There is a time known as the between. The between voyager travels through uncharted territory, navigating dangers, attempting passage into the next life. There are times in life, after a death of some kind, when we are open to the slightest shifts, when our powers are acute, when we can change the future. The time never announces itself, never tells us it is here, or coming. But there are signs and ways of preparing.
Life is the preparation.
They fall in love with other writers. That's how they learn to write. They take on a writer, read everything by him or her, read it over again until they understand how the writer moves, pauses, and sees. The function of the society is to cultivate the individual. It is not the function of the individual to support society.