Howdy! I recently posted about constructing a fictional memory palace by writing a story. I’d like to revisit this, because I think I could’ve done a better job expressing how this would work in practice as well as the benefits of using this approach. I’ve since built my fictional mind palace into 135 loci. The bottom paragraph will be about using this method to create more loci in real mind palaces.
In my last post, I used simple sentences in describing how one could begin a story, “I fall off the zip line (locus 1) and into the foam pit (locus 2).”
I think it works more effectively if you write out the sensations in more detail, almost as though your writing a diary entry of what it’s like to travel through this mind palace or to act on that particular loci.
“My arms grow tired and strained from the zip line; I’m forced to let go at the last second, and my hands are left blistered from the worn metal grips. I feel the foam squares surrounding my body, making it difficult to shift myself out of the pit.”
After each sentence, pause and imagine the sensation of what took place in your writing. After every 5-10 sentences, imagine playing a part in the whole story you’ve written so far to ensure you have each loci memorized.
A large benefit to the fictional mind palace isn’t only that you can create things that don’t exist in the real world, like teleportation pads, but you give yourself the ability to incorporate more of your senses. Dr. Anthony Metivier has spoken about the utility of incorporating your five senses. If you have things in your mind palace like the Futurama transporting tubes, giant fruit to eat from, etc., your giving yourself more of an opportunity to use more of your fives senses besides visual. I have a walkway made out of candy, and I break off a piece and eat it. I have a giant paper shredder I fall into and I see myself being split into little shreds like flat Stanley.
Another thing I’m planning to do is to create “super power” rooms, where in each room I have a different power. In one room, I’m as strong as the Hulk and loci might be monster trucks and the like that I’m able to throw long distances with ease. In another room, I might have angel wings and be able to fly to new loci. In another, I may have telekinesis and am able to shatter things like glass using my mind.
If you think constructing a completely fictional story would be too difficult, another way this could be used is to create more loci in your house. You could create a story about you being small and interacting with things like your TV remote and toothbrush (credit to another user on this site for reframing the mind palace perspective as a 1-inch observer), and then you’d just walk back through that story to see if you remembered the new loci.