The Creative Mind (Part Six) Or: I Never Asked to be John Grisham

We're continuing our series based on the work of psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihaly. Last time, we looked at one particular implication of the polarity Imagination/Fantasy and Rooted sense of reality. Here's a second:



Stop me if you've heard this one before, but I'd like to be a published writer someday. A Full Time published writer.

And, among those who like to scribble words, I'm pretty sure that puts me in the majority.

Singers and songwriters want recording contracts.

Actors and actresses want film deals.

Painters want their work displayed in galleries.

I don't know what Paris Hilton wants.....

But when we move on from the act of creating something, and start thinking about what to do with it, we have to balance this imagination/reality dichotomy.

Most creative types produce their work with at least the hope that other people may eventually see/hear/experience it.

And (come on, now....) you wouldn't mind getting paid.

Apart from crass materialism, the truth is: it takes money for the simple things in life.... like eating.

So we write our words, we paint or sculpt, we audition for American Idol, dreaming that someone will throw piles of cash at us, so we can do what we love Full Time.

I'd love to do that, wouldn't you?

Dreams vs Hard Reality.

In this act of creating, I think we need to favor the Imagination/Fantasy side. Once we've finished, and we're glowing with pride at what we've brought forth, a dash of Rooted Reality is in order.

Personally, I must be a closet masochist. I don't mean to be, but I do seem to have a knack for making things difficult on myself. Follow this logic, and see if you don't agree:

I write. That eliminates the percentage of the world's population who never pick up a book. And in today's video-saturated world, that percentage seems to be growing.

I write fiction. That eliminates the percentage of readers (a large one) who only read non-fiction.

I write fiction from a Christian worldview. Big drop off there, Bucko.....

I write Speculative Christian fiction.  For those unfamiliar, that's translated "weird." Christian fiction for those craving Fantasy, Sci Fi, horror, supernatural.... Which cuts the field down to approximately the size of Bluejacket, Oklahoma.

Oh. And just to add a bit of challenge, I tend to prefer stories that straddle the line between literary and commercial.

That leaves me with a core audience of roughly 5 people. (On the plus side, that does simplify my marketing plan--I can just call 'em up.....)

Think I should quit my day job?  Dreams vs Hard Realities.....  Creative people need both to survive (with sanity intact).

Where's your balance between Fantasy and Hard Truth?

The Creative Mind (Part Five)

The fourth polarity of the creative individual: Balancing imagination/fantasy with a rooted sense of reality.


There are several implications to this one. We'll look at one today, and one next time.

1) All fictional worlds depend, to greater or lesser degrees, on our real world. That is, reality is the station from which we depart, when we move into the realm of fiction.

It's impossible (I think...) to create a fictional world that draws on nothing from the world we know. If such a story could be constructed, could we understand it, having no frame of reference?

We connect with the rabbits of Watership Down, or with Ray Bradbury's Martians, because they display elements we can relate to.

Most creative ideas begin with what already is, and then move from there to what could be.


For all its dazzling imagination/fantasy, Harry Potter works because it is rooted in solid British reality--boarding schools in the country. London, and trains and double-decker buses. And the universally painful process of growing up.

The flip side is, while good stories are rooted in known reality--reality rarely makes a good story.

That's where imagination/fantasy come in.

You start with reality...then you play "what if" games with it.

Reality is: there are other galaxies in the universe.
What if: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

Reality is: Property and inheritance  were vitally importance in the England of the 1800's
What if: Two young women...Elinor and Marianne, for instance...were suddenly left with no father and no inheritance?

Reality is: Racial discrimination.
What if: A young girl named Scout is forced to learn this hard truth?

Fiction is a dance between what is and what if.


More on this creative dance, next time...

The Creative Mind (Part Four)

We're looking at how creative individuals have complex personalities...the ability to be more than one thing.

The next polarity of Csikszentmihaly: Playfulness and Discipline.


Researchers in creativity note that the process involves a blend of sheer fun, and hard work. Highly creative types embrace both ends of the spectrum.

A playful spirit allows us to follow our whims. To explore a story thread and see where it goes...and to enjoy that process. To imagine, as children do, without fear of mistakes.

Ah, but if that's all we do.....

"I had this great idea for a novel, but I never did anything with it..."

"I've written a few chapters, but life is so busy..."

"I get enthusiastic about a new writing project, but after a week or so that energy fades and the project just sits."

Discipline...

Discipline means I will write today. And tomorrow. And tomorrow.

I'll set goals and stick with them.

I'll write, regardless of how I "feel."

I'll make time to read--study the work of others who excel at my craft.

I'll do the hard things, as well as the fun things.

Years ago, I read an interview with singer/songwriter Amy Grant. She relayed the story of a time early in her career when she complained to her manager that public appearances and time commitments and deadlines weren't "fun" anymore.

Her wise manager looked her straight in the eye, and told her to decide--right now--how serious she was about a music career. A professional, he said, does what needs to be done, regardless of how "fun" it may seem.

Children are playful and inventive. But when the game stops being fun, they quit and go on to something else. Mature adults get the work done, even when they don't feel like it.

Highly creative individuals find a way to tap into both.

How are you doing?

The Creative Mind (Part Three)

We're looking at psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihaly's thoughts on Creativity...and how creative individuals transcend the boundaries of personality...The importance of being both/and...

Csikszentmihaly's second polarity is: Naive and Smart.

Or, to put it in cognitive psychology parlance: Divergent and Convergent thinking.

Divergent thinking is fluid. Flexible. Wandering down rabbit trails and making connections where none existed before. "Naive" in the sense that you're blissfully unaware of The Rules....so you're free to color outside the lines. Exploration and Curiosity.

Convergent thinking is the kind measured by standard IQ tests, and correlates with how well you do in academic settings. It's about rational judgment, logic, and evaluating ideas.

In writerly terms: First drafts are Divergent thinking. Second (and subsequent) drafts are Convergent thinking.

You have to make space for the Artiste and the Editor living inside your head. And make sure neither one bullies the other.

How's your balance?

(Special Tip: No extra charge....

These concepts can help your credibility as a writer. The next time your significant other/child/relation/friend interrupts your creative groove--or catches you staring off into space--try this: "Not now, please. I'm engaged in Divergent Thinking." They may be awed by your Importance, whisper "sorry," and tiptoe backwards out of the room, closing the door quietly.)

Just Because: Life Under the Glass

From time to time, I post something Just Because, which may or may not relate to our topic of Psychology and fiction. Today...one of my favorite authors gives eloquent voice to something in my heart that I lack words to express...





"Do you know why books like this are so important? Because they have quality. And what does the word quality mean? To me it means texture. This book has pores. It has features. This book can go under the microscope. You'd find life under the glass, streaming past in infinite profusion. The more pores, the more truthfully recorded details of life per square inch you can get on a sheet of paper, the more 'literary' you are. That's my definition, anyway. Telling detail.Fresh detail. The good writers touch life often. The mediocre ones run a quick hand over her. The bad ones rape her and leave her for the flies."

Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

The Creative Mind (Part Two)

So...

We know from studies of "creative types" that there is no single "creative personality." That's good news, because it doesn't exclude me...or you.

But psychologists who've examined the topic have found certain traits among persons of greater creative achievement.

The most important are Complexity and Flexibility, and for our purposes, those two are close cousins.

In essence, what researchers have found is that highly creative types are more skillful at moving freely, fluidly, along the full spectrum of human personality. Because of this ability to adapt, they are perhaps more complex than the average human being (and we know how complex humans tend to be!)

In his book, Creativity (1996) Mihaly Csikszentmihaly, who has spent his career as a psychologist studying various aspects of creativity, achievement, and high performance, expands on this concept.

Based on his years of study, he argues that highly creative persons present paradoxes of complexity: When it comes to their behavior, instead of being this OR that, they tend to be this AND that.

Csikszentmihaly discusses a number of these "personality paradoxes." Let's look at them, in series, and see what we can learn:

Great physical energy, and often at rest.

Creativity requires great effort (Profound, huh? I know, that's what you come here for....)

Mental effort, physical effort, emotional effort. Long hours, intense concentration. Lots and lots of what Flannery O'Connor called "get."

To put the cookies on the bottom shelf: Highly creative types can't be lazy.

Except, sometimes you need to be.

Csikszentmihaly's point about polarity requires a creative person to move between these two states, with some skill at knowing when each is required.

For a season, you may have to "give it all you've got." For a season, you may have nothing to give.

Sing with me now: To everything (turn, turn, turn)...

Einstein worked ferociously hard creating his theories (something to do with "time" and "relatives." You can look it up). He would even work at his desk while rocking his daughter's cradle with one foot.

Then he escaped for long weekends, sailboating on the lakes of Switzerland.

Some have noted that highly creative individuals are more likely to need afternoon naps (you're welcome for that piece of ammunition).

Intense energy and effort.....AND....rest and relaxation. If you're serious about your creativity, you'd better get serious about both.

How are you doing on this first polarity? Leaning to one side or the other? How do you boost your energy? What helps you unwind?

The Creative Mind (Part One)

Creativity--the ability to formulate something that has not previously existed--is a whole branch of psychological study unto itself. And the researchers who explore this attribute have something to say to any serious practitioner of creativity: Such as the Writer.

In this (long) series, we'll begin to unpack the topic. But, as with all aspects of psychology, there are points of contention and argument, and lots of blank spaces. We're a long way from a complete understanding.

First, let's clarify one foundational concept:

A single, definable, "creative personality" does not exist.

In their review of the research, Tardif and Sternberg (1988) noted that no single personality trait has emerged from studies as the key to creativity.


And Mihaly Csikszentmihaly (1996), a noted researcher in Positive Psychology topics, said this:

"The point is that you cannot assume the mantle of creativity just by assuming a certain personality style. One can be creative by living like a monk, or by burning the candle at both ends. Michelangelo was not overly fond of women, while Picasso couldn't get enough of them. Both changed the domain of Painting, even thought their personalities had little in common."

This is vitally important, I think, because we're prone to stereotypes (have you noticed?)

Maybe you've always thought of "artistic types" as a little offbeat? A little loopy? (Technical psych term, there...) Inconstant? Moody? Shy & Retiring? Haughty? Sensitive? Flamboyant?

Some creative people are these things...Just as some stockbrokers, or retail clerks, or librarians, or firemen, or Sunday School teachers may share those traits, too. But many creative people aren't these things. And being Sensitive, or Moody, or a little loopy does not give you Instant Creativity.

I hope this frees you up a bit to be yourself...whatever that may be.

Writers...and other creative-types, come in all flavors. Including Vanilla.

Saw a guy riding a bike the other day, in the city where I work. He was dressed in a red shirt, blue pants, and yellow sneakers. A walking Color Wheel. In my world, that's a tad showy.... but that doesn't mean I can draw any meaningful conclusions. "There's a another weird artist."

If anything, your personality wouldn't determine whether or not you are creative...but it might influence the particular style in which your creativity exhibits itself. Out-of-the-box personalities are liable to create something really "out there"....while more conservative types will express themselves within carefully drawn boundaries. Outgoing personalities may be more drawn to performing arts...acting, for instance. While introverted personalities may prefer something more reclusive...say, writing.

But note that we're not saying that all writers are introverted and reclusive. We're saying that introverted and reclusive-type personalities would be more likely to pick a form of creativity that doesn't put them on stage in the bright lights.

So--please--don't put on airs. Don't act the part of a Writer (whatever that means to you) in hopes that your Muse will sing louder. Don't adopt a "persona" just to give your PR/Marketing staff grist for the publicity mill.

Be who you are.....Even if it's Vanilla.  We'll understand.


references:  Creativity (1996) Mihaly Csikszentmihaly; Harper Collins Books

Tardif and Sternberg (1988) What do we know about creativity? In R.J. Sternberg (ed) The Nature of Creativity; 429-440 New York: Cambridge University Press

Grief and the Searching Phenomenon

Came across this the other day, and it struck me as something that would make for good dramatization.

A lot of research has been conducted on the grieving process. Most of it in the context of losing a person who is dear to us, but don't forget that we (and our characters) "grieve" other losses as well--pets, jobs, our youth, cherished dreams...

So, what's this Searching Phenomenon?

Bowlby (1961) was one of the early researchers in the field of Death and Dying, and he described the "urge to recover the lost object."

This desperate need to recover what was lost takes many forms, and as fiction writers these are helpful to explore, as they are methods of "showing" grief--as opposed to merely "telling."

In her book, Grief, Dying and Death, Therese Rando outlines some of the ways the searching phenomenon plays out:

1) Physical Restlessness.  It may be difficult for the griever to sit still. She may try to sit, but pop back up quickly, moving from place to place or room to room. While it may appear "aimless," there is an aim--she is "searching" for the one she will never find again. She may physically reach out and touch things, exploring her environment, looking for what is no longer there.

2) A draw towards objects and places.  "Searching" can cause the griever to gravitate towards environmental reminders of the deceased. If you (or your characters) associate a certain room, or a city park, a particular chair or a cherished object (a piece of jewelry, a football, a doll, etc) with the lost one, you will find yourself drawn towards that, "looking" for the person. We recently discussed scents in a series of posts. Clothing, especially clothing that still retains the scent of the departed, can be a powerful emotional magnet. In a heartbreaking sense, the griever is "searching" the empty clothes for the lost one who "should" be inside them, while gaining some sense of comfort from "finding" their scent.

3) The griever may experience the illusion of "seeing" the lost one. For instance, in a crowd, someone with their back turned may spark a reaction.... "It's her!"

4) Impulses to speak to, or do things for, the departed, as if they were still alive.  Examples include picking up the phone intending to call the loved one, or thinking "It's time for John's five o'clock medicine."

5) Calling.  The griever may cry out to the lost one, either vocally or silently. Wanting desperately for them to answer. Think about the way a parent might call out anxiously to a child who had wandered away...Calling a person's name is an instinctual part of searching.

Rondo describes this searching process as a necessary part of the grieving: "It is only by the repeated frustration of these intense longings for the deceased that the finality of death is made real."

Grief is a process of searching, not finding, feeling the emptiness of that failure....and repeating.

Important concepts to keep in mind when your fiction takes you into territories of loss.

references: Bowlby, J., Processes of mourning. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis. 1961, 42, 317-340

Grief, Dying, and Death: Clinical Interventions of Caregivers; Therese Rando, Research Press Company, Champaign, IL 1984. 

 

What's That Smell? (Part Four)

One last word on scents (for now), and it involves what we could call: Scent-prints.

Not to get All Technical on you, but I find this fascinating. This knowledge might even win you something on a game show. I don't write a lot of Sci-Fi, but if I did, I'd be all over this concept.

Every biological feature of your body has an unseen, genetic manifestation (the genotype), and an outward, physical manifestation (the phenotype).  If you have brown, curly hair, then you have the invisible code for it (genotype) and the visible manifestation of that code (the hair itself--the phenotype).

Our immune systems are no exception.

A string of over 50 genes, along a single chromosome, contains the programming for our immune systems, and this cluster is called the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC). The really cool thing is, MHC genes are the most unique biological code we know. Identical twins excepted, no one shares their MHC pattern with anyone else on the planet...now or ever.

So the MHC is the invisible set of instructions for your immune system (genotype). Guess what the outward manifestation (phenotype) is?

Your body scent.

Yep. True story. You have a body scent shared by no one. Ever. (Unless you have an identical twin hanging 'round someplace).

Your particular scent is unique to you. And it is the scent of your immune system. (Now that you know this, amaze your friends at your next party.  "Does my immune system smell off to you?")

Here's another interesting factoid: Opposites do attract. In studies, researchers have found that people are more attracted to potential romantic partners that display different MHC-prints from our own. The psychology of attraction is closely linked to the sense of smell, and we tend not to be drawn (romantically) towards close relatives. Biologically, it's because they don't smell differently enough from ourselves to activate attraction.

What families do share, based on similar MHC-prints, is comfort smelling. Mmm...you smell like one of my clan. You smell safe.

For writers:

a) If you write Sci-Fi, use this. It's a big concept, and in the future it will move beyond Science Fiction and become Science Fact. Since each MHC code is unique, it will play a role in detection, security procedures, genetic manipulation, etc. Lots of story ideas there.... Please send royalties.

b) Both men and women report being drawn to items (clothing, in particular) that have the scent-print of their beloveds on them. E.g., sleeping with a husband's shirt when he is away. A nice little detail you might be able to work into a story sometime.

What are your ideas for using personal scents in stories?

reference: The Scent of Desire, by Rachel Herz; 2007 (William Morrow)