Shamanic Writing: Traveling Between Fictional Worlds

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Shamanic Writing: Traveling Between Fictional Worlds – How To Write the Future podcast, episode 223

“We are traveling all the time.  We are traveling into our science fiction worlds, into our fantasy worlds, into worlds that we may not even have labels for at first.” – Beth Barany 

In this How To Write the Future episode titled ”Shamanic Writing: Traveling Between Fictional World” host Beth Barany, takes you on a journey and guides you through a thought-provoking episode on writer as shaman, sharing why writing is hard, and why you need to find your own path.

There’s also information on how to get support from Beth in the Edit lab (link below).

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RESOURCES

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About the How To Write the Future podcast

The How To Write The Future podcast is for science fiction and fantasy writers who want to write positive futures and successfully bring those stories out into the marketplace. Hosted by Beth Barany, science fiction novelist and creativity coach for writers. We cover tips for fiction writers. This podcast is for readers too if you’re at all curious about the future of humanity.

This podcast is for you if you have questions like:

– How do I create a believable world for my science fiction story?

– How do I figure out what’s not working if my story feels flat?

– How do I make my story more interesting and alive?

This podcast is for readers, too, if you’re at all curious about the future of humanity.

Transcript for episode 233 Shamanic Writing: Traveling Between Fictional Worlds 

Writer as Shaman 

BETH BARANY: Writer as shaman, especially science fiction and fantasy writers, we are traveling all the time. ​

We are traveling into our science fiction worlds, into our fantasy worlds, into worlds that we may not even have labels for at first. The word shaman I know has a very certain specific cultural background And there have been people and cultures around the world throughout human history who become specialists in being able to travel with their imagination into other realms.

And of course, there’s religions and movements: the New Age movement, personal development movement, trance work, channeling, healing work of all kinds. There are a lot of different ways that we as humans have, throughout our human evolution traveled with our imagination into other places and times and realms and dimensions.

It’s amazing, and I think the work of any artist, not just writers, is to travel and bring back what they discover into a form that others can feel and hear and smell and taste and imagine. So our work as science fiction and fantasy writers is this work, and this is also what makes it challenging. 

[01:23] Why Writing Is Hard 

There are a lot of emotional, psychological factors to being able to be a writer.

We need to be able to travel into another person’s experience and convey that through words. We need to be able to imagine things that we do not have in our daily lives and bring that back and explain it through words. So let’s not pretend this is easy. It is challenging. It is hard. But with the right kind of support and lots of nourishment for our bodies and our souls, and our imagination, we can do it.

[01:59] Find Your Own Path 

And even though I grew up in a very creative family, I had to find my own way into being a fiction writer and because my passion has always been science fiction and fantasy, not the classics, not things that were assigned in school but things I read on my own, I had to find my own way into writing science fiction and fantasy. All that said, in today’s world there are so many resources out there on how to write science fiction and fantasy, how to edit it, market it, make money at it. It’s amazing.

So it’s still customized, though, to each of you. There is no one right way to go about it, although there are like rules of the road and ways that you can respect the way things have been done even while you innovate. I really encourage you to continue to innovate and don’t try to follow someone else’s path, but really listen to yourself, your own instincts, your own intuition, your own emotions, your own visions, ’cause that is where the magic is.

Your vision is unlike anybody else’s vision, so keep at it.

[03:03] Get Support and Feedback 

And if you would like guidance and feedback, this is the time to search out support from beta readers, critique partners, your fellow writers, an editor, a coach like me; actually, I serve as a coach and an editor, or join our edit lab.

[03:19] Inside the Edit Lab 

I just want to take a minute to share with you our edit lab.

This is for science fiction and fantasy writers who have finished their first draft or near to it and want to get ready for the editing process and want to learn editing tools in the company of other like-minded writers. We meet every month when you join the edit lab. We meet every month on a Zoom call, and we look at people’s words.

We do 250 words per person. We usually have two or three writers, sometimes more, sometimes less. We do a little bit of free writing with a prompt that you’re welcome to follow to give you some focus, and we answer questions. You bring your questions to us, and we answer them.

And not only that, but there’s already a library of premium podcast episodes for you to listen to that are just for the members, where I’ve answered your questions and I’ve also done teaching.

I have a whole edit-your-novel curriculum that you can access through these premium episodes. And if there are questions that you have that I haven’t answered there, you bring them to the call, you write me. I can make a specific episode just for you. And there’s more goodies coming. I’m always coming up with new material to answer your specific needs.

[04:38] Stuck Ask Better Questions 

Everyone working on a science fiction and fantasy novel knows that their imagination is doing this amazing work, and I know your imagination is doing amazing work. And so honor the hard work that you’re doing. Bring your joy and enthusiasm to it, as I know you do. And if you’re stuck, that’s just a signal that it’s time to reach out for help.

Formulate your question. We’re doing magic with fiction. We’re weaving a spell. Asking a good question is like weaving a spell as well. And you have the power to ask a good question, and then you will find the answer by putting that question in the amazing search tools that we have nowadays with all the LLMs that are hooked up, and ask it to real people, to live people because the machines can only give you so much.

All right. So that is my little spiel today on writer as shaman.

[05:39] Shamanic Journey Steps 

And what are the process? What are the steps of going into a shamanic journey? There’s an entryway. There is setting up into trance-like state, and then there’s an entryway, and then there is sometimes a guide who shows up in a shaman-shamanic vision that will take us to the upper world or to the lower world or to some new dimension.

So as you write, think of how you get yourself ready. That’s like setting up the trance-like state.

What is the initiation or the passage that you go through, the doorway? For some people, that’s setting a timer or turning on music, and then you enter, and sometimes you know where you’re going, and sometimes you don’t.

And then when it’s time to leave, there’s usually an exit clearly marked, and then you can close the session and thank the powers that be that guided you and your own power that brought you through this session.

[06:43] Practice and Farewell 

Now, I don’t pretend to be a shaman in any traditional sense, but I feel like being a writer is like being a shaman.

We are going into another realm, and then we come back home to the ordinary realm. And we do this again and again day after day, and we get really good at it because we practice it. It’s the only way we get good at it is we do it a lot. If you have any questions about what I just shared here today or any of my offerings, let me know. I look forward to seeing you in the Edit Lab if that is your next step. All right, everyone. Write long and prosper.

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ABOUT BETH BARANY 

Beth Barany

Beth Barany is an award-winning fantasy and science fiction novelist and creativity coach for writers. They help novelists write, revise, and publish stories that matter—blending practical craft guidance with a big-picture commitment to imagination, meaning, and possibility. 

 

Learn more about Beth Barany at these sites: 

 

Author site /  Coaching site / School of Fiction / Writer’s Fun Zone blog

CONNECT

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CREDITS

c 2026 BETH BARANY

https://bethbarany.com/

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