I'm Jealous of My Character

I’m psychically deprived. Don't have a psychic bone in my body. No premonitions, no spooky hair-standing-on-end moments. So what inspired me to write a series with a psychic character?

Jealousy.

I would love to touch someone and see inside them, or hold a missing person’s article of clothing and get a vision of where that person was. My character in MIND GAMES, Diana Racine, can’t make up her mind whether having those abilities is a gift or a curse.

She’s a psychic entertainer. She’s also a fraud. That’s right, fraud, as in charlatan, huckster, and even witch. Those are only a few of the epithets she’s been called. She employs a computer hacker to dig up information on the people in the audience by cracking the credit cards they use to buy a seat for one of her performances. But with every reading, she reveals a fact known only to her subject, whose reaction assures the audience that Diana is not the fraud people claim. So is she for real, or is she a con artist?

Diana’s story goes back over twenty-five years. Her first psychic experience as a six-year old was an accident. A neighborhood boy went missing, and Diana picked up one of his toys. Wham! She saw where he was clear as day and led the search party to his body in a ditch not far from his house.

After a few more astonishing discoveries, law enforcement began calling on her to help find people who’d disappeared, and those who’d given up hope of locating their missing kin paid her to do the same. Many didn’t believe a child could possess that much power. Some even accused her of setting up the disappearances and the discoveries. Most put their skepticism to rest after institutes all over the world proved she was the real thing.

Along with worldwide fame came the stress of finding lost people―children who’d strayed, Alzheimer patients who’d lost their way, murder victims. Sometimes finding those victims led to clues that put some bad people behind bars. When the pressure became too much, Diana told her manipulative father that she’d lost her gift. Unwilling to give up the life to which he’d become accustomed, he created her act. That’s how she segued from famed child psychic to more famous psychic entertainer.

One of the killers who wound up in prison because Diana found clues that led to his arrest, has festered for twenty years about exacting revenge on the child who sent him there. He’s out, and though Diana doesn’t know it yet, she’s in big trouble. The twist is that the killer has the same psychic abilities as Diana, which makes for a duel of mental dominance.

Are there really people who have psychic abilities? Yes. Are there frauds? Yes again. The only thing that separates one from the other is their track record and/or a good PR person. Some have websites and claim their teachings can help followers find their spiritual selves. They make generic predictions and promote their own beliefs; others claim they can speak to the departed, and most perform for a price.

I have a friend who’s had psychics tell her things they couldn’t possibly know. She’s a believer. Personally, I don’t want a psychic reading. I know what’s already happened, and like a character in the second book of the series, GODDESS OF THE MOON, I’m too old to want to know the future. We all have the same end. I’d prefer not to know mine. I like surprises.