Eowyn said:
Years ago I finished a novel that takes place in an undetermined medieval time. When I reread it I often wonder how I could write that, and I use to say that writing is for me like falling on a trance. Well, I guess that's what the rest of the people call inspiration.
But now that I seem to be recalling pieces and flashes of some past lives, I find some of these memories quite similar to the story I wrote, especially those fragments on the novel that moves me deeply. For example, a young man that has been caught alone by his enemies, and he's sure he's going to be killed (and he is). It's not the same scene at all, nor the same "characters", but it's the same feeling that sorrounds the events.
I just wonder if when I wrote that, I could have connected somehow with those feelings that remain deeply carved in my subconscious.
This is really interesting because I have had and am having a relatively similar experience.
A couple years ago, I started working on the idea and plot of a novel that I am now getting ready to write. It has changed and evolved over the past few years, but the characters and plot are still basically the same. Something I've found myself doing not only in this story but in various other short stories I write, is using Latin/Roman names over and over again. The story is set on an entirely different planet, but the culture, architecture, etc, is almost entirely based of Ancient Rome and Greece (there are still some steampunk, victorian and futuristic influences though). I was not consciously aware of that for a while, I just came up with what suited me.
Their religion is another big thing I noticed. If I were to right down eveything about the conreligion that I made for this world, it would resemble Ancient Roman and Ancient Greek mythology, with some Norse and Egyptian influences. A lot of the monsters that inhabit this world are all Norse in resemblence.
Now mind you, the only thing I originally meant to resemble real world anything was the Dragons. They were supposed to resemble Norse dragons, but that was it.
And as you said about the feelings, I even came up with a amphitheatre scene for the first book, and what struck me as odd is the feeling of having been in a situation MUCH like the emperor in my story (turns out, I was in a similar situation, although I don't know if I killed the man with my own hands or had someone else do it).
Really changed my perspective there.
Kapitan, I'm not sure. I think it may be a possibility. I used to think that my overactive imagination had some sort of significance, but I can't remember why I thought it. Or why it could be significant.
Though the slightly creepy thing about it is that I've often "imagined" different scenarios from natural disasters to political and military conflicts for stories and within maybe a week, they prove themselves to be more than just imagination. Sometimes I imagine a scenario, and I am historically validated. I'm not sure if that's what you meant, but it's definitely something I've noticed.
