I’ve loved art for as long as I can remember. Music, paintings, books, quilts… I’m fascinated by the creative energy that goes into making art as much as the results.
One of my favorite things to do at our local museum is to pick out a single piece to spend some quality time with. I read the plaque, paying special attention to the year it was created, and think about the artist standing in front of the piece while making it, in the very spot (relatively speaking) that I’m occupying as I observe it. I imagine all the other people who have stood where I am. Were they moved by what they saw? Entertained? Disturbed?
I’ve been profoundly moved by works of art—at times so much that it felt as if the piece was stirring my soul within me. Years ago while contemplating this experience, my muse suggested I think about it literally. I had already read about astral projection (simply put, the ability of the soul to travel outside the bounds of time and space) while studying paranormal phenomena. When I added my fascination with creative energy to those two concepts, Elsa’s powers were born.
What if someone could actually leave their body when their soul was stirred by a work of art? What if they could ride the energy that an artist put into a piece—and witness its creation?
I had also researched psychometry, ghosts, and any number of metaphysical concepts by the time I started playing with this idea. Thinking about residual energies made me take it one step further. What if it wasn’t just the moment of creation? What if the creative energy held in the piece was strengthened by people viewing it when they were moved? People who couldn’t necessary astral project, but instead added their emotional energy to that reservoir of latent power.
And what if each moment that fed into a piece became a gateway—a possible exit for those who could travel astrally?
At that point, I knew I had something. A story that needed to be told. A character with a power I was only beginning to understand—with struggles that were both caused and eased because of being different. And when I realized that Elsa and Dante were meant for each other, Wandering Soul was born.
I loved the way Elsa’s powers worked and, as a ghost hunter, I was excited to see you recognizing the power of residual energies. Thanks for sharing this part of your process!
I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂 I hope you like the next book in this series if you pick it up (it has ghosts!).
This was one of the things i LOVED about Wandering Soul (well, one of many)–the way the time travel worked! It was so original, and intuitively it made so much sense!
I’m so glad! It’s an idea that was percolating in my brain for a very long time 🙂