Good characters should write their own script, I.e., tell you what to write.

Alan Kitty, Executive Director
Mark Twain Education Society

“Laughter can shatter the most colossal humbug; blow it to rags and atoms with a single blast.”

Sent from my iPhone

> On Sep 2, 2020, at 6:54 PM, Martha Sherwood <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> A woman of my acquaintance who writes young adult fiction professionally
> mentioned a case where she and several other writers in that genre
> simultaneously came up not only with the same plot but with very specific
> details about the characters which were novelties in YA fiction at the time
> - they were not collaborating. She also mentioned something that I have
> noticed in my own attempts to write fiction: the feeling that a character
> you created has taken charge of the plot and is writing his or her own
> script. Sometimes it feels as if a real person is trying to make contact
> with the writer telepathically though one would be dismissed as a crackpot
> to suggest this actually occurs.
> 
>> On Wed, Sep 2, 2020 at 1:33 PM Alan Kitty <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> 
>> I believe Twain referred to the phenomenon as “mental telegraphy.”
>> 
>> A conversation begins about someone no one has seen for years, and
>> suddenly that person walks into the room. You may think of someone for no
>> particular reason and the next moment, the telephone rings and they are on
>> the other end of the line. Or consider the strange reality of an invention
>> being thought of concurrently in different parts of the world, followed by
>> a rash of that device appearing on the same day at the patent office.
>> 
>> Possible relevance here: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2142320.pdf
>> 
>> These coincidences may be examples that prove the existence of a
>> collective consciousness. Gene Roddenberry called it “The Borg.” A
>> sociologist or philosopher might call it an applied example of Human
>> Nature. Concurrent thoughts and deeds in different places may lead to
>> inevitable events that we call coincidence, or “mental telegraphy.”
>> 
>> Perhaps the simplest example occurs when close friends come up with the
>> same thought simultaneously. The most mind-boggling example may be found in
>> the idea that in an infinite universe, there are infinite possibilities.
>> This means it Is possible that another you is thinking exactly the same
>> thing at exactly the same moment a hundred billion light years away.
>> 
>> If this is possible, as Astrophysicists claim it is, it is reasonable to
>> expect someone you haven’t seen in twenty years to be calling you at the
>> moment you think their name.
>> 
>> Try it now. Sit quietly. Empty your mind. Think of a name. Focus. Wait
>> five minutes. Then call them and ask if hey have been thinking about you
>> too.
>> 
>> Alan Kitty, Executive Director
>> Mark Twain Education Society
>> 
>> “Laughter can shatter the most colossal humbug; blow it to rags and atoms
>> with a single blast.”
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>>>> On Sep 2, 2020, at 1:14 PM, Martha Sherwood <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>> Interesting article. I'm curious about people on this academic list who
>>> personally believe in mental telepathy. I know I do - there are too many
>>> instances in my own life for which it is the simplest common explanation,
>>> though each individual incident has another possible explanation.
>>> 
>>> Martha Sherwood.
>>> 
>>>> On Wed, Sep 2, 2020 at 5:21 AM Hal Bush <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Mark Twain’s religious beliefs may have changed over time, but there is
>>>> one thing he always firmly believed in: telepathy. Chantel Tattoli tells
>>>> the story<
>>>> 
>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://micahmattix.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=09f1740da57f3d9169001129e&id=725abdcb28&e=bc9c5fd0d0__;!!K543PA!Y3ugyr6tBTzdvP78jSxG9f82CiKgsZ_VTIDvB-eE75rnHXTnP078smxhmI_tUc8$
>>> 
>>>> in The Paris Review:
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/08/25/mark-twains-mind-waves/<
>>>> 
>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/08/25/mark-twains-mind-waves/__;!!K543PA!fgtIWyDzJge-z4Yd1p78CJE51-UjJhCqByJ_zpYdFNin8A3kpp48Pl9oOUzQT5w$
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Dr. Hal Bush
>>>> 
>>>> Professor of English &
>>>> 
>>>> Director of the Undergraduate Program
>>>> 
>>>> Saint Louis University
>>>> 
>>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>> 
>>>> 314-977-3616
>>>> 
>>>> http://halbush.com
>>>> 
>>>> author website:  halbush.com
>>