about other modalities, like other healing modalities in other cultures, that I studied in college, through a beautiful class, called Medical Anthropology offered by Nancy Scheper-Hughes. Just fabulous class. And also learning about, family systems, family constellations, and having all kinds of experiences. I did do a shamanic journey when I was 19. That was amazing. no drugs, just drumming. It was fabulous. All that to say, as I grew older, I started to realize that magic is all around us. And it's in how, it's in how you perceive, it's in how you think. And I've learned, the more I gained in strength and confidence and skill and practice as a novelist, the more I realized that art is magic. Like the ability to sit down and create sentences, put'em together, and make a story and hand it to someone else, and They get to go there in their imagination. That's incredible. That's magic. It's also practical. It's also technique. It's also skill. It's also practice. And anyone who wants to learn how to be a novelist, I believe can be. Doesn't mean it's easy. Believe me. Doesn't mean it's easy. And I use Oracle cards, a kind of Oracle cards when I am stuck with my fiction. I'm gonna show you. I know, I'm pretty sure I've mentioned these in a previous episode. This is the Mythulu deck and I, bought all these cards. So wonderful. They're all different colors. We've got, so here's just one of'em. There's all these different sets and they're all just incredible art. Just beautiful art. Ooh, speaking of magic. ha. So black is element. Say you wanna brainstorm an element for your story, and you can pick one of the element section. So I picked magic. There's art and words. It's just beautiful. so a word about Oracle cards. When we're stuck in our writing or revisions, we might look out the window and something we see or hear might trigger something inside of us. And then we get an idea. This is one reason why writers love to write at cafes. I do. I love to write and work at cafes.'cause if I'm stuck I can look up, look around, hear something, notice something, and it gives me an idea. That is the same function of this Mythulu deck. You can use any deck. You can use any system. You don't even have to use cards, right? You could just look up and look around you. Or you could even go to the bookshelf pointing over there'cause here's my bookshelf, one of many in this apartment. And open up, read a line and be inspired. Alright, so this is a bit about how the woowoo can help you as a novelist. And even as I was sharing this with my husband today and talking about astrology in brief, he's like, Ooh, I could design an astrology system for my story world, for a story world. And then the characters could talk about it and say, oh, he's the justinian type, or he's the gABA type, and that's what it means to me. So you could come up with your own astrology typing system and use it within your story world. archetype systems, They use the Greek and Roman gods. Yeah, there's so many options and I know people who've created their own archetype systems. All That to say, yeah, I am deeply into, using these as tools. I don't use them as belief systems. I use them as tools. what do I believe? Ultimately, I believe in creativity. I believe in the power of creativity and what that means is, I'm curious, I'm wondering, I'm asking questions and I'm asking what if and including the question: What if it was another way? What way would that be? Questions are so powerful. Alright, that's some food for thought for you this week. I hope that it inspires you to play around with divination systems and other astrology, human design. What kind of system do you use to, to help you build characters, build your story worlds? It'd be so great to hear. Let me know. And if you have any questions about how to use these tools in more depth, there's lots of resources out there. Oh, call to action for you all this week. I want to encourage you to sign up for the World Building Workbook for Fiction Writers. If you need help with your world building, if you wanna create your own divinity system or, astrology, or typing or numerology. I encourage you to do so, and this guidebook can get you started. So sign up for that. the link is in the show notes. check out the World Building Guide for Fiction Writers. All right, everyone. That's it for this week, Write long and Prosper. That's a wrap.