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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GET HELP WITH YOUR WORLD BUILDING - START HERE

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

GET SOME FREE WRITING COACHING LIVE ON THE PODCAST

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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/

Questions? Comments? Send us a text!

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EDITED WITH DESCRIPT: https://get.descript.com/0clwwvlf6e3j
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Episode Transcript

BETH BARANY (00:00):
Do you like to daydream?
I love to daydream.
I've always loved to daydreamever since I was a child and
when I was a child, I wished Iwas magic.
That was my ardent wish.
How about you?
What did you wish for when youwere a child?
Hi everyone.
I'm Beth Barany.

(00:20):
I run How to Write The FuturePodcast.
I am a science fiction andfantasy novelist.
You can see some of the booksbehind me, also a writing
teacher and a creativity coachwith a specialty in and all
things- woo woo woo woo.

(00:41):
I am from Northern California.
I am the child of hippies.
I grew up in what you would calla commune, but really also a
cult.
I'm no longer part of that.
I left, I wasn't, the childrenweren't really a part of it.
They never got to elect to be init, all the adults, all the
parents were in it.
but what that gave me was,hearing the adults talk about

(01:04):
humans-- psychology, philosophy,religion.
Both of my parents were veryinterested in these things--
cross-cultural ideas from othercultures, ideas from other times
and places, fairytales,folklore, mythology.
All these things were around mewhen I was a child.
And I was deeply interested infolklore and fairytales and read

(01:25):
a ton of them.
So, yeah, I really wished to bemagic.
Okay, so today I wanted to do anepisode about all things woowoo,
all things woowoo.
I dunno how to say that.
All things woowoo.
No.
All the things that used to becalled New Age.
I'm not sure what they're callednow.
A little bit about my interests,how I use them as a writer, how

(01:49):
I've seen others use these toolsas writers.
And, a few tips for you.
Now, I feel like I need toaddress the fact that dichotomy,
on the one hand, I've been veryinterested in things and let's
be specific, astrology, tarot,numerology, Oracle Cards, human
design, and some other things.

(02:10):
To me, they felt like ways toget to know myself.
And I started getting intoastrology and tarot when I was
about 20 and started learninghow to read tarot cards at age
22.
I studied at the BerkeleyPsychic Institute for a year,
did their clairvoyant trainingprogram.
I wanted to understand how I waswired and how I operated, but

(02:31):
also how other people were wiredand how they operate.
And to that end, I went andstudied NLP at NLP Marin and
learned a lot of great tools forhelping me understand how to get
onto your map, how to seethrough the words you say and
how you move and the expressionon your face, what might be

(02:51):
going on inside.
And then to ask questions.
I was always very good at askingquestions, but then this gave me
some more entry points into howto ask more questions, to try
and understand how the person infront of me is wired.
And this is great.
This comes in handy as a writingteacher and a coach really helps
me do what I love to do, what Iwas already inclined to do

(03:15):
because of my own makeup, whichis really get to understand and
get to know another person andhelp them be a better writer and
help them really dive deep intotheir creative writing practice
and really harness your innatestrengths and skills and
interests and passions, and turnthat into a writing practice.
It's what I did for myself.

(03:35):
It's what I've done for hundredsof writers and what I could do
for you.
I know, there's that side of me.
And then there's this other sideof me that wanted to be a doctor
since I was a very, little girl.
Actually.
My mom says I wanted to be anurse, but she's like, you know,
girls can be doctors too.
And I was probably six years oldand I'm like, okay, I'll be a
doctor.
I think that stems from twothings.

(03:57):
One, I was very familiar withthe hospital setting, having
been born premature, been anincubator the first two months
of my life, born with fingersthat are different that you
might see flying around.
And also curious.
oh, there's a third element.
So very familiar and comfortablewith the hospital setting,
deeply curious about how thehuman body works.

(04:18):
And number three, wanting tohelp people.
Fast forward to today, i'm not adoctor, obviously.
I decided not to be a doctorwhen I turned 19.
I dropped outta pre-med at U.C.
Berkeley.
I'm like, ah, this isn't for me.
pivoted into, the socialsciences.
but I've always retained myinterest in science and, now I
write science fiction andfantasy.

(04:40):
And to me, being curious, aboutthe world and having wonderment,
and also being in awe about theworld, to me is connected to
science, but it's also connectedto 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

(05:01):
think that is later.
And also learning about NLP andalso learning about other
modalities, like other healingmodalities in other cultures,
that I studied in college,through a beautiful class,
called Medical Anthropologyoffered by Nancy Scheper-Hughes.
Just fabulous class.

(05:22):
And also learning about, familysystems, family constellations,
and having all kinds ofexperiences.
I did do a shamanic journey whenI was 19.
That was amazing.
no drugs, just drumming.
It was fabulous.
All that to say, as I grewolder, I started to realize that
magic is all around us.

(05:44):
And it's in how, it's in how youperceive, it's in how you think.
And I've learned, the more Igained in strength and
confidence and skill andpractice as a novelist, the more
I realized that art is magic.
Like the ability to sit down andcreate sentences, put'em
together, and make a story andhand it to someone else, and

(06:04):
They get to go there in theirimagination.
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 learnhow 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 kindof Oracle cards when I am stuck

(06:30):
with my fiction.
I'm gonna show you.
I know, I'm pretty sure I'vementioned 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 setsand they're all just incredible
art.

(06:50):
Just beautiful art.
Ooh, speaking of magic.
ha.
So black is element.
Say you wanna brainstorm anelement for your story, and you
can pick one of the elementsection.
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 writingor revisions, we might look out

(07:15):
the window and something we seeor hear might trigger something
inside of us.
And then we get an idea.
This is one reason why writerslove to write at cafes.
I do.
I love to write and work atcafes.
'cause if I'm stuck I can lookup, look around, hear something,
notice something, and it givesme an idea.
That is the same function ofthis Mythulu deck.

(07:35):
You can use any deck.
You can use any system.
You don't even have to usecards, right?
You could just look up and lookaround you.
Or you could even go to thebookshelf pointing over there
'cause here's my bookshelf, oneof many in this apartment.
And open up, read a line and beinspired.
Alright, so this is a bit abouthow the woowoo can help you as a

(07:59):
novelist.
And even as I was sharing thiswith my husband today and
talking about astrology inbrief, he's like, Ooh, I could
design an astrology system formy story world, for a story
world.
And then the characters couldtalk about it and say, oh, he's
the justinian type, or he's thegABA type, and that's what it

(08:19):
means to me.
So you could come up with yourown astrology typing system and
use it within your story world.
archetype systems, They use theGreek and Roman gods.
Yeah, there's so many optionsand I know people who've created
their own archetype systems.
All That to say, yeah, I amdeeply into, using these as

(08:40):
tools.
I don't use them as beliefsystems.
I use them as tools.
what do I believe?
Ultimately, I believe increativity.
I believe in the power ofcreativity and what that means
is, I'm curious, I'm wondering,I'm asking questions and I'm
asking what if and including thequestion: What if it was another

(09:01):
way?
What way would that be?
Questions are so powerful.
Alright, that's some food forthought for you this week.
I hope that it inspires you toplay around with divination
systems and other astrology,human design.
What kind of system do you useto, to help you build
characters, build your storyworlds?
It'd be so great to hear.

(09:22):
Let me know.
And if you have any questionsabout how to use these tools in
more depth, there's lots ofresources out there.
Oh, call to action for you allthis week.
I want to encourage you to signup for the World Building
Workbook for Fiction Writers.
If you need help with your worldbuilding, if you wanna create
your own divinity system or,astrology, or typing or

(09:45):
numerology.
I encourage you to do so, andthis guidebook can get you
started.
So sign up for that.
the link is in the show notes.
check out the World BuildingGuide for Fiction Writers.
All right, everyone.
That's it for this week, Writelong and Prosper.
That's a wrap.