Each chapter (and often scene) of a story poses a narrative question that propels the reader into the next scene or chapter. Can you identify the narrative question/s in Chapter One? Can you identify the subsequent scenes and/or chapter/s in which this/these narrative questions are answered in part or in full?

Which character do you identify with most in Chapter One, and when/how does that identification shift (if it does) in subsequent chapters? Note the chapters in which your perception of the character/s changes. Do you identify with parts of each character or fully with one?

In Chapter Four Adelaide says she doesn’t buy “the nonsense (Phipps) is selling…the light and the dark and the way thought amplifies times 7 from one thinker to the next and another 7 times back without a word exchanged.” Adelaide calls it utter hogwash.

What I like to call “The 7X Principle” is a repetitive theme in ancient, as well as modern mysticism. Christian mystics such as the great Cypriot, Stylianos Atteshlis, proclaimed this phenomenon to be the basis of all Elementals or Thought Forms, which gain 7 times the density and power with each mind-to-mind volley. (In other words, we amplify creation or destruction with every thought, conscious, subconscious, or unconscious.) Were you familiar with the 7X Principle? Do you use it consciously? How can it be applied to de-escalate discord and familial warfare in your own life? How can it be applied to manifest a new car, an eagle outside your office window, a job, or Peace on Earth?

Most good character-driven stories have what is known as an “Ambiguous Character” who remains ambiguous through much of the story. Who is the Ambiguous Character in Sunnyside Up? How does the character’s ambiguity add to the tension of the story? Note at what point the ambiguity slowly shifts as more is revealed about this character.

In the book POWER vs FORCE, author David Hawkins, MD, PhD maps the Levels of Consciousness through a scale of ascending emotions from Shame at the lowest end to Enlightenment at the highest. (Google: Power vs Force- Levels of Consciousness and click Images at the top.)

What level of consciousness relates to Adelaide in the early chapters of Sunnyside Up? What level relates to Felicity and other characters, such as the graveyard spirits? (What level are you?) Do these levels advance as the story moves on? Do they advance for all characters or only some?

Felicity’s mentor, Mrs. Phipps, teaches her to experiment with the Void, also known (among other things) as the Zero Point field in quantum physics, and the Womb of Creation in some myths and other cultures. In this story, as well as in life, the Void represents pure potential. In the beginning of the story, Felicity experiments with the Void, manifesting lesser items, such as a ski jacket and bathing cap.

Mrs. Phipps tells Felicity that the Void is always listening. So “if she doesn’t learn to state her intentions in a conscious manner, sooner or later it will tune into her subconscious thoughts and desires, manifesting the garbage that preoccupies her lower mind.” Felicity fears that this is exactly what her sister, Adelaide, is doing --“living on leftovers” from the Void, manifesting nothing but donuts, bourbon, and chaos.

At this point in your life, do you identify with Felicity or Adelaide with respect to the Void? Did you always? At what point in your life did your awareness change? How often do you call upon the Void now to manifest something specific? Are you self-conscious when you do it? Do you doubt its potential (or yours) each time, or do you create with confidence? Note how, in future chapters, the Void serves up conscious manifestations and unconscious leftovers.

Time or the lack of it is an ongoing theme in this book. Adelaide is constantly confused about time. She has thoughts like, “Time is a junk drawer” and “It’s like someone locked up Father Time and swapped his calendar for a roulette wheel,” among others.

Time is an elemental construct of conventional storytelling. Readers like to be grounded in space and time, but in Metaphysical and Visionary Fiction, the point is often to move readers beyond the conventional into the mysterious.

Does the “time soup” in Sunnyside Up confuse you as a reader, or are you able to abandon convention and slowly discover timelessness with the characters?

Another ongoing theme of this book is Light. At first (the lack of) it manifests in the setting, specifically, the weather. The constant atmospheric dreariness echoes the dreariness and lack of clarity in the protagonists’ psyches. In all writing, especially in the Visionary genre, every aspect of the characters’ outward and inward beings, including their names, should be intentional. The dreary atmosphere is intentional.

Track the mention of light (and its absence at times) and how its meaning moves from weather to other emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects as the story progresses.

A third primary theme of Sunnyside Up is Ancestral Memory or Karma. Ancestral memory is coded in our DNA. The recent field of Epigenetics has shown that the repetitive behavior and experiences of previous generations determine much of our genetics. There are many who say familial and cultural stories also pass forward for resolution, as will ours to our own progeny. This is why forgiveness, though painfully difficult in some cases, is so important. Generational feuds are no fun, especially if they’re buried deep in our psyches, playing out in ways we don’t understand and can’t track.

In what ways are ancestral memories depicted in Sunnyside Up? Is one character more affected than another? Or has one or more character become awakened to the impact of this karma on him/her/their selves and decided to resolve ancestral issues? In what ways did their specific karma hold each character back? In what ways does it hold you back?

At what point/s did one or more major plot twist present itself to you so that the story took on new dimension? Do you recall any of the clues of language or action that were carefully buried to make this twist credible?

Based on the decisions each character may have made to stay entrenched or move on, do you find the ending positive or negative? Based on these earlier decisions, what alternative ending would you have found most plausible?

Authors often deliberately employ a variety of literary devices in their storytelling. One of these devices is symbolism. At what point was the symbolism of Vera's profession obvious to you? At what point in the story did Vera's personal priorities change and how did this affect her profession?

Another literary device, used especially in visionary novels, is the use of archetypal names. For instance, Vera Wright is derived from the Latin "veritas" for truth and "right", for absolute. So as a prophet, Vera's name represents Absolute Truth. Can you identify the meaning behind other names in this story?

Foreshadowing is another effective literary device. Can you identify the place/s where Vera's ultimate transformation was foreshadowed?

Characters are often placed in specific relationship to one another as protagonists/comrades or antagonists/adversaries in order to reveal certain things about themselves that lead to their growth and transformation. Which characters were protagonists/comrades and which were antagonists/adversaries? What did these confrontations or empathies reveal about each character? How did it help them grow?

Do you think Vera would have been able to fulfill her mission if Monk had lived? If Mia had not reformed? If Father Max had turned his back on her?

Each of the primary characters in MYSTIC TEA was given a distinct literary voice and point-of-view (POV). Did you find each Voice/POV to be consistent and easily recognizable? Can you describe the different language/voice used for Gemma, Arielle, Mike, Augusta, Maya? Was the language appropriate to the character?

Each of the primary characters is on a specific spiritual journey formed by the circumstances, belief systems and experiences of her past, as well as her goals and ideas of the future. How would you describe each of their journeys?

Do you think any of the outcomes of these characters' lives would be different if their journeys had not intertwined and converged with each other? For instance, what would have become of Gemma without Arielle, Mike, or Augusta? Likewise for other character pairings. Would any of them have fulfilled her purpose without the others?

This story begins with a monastic community of nuns who are confused about their allegiance to a church leadership that no longer serves or nourishes them. How do they rise above this disappointment to continue serving God and their communities?

What would you say are the true vocations of Gemma and Arielle?

Had you ever heard of psychic twins (or chimeras) before reading MYSTIC TEA? The author thought these conditions were a figment of her fertile imagination until the subsequent appearance (two years later) of an article in The New York Times, Tuesday, September 17, 2013: DNA Double Take. Do you ever sense things before they happen? Do you think anything else in this book might be prophetic?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/17/science/dna-double-take.html?ref=science

http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/t/story?id=2315693&page=1

In The Anesthesia Game each of the characters has been taken (or takes herself) off-course on one wild ride or another. Ironically, these detours serve to bring their lives into focus in order to reveal their true destinies. Do you think this happens frequently in life? Do you think adverse events are necessary to detach us from our superficial lives and re/connect us to purpose? In the end, how did each of the characters benefit from the adverse circumstances s/he experienced as a result of Sydney’s illness?

It is said that we each have at least one master in our lives who teaches us how and where to walk the path. In what way did each of these women (wittingly or unwittingly) instruct or assist one another?

When we think of a child or young adult enduring the rigors of chemotherapy, we are mostly outraged by the injustice of their suffering. How does the character, Sydney, transcend suffering and consequently, victim consciousness? How does she teach the others to do the same?

In the beginning, the character, Pandora, is painted in shades of light and dark. She is an ambiguous creature, a mystic, who, depending on your viewpoint, could be crazy or genius. How does she portray both ends of the spectrum? How do you feel about that dichotomy at the end of the story? Does she fulfill her destiny?

As the science of physics and energy moves into mainstream knowledge, we become more aware that every material thing contains a specific vibration and frequency. Does it seem logical that at some point medicine might be able to pinpoint the vibration of individual diseases? If so, can the cure be far behind? Did you find this line of thinking far-fetched when first introduced into the storyline? How do you feel about it now?