> I find this fascinating. The exact sequence of his writing process for the song [Eleanor Rigby] is probably irrecoverable now but I’d love to know precisely when he decided on the song’s theme of loneliness, death, and worship, and when the name ‘Eleanor Rigby’ bubbled up into his conscious mind [from a gravestone in a graveyard he and John used to walk through]. It’s almost as if his unconscious mind had been giving him prompts, first ‘Eleanor’, then ‘Rigby’ (hey, check that sign out!), like a stage magician guiding their mark towards a card while creating the illusion of a free choice.It's not uncommon for writers to put things into their novels even they don't see. Readers and editors note what's there, and the writers can be surprised that it happened.
Sean Coyne talks about this several times on the Story Grid podcast, and it's on display in several of the episodes in which a writer's draft is examined.
Maybe the real story here is how the process of creating art taps into a part of the mind that it keeps hidden from itself, or at least doesn't expose without persuasion.
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