Screenwriting : Do any of you secretly let your writing be guided by esoteric practices... by Sandy Lane

“Most things come to me in my bath” Dalton Trumbo never said this but he should have.

No.

My stories come from my dreams and depression. These characters demand I write… when you write them down they exist when they exist they have a life of their own. Recently I dreamed of 4 empires all from different times at some point in an alternate universe these empires collided through a rip in space and war started between empires. They demanded I wrote this down…they are stuck all they see is a rip in the sky some fear this and some think it’s a prophecy… but they are lost.

Hi, Sandy Lane. I come up with a lot of script ideas and scenes by combining things, looking at pictures online, watching videos, social media, etc.

Ideas are ten a penny, it's the ones that refuse to go away which you need to write down, preferably if they also give you goosebumps. Sometimes a story writes itself faster than you can write it down and the characters in it shout at you. Strange but true.

Juan Rodriguez love that you were compelled to write it down. Maurice Vaughan you are inspired by numerous things, my work is very much a product of the state of the world for women and men, especially in my homeland and from a friend's experience. David Taylor I've experienced that it's incredible.

I dreamed of a charming and beautiful woman. When I woke up, she was still by my side.

I had this dream, but maybe I could write a novel or a thriller. What do you think?

Yes

I get possessed by the writing gods. Alcohol and coffee don’t work on me ^_^

Wow, coffee Very nice

Gregory Baker i do write with the problem-solution framework in mind most of the time but as David Taylor has experienced, sometimes i get an idea and the story writes itself faster than i can type and the characters take me to a conclusion i had never considered (see also RB’s blogpost on how Geffert wrote Weapons)

regarding my last comment, i spectacularly misremembered the Weapons writer-director’s name: it’s Cregger

Sandy Lane I definitely have experienced how meditation, relaxation, and being free from coded patterns, social group rules, and basically the things that we think we are, have to do, and keep us stuck...enhance any artform. When we are in peace, free, in our expansive, multidimensionality, well, then you magnetize. You call in the ideas, and the ideas matching your frequency, they come to you, and go within your heart, connecting to your imagination, and uniting your inner kingdom, then well...prepare to feel your hands dance the typing dance like there's no tomorrow. And, this is work, this is not some fanciful tale, this creates work, this brings in your voice, and whatever story is meaningful to you, it is valid, and it is your genre, and it is from you. It's all a matter of vibration, perspective...and commitment to the work, after the muse and you connect.

Absolutely! Carl Jung referred to "downloads" ...

I search for a wide variety of influences that will either create new or connect existing mental pathways. There are so many ways for that to happen that taking any off the table seems to restrictive to me and how I search for and receive inspiration.

Since I started this whole conversation, I suppose I owe you my own open answer.

For me this whole thing started after feeling frustrated and heartbroken, failing on yet another unrewarding project. And in my moment of desperation I found; the square. One of those magic manifestation boxes, wherein you draw your new timelines, fold it neatly and hide it in a drawer like a polite spell. I asked for a big creative project to occupy me – nothing too dramatic, little that I know it was about to consume my soul!

I forgot it about it for a while and days later, I woke up with a name, spoken out loud, in my head. Then a visionary flash of myself writing. Then the phrase: secret agent. Then: screenplay. Naturally, I did the sane thing and grabbed a notebook at 6 a.m. The first words of the saga were born before I’d even had my coffee.

At first, I thought I was writing a fun spy tale with a bit of mystery. So, I began digging into the world of secret agencies, thinking I’d learn a few tactics and code names. But the deeper I went, the more I found myself tangled in threads far older and stranger than classified MI6 dossiers. What started as casual research turned into a full-blown descent into ancient orders, esoteric symbols, lost manuscripts and conspiracy theories that felt oddly… plausible.

After a while I realised I did not just want to write a story – I wanted to open minds. Which meant I had to crack open my own first (preferably without entirely losing it). So I followed many white rabbits into psychedelic mycology and herbalism, tarot, runes, pendulums, ancient symbols, brainwave states, surrealist art and absurdism… to name a few. Basically, if it felt fringy but oddly profound, I devoured it.

All the while, my characters began evolving on their own. I'd write scenes for them without knowing why and weeks later they’d fit the puzzle like small Eureka miracles. And in many ways, I feel I’m being guided through it. Because while writing, I don’t just see the scene – I’m fully submerged. I can picture the lighting, the close-ups, the atmosphere, even the breath of the actors. It’s my ultimate escapism. My drug-free, slightly suspicious vice. My way out of reality… and into something possibly more real. Someday.

I’ve always let intuition guide me before anything else, therefor I don’t write with a commercial goal in mind. Oh, no. To feel your mind's edge shift, to feel the liberation when tracing the strange, electric pathways that fiction can open, that's pure bliss.

So nowadays, before I write, I light a candle, throw some stones, shuffle some cards, and swing my pendulum as if they’ve become second nature – just to dive right back in there.

And honestly, I asked because I was curious to find even more ways to open up those creative gateways; little rituals, tools, prayers, superstitions. Or should I join the 'Authors Anonymous'?