What do crystal balls, funeral parlors, haunted houses, and tarot cards have in common? The classic imagery we associate with these things comes to us courtesy of the Victorians. The people of that era were fascinated with the occult. Victorians threw Halloween parties at which they played divination games. Crystal ball gazing was a favorite pastime. Spiritualism—a religious belief that the living could communicate with spirits in the afterlife—arose and flourished between 1840 and the 1920s.

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I learned one of my most valuable lesson in writing back in my college years. I was taking a screenwriting class where every student had to write ten pages of their script per week. Then, we would take turns reading what we’d written that week in class, and everyone would give feedback. The professor had a couple rules, but the one that stuck with me was this: If you are the one receiving feedback, you are not allowed to talk. At all. This was one of the most difficult things to do, but it has helped me tremendously, in writing and in life.