The Feeling of Being Watched

By Chris Capps

Isn’t it strange that we have an actual sensation or feeling equated to being watched? For centuries people have reported an eerie feeling when they feel like someone they can’t see is observing them. And this phenomenon would be added to the laundry list of other strange but ultimately baseless occurrences if it wasn’t for the research of one man when he decided to put the feeling of “being watched” to the next level.

Rupert Sheldrake, a researcher and parapsychologist came across evidence while conducting trial research on the matter that people had a definite impression of when they were and were not being watched. The experiments he conducted gave a whole new level of controversy to the subject and finally gave some level of credibility to the phenomenon of scopaesthesia, or “feeling like you’re being watched.” In the experiment, Sheldrake lurked in the background of a quiz show in the UK while it was being taped by the BBC. At random intervals Sheldrake would designate a time to stare at people in the audience behind their backs. He and his research assistants then videotaped the event and looked back on their results. What they found was astounding.

While the audience members did look back into the shadows where Sheldrake and his group were sitting, after a few moments of being stared at a number of audience members would turn and look back at the “observers” as if to try to find the source of an eerie but not quite entirely explained feeling. Almost as though they were being watched. When the video of the event was looked back at they found astonishing evidence that something was indeed going on when the audience members were under the impression they were being watched. Just how they knew precisely was not well understood, but they did somehow.

The experiment concluded that there was some mechanism, although not one that was entirely understood, that would allow test subjects to determine whether they were being watched or not by someone that didn’t want to themselves be seen. While no one ventured to explain just how this happened or why, believers in the theories behind Sheldrake’s findings soon found themselves embroiled in a battle over evolution with skeptics. The discovery did indeed seem to have some advantageous benefits to the fittest. In the wild if a predator is staring at you, it would be quite beneficial if you could by some unseen mechanism determine if they were somewhere nearby and yet hidden. If there was some mechanism by which this could happen, then it seems to follow that in time it would eventually become more common as the survivors passed the trait on to their offspring.

So is there something to the phenomenon of scopaesthesia? In the recorded history of mankind there have been hundreds of accounts where the phenomenon has either saved a life or somehow influenced the outcome of some sort of conflict. But when we attempt to explain just how it works there’s no real way other than to suggest it is an outright psychic phenomenon. Is this proof of psychic ability? What else may we discover in time?

Source

Robert Recommends...

• Habits Of Mind


• The Human Race of Tomorrow


• Emotion Scanning Technology


• World Becoming More Corrupt?


• The JK Rowlings’ Method


• Aleister Crowley – Who is he?

The post The Feeling of Being Watched appeared first on Robert JR Graham.

The Feeling of Being Watched

By Chris Capps

Isn’t it strange that we have an actual sensation or feeling equated to being watched? For centuries people have reported an eerie feeling when they feel like someone they can’t see is observing them. And this phenomenon would be added to the laundry list of other strange but ultimately baseless occurrences if it wasn’t for the research of one man when he decided to put the feeling of “being watched” to the next level.

Rupert Sheldrake, a researcher and parapsychologist came across evidence while conducting trial research on the matter that people had a definite impression of when they were and were not being watched. The experiments he conducted gave a whole new level of controversy to the subject and finally gave some level of credibility to the phenomenon of scopaesthesia, or “feeling like you’re being watched.” In the experiment, Sheldrake lurked in the background of a quiz show in the UK while it was being taped by the BBC. At random intervals Sheldrake would designate a time to stare at people in the audience behind their backs. He and his research assistants then videotaped the event and looked back on their results. What they found was astounding.

While the audience members did look back into the shadows where Sheldrake and his group were sitting, after a few moments of being stared at a number of audience members would turn and look back at the “observers” as if to try to find the source of an eerie but not quite entirely explained feeling. Almost as though they were being watched. When the video of the event was looked back at they found astonishing evidence that something was indeed going on when the audience members were under the impression they were being watched. Just how they knew precisely was not well understood, but they did somehow.

The experiment concluded that there was some mechanism, although not one that was entirely understood, that would allow test subjects to determine whether they were being watched or not by someone that didn’t want to themselves be seen. While no one ventured to explain just how this happened or why, believers in the theories behind Sheldrake’s findings soon found themselves embroiled in a battle over evolution with skeptics. The discovery did indeed seem to have some advantageous benefits to the fittest. In the wild if a predator is staring at you, it would be quite beneficial if you could by some unseen mechanism determine if they were somewhere nearby and yet hidden. If there was some mechanism by which this could happen, then it seems to follow that in time it would eventually become more common as the survivors passed the trait on to their offspring.

So is there something to the phenomenon of scopaesthesia? In the recorded history of mankind there have been hundreds of accounts where the phenomenon has either saved a life or somehow influenced the outcome of some sort of conflict. But when we attempt to explain just how it works there’s no real way other than to suggest it is an outright psychic phenomenon. Is this proof of psychic ability? What else may we discover in time?

Source

Robert Recommends...

• Habits Of Mind


• The Human Race of Tomorrow


• Emotion Scanning Technology


• World Becoming More Corrupt?


• The JK Rowlings’ Method


• Aleister Crowley – Who is he?

The post The Feeling of Being Watched appeared first on Robert JR Graham.

The JK Rowlings’ Method

Are You The Next JK Rowling?

by: Suzanne Harrison

Harry Potter. The name brings instant recognition from people all over the world. The books have sold over 350 million copies worldwide. Only the bible has more translations. The movies have gone on to grace the lists of the Top 10 grossing films of all time.

When Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was published in 1997, Joanne Kathleen Rowling was a previously unpublished author. She had no publishing credits, no insider knowledge, no friends in the industry.

So how did she do it? How did she go on, in the space of ten short years, to become the first billionaire author on the planet?

The answer to that question lies not in what she did in those ten years between the publication of the first book and the publication of the seventh, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

The answer actually lies in what she did in the seven years prior to the first book’s publication.

So if you’re an author who is yet to be published, you’re actually in the best possible position. Because it’s in this time, before your book hits the shelves, that you can have the greatest influence on its success.

Quite simply, JK Rowling followed a four-step writing process that you too can adopt to write your very own list of bestsellers. The question is: do you have what it takes to be the next JK Rowling?

Planning

This is by far the most underrated of the steps in the writing process. And in the final wash up it is absolutely the most important.

It was 1990 and Jo Rowling was on a train between Manchester and London. Harry literally strolled fully formed into her mind while she was gazing out the train window at a field full of cows. She spent the next four hours (the train was delayed) imagining Harry, the world he inhabited, the friends and enemies he had there and the dangers and joys he may encounter there. She had nothing to write on so had to be content to play this all out in her imagination. By the time she got off the train in London, the central cast of characters were already cemented in her mind.

But did she go home and immediately begin scribbling a story with these characters? No, she didn’t. She spent five years, yes that’s right FIVE YEARS creating and developing every last detail of the wizarding world, including government and education systems, how the wizarding world stood shoulder to shoulder with the muggle world, and she devised a highly sophisticated system of magic that would eventually form the backbone of her own special brand of writing magic. On top of this she sculpted out the entire story, planning the details and events of all the seven books, before she put pen to paper to begin writing the first.

Would you attempt to build a house without plans? Would you attempt to drive across the country without a map? Or would you set sail on the seas without a compass? Writing a book without a detailed planning stage is like attempting to build a house without plans. Miss this step and you are almost certainly destined to become lost in a forest of your own words.

Writing

When you are writing, you are just writing. You are not planning, you are not editing. You are writing. Once you have planned your story, it is time to sit down and write it.

JK Rowling planned the Harry Potter series for five years before she put pen to paper on the first book She wrote the entire first book, and felt as though she were “carving it out of this mass of notes”. All the planning was worth it. She was able to devote herself to the actual task of writing, knowing that all the story and character elements she needed were covered.

This is the best possible place for you to be in when you are writing a novel. Novels are long. Usually over 100,000 words and sometimes as many as 200,000 words and more. That is a lot of words! So if you have planned and structured your story effectively, done your research (either real or in your imagination) and collated your notes, then the writing process is an absolute joy, where you can be very certain of your ability to produce the best possible novel.

Jo Rowling said she felt she “had to do right by the book”. She really believed in the story and so when it came to writing it, she made sure she had taken care of all the necessary preparation. Once that’s done, writing is almost easy!

Rewriting

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Jo Rowling rewrote the opening chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone a total of 15 times. Her own mother died just 6 months after her first attempt at Chapter One of that book, and that sent her into a frenzy of rewriting, essentially changing everything. The Potter books are about death, there is no doubt about that, and they are driven particularly by the death of Harry’s parents and his miraculous survival. When Jo Rowling experienced such a major turning point in her own life, she rewrote the story to reflect and process her own pain.

Writing and rewriting are separate processes. Writing is scribing or sculpting out the drafts of the story. Rewriting is re-looking and re-seeing. Often the rewrite will show up where the story has gone off track and where questions asked at the start haven’t been answered by the end. In JK Rowling’s case, she realised after writing the entire first book that she had given away the entire plot of the seven books. She rewrote it in this light, and held many things back.

Many successful authors say that you only write to rewrite. DH Lawrence even said that he wrote his entire first draft, threw it away and then started again from scratch.

Editing

Editing is the process of refining and polishing your manuscript. This part of the process may be done by you, or by an external editor. It is often wise to have an editor look over your work before submitting it for publication as it is extremely difficult to get the distance you need from your own work to see where it can be improved.

Not that you have to listen to what the editor says. In the end it is your name on the spine of that novel and you are entirely answerable for its contents. Having said that, a good and subtle editor can lift your novel to heights that you may not be able to achieve on your own.

It is clear from the Harry Potter series that JK Rowling was more tightly edited at the beginning (the first two novels are barely more than 200 pages and by the time we get to number five, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, we are faced with a weighty tome of over 700 pages) so it is generally advisable at the beginning of your career to bear the advice of your editor heavily in mind, especially if you are new to publishing. In every event, less is more, and a distilled and focussed book is more likely to captivate and intrigue a new audience than a meandering epic that constantly loses its way.

Writing a book is a process, never forget that. Each step in the process is unique but necessary. Don’t mix them, and certainly don’t attempt to skip any steps. Do that at your own peril.

JK Rowling has shown the world what is possible if you adhere to the basic processes of the art and craft of writing a good story. So before you attempt your next novel, address the four steps in the writing process: planning, writing, rewriting and editing, and be sure you give each step its due.

And who knows? You could be the next JK Rowling.

Source

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The post The JK Rowlings’ Method appeared first on Robert JR Graham.

The JK Rowlings’ Method

Are You The Next JK Rowling?

by: Suzanne Harrison

Harry Potter. The name brings instant recognition from people all over the world. The books have sold over 350 million copies worldwide. Only the bible has more translations. The movies have gone on to grace the lists of the Top 10 grossing films of all time.

When Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was published in 1997, Joanne Kathleen Rowling was a previously unpublished author. She had no publishing credits, no insider knowledge, no friends in the industry.

So how did she do it? How did she go on, in the space of ten short years, to become the first billionaire author on the planet?

The answer to that question lies not in what she did in those ten years between the publication of the first book and the publication of the seventh, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

The answer actually lies in what she did in the seven years prior to the first book’s publication.

So if you’re an author who is yet to be published, you’re actually in the best possible position. Because it’s in this time, before your book hits the shelves, that you can have the greatest influence on its success.

Quite simply, JK Rowling followed a four-step writing process that you too can adopt to write your very own list of bestsellers. The question is: do you have what it takes to be the next JK Rowling?

Planning

This is by far the most underrated of the steps in the writing process. And in the final wash up it is absolutely the most important.

It was 1990 and Jo Rowling was on a train between Manchester and London. Harry literally strolled fully formed into her mind while she was gazing out the train window at a field full of cows. She spent the next four hours (the train was delayed) imagining Harry, the world he inhabited, the friends and enemies he had there and the dangers and joys he may encounter there. She had nothing to write on so had to be content to play this all out in her imagination. By the time she got off the train in London, the central cast of characters were already cemented in her mind.

But did she go home and immediately begin scribbling a story with these characters? No, she didn’t. She spent five years, yes that’s right FIVE YEARS creating and developing every last detail of the wizarding world, including government and education systems, how the wizarding world stood shoulder to shoulder with the muggle world, and she devised a highly sophisticated system of magic that would eventually form the backbone of her own special brand of writing magic. On top of this she sculpted out the entire story, planning the details and events of all the seven books, before she put pen to paper to begin writing the first.

Would you attempt to build a house without plans? Would you attempt to drive across the country without a map? Or would you set sail on the seas without a compass? Writing a book without a detailed planning stage is like attempting to build a house without plans. Miss this step and you are almost certainly destined to become lost in a forest of your own words.

Writing

When you are writing, you are just writing. You are not planning, you are not editing. You are writing. Once you have planned your story, it is time to sit down and write it.

JK Rowling planned the Harry Potter series for five years before she put pen to paper on the first book She wrote the entire first book, and felt as though she were “carving it out of this mass of notes”. All the planning was worth it. She was able to devote herself to the actual task of writing, knowing that all the story and character elements she needed were covered.

This is the best possible place for you to be in when you are writing a novel. Novels are long. Usually over 100,000 words and sometimes as many as 200,000 words and more. That is a lot of words! So if you have planned and structured your story effectively, done your research (either real or in your imagination) and collated your notes, then the writing process is an absolute joy, where you can be very certain of your ability to produce the best possible novel.

Jo Rowling said she felt she “had to do right by the book”. She really believed in the story and so when it came to writing it, she made sure she had taken care of all the necessary preparation. Once that’s done, writing is almost easy!

Rewriting

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Jo Rowling rewrote the opening chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone a total of 15 times. Her own mother died just 6 months after her first attempt at Chapter One of that book, and that sent her into a frenzy of rewriting, essentially changing everything. The Potter books are about death, there is no doubt about that, and they are driven particularly by the death of Harry’s parents and his miraculous survival. When Jo Rowling experienced such a major turning point in her own life, she rewrote the story to reflect and process her own pain.

Writing and rewriting are separate processes. Writing is scribing or sculpting out the drafts of the story. Rewriting is re-looking and re-seeing. Often the rewrite will show up where the story has gone off track and where questions asked at the start haven’t been answered by the end. In JK Rowling’s case, she realised after writing the entire first book that she had given away the entire plot of the seven books. She rewrote it in this light, and held many things back.

Many successful authors say that you only write to rewrite. DH Lawrence even said that he wrote his entire first draft, threw it away and then started again from scratch.

Editing

Editing is the process of refining and polishing your manuscript. This part of the process may be done by you, or by an external editor. It is often wise to have an editor look over your work before submitting it for publication as it is extremely difficult to get the distance you need from your own work to see where it can be improved.

Not that you have to listen to what the editor says. In the end it is your name on the spine of that novel and you are entirely answerable for its contents. Having said that, a good and subtle editor can lift your novel to heights that you may not be able to achieve on your own.

It is clear from the Harry Potter series that JK Rowling was more tightly edited at the beginning (the first two novels are barely more than 200 pages and by the time we get to number five, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, we are faced with a weighty tome of over 700 pages) so it is generally advisable at the beginning of your career to bear the advice of your editor heavily in mind, especially if you are new to publishing. In every event, less is more, and a distilled and focussed book is more likely to captivate and intrigue a new audience than a meandering epic that constantly loses its way.

Writing a book is a process, never forget that. Each step in the process is unique but necessary. Don’t mix them, and certainly don’t attempt to skip any steps. Do that at your own peril.

JK Rowling has shown the world what is possible if you adhere to the basic processes of the art and craft of writing a good story. So before you attempt your next novel, address the four steps in the writing process: planning, writing, rewriting and editing, and be sure you give each step its due.

And who knows? You could be the next JK Rowling.

Source

Related articles

• Will J.K. Rowling Write a Doctor Who Short Story?


• J.K. Rowling may – may – be writing a Doctor Who story


• Harry Potter Epiphany, Quotes by J.K. Rowling


• J.K. Rowling Trading Her Nimbus For A Ride In Dr. Who’s Tardis?!


• All creative endeavors are, to some extent, selfish


• Letter Inspiration: Harry Potter


• J.K. Rowling Contributing a ‘Doctor Who’ Story?


• Guess What, Everyone? The Vatican Haaaated J.K. Rowling’s New Book


• J.K. Rowling’s ‘The Casual Vacancy’ to Get TV Series Treatment


• 5 Marketing Lessons from Harry Potter

Robert Recommends...

• Write About Something That Will Change Your Life!


• Think and Grow Rich by Writing


• Write One Piece at a Time


• Imagine If Yoda Were Your Writing Coach

The post The JK Rowlings’ Method appeared first on Robert JR Graham.