Prods to creativity

[Argent'horn]

Steve, back in February, you posted an entry to your blog entitled "Reading Two books at the same time." You suggested that the ideas juxtaposed in unexpected ways lead to a stimulus to creativity. I think that there are lots of ways to accomplish the same thing, although this entry is the neatest, most straightforward advice I have ever seen on the topic. I think that, for example, Tarot readings do somethig very similar, putting disparate images together in one's mind and sparking creative solutions from the mating thereof. I know, of course that many people who do Tarot readings would be offended by this mundane analysis, but I think that it is mostly what makes such things as Tarot readings appear to give so much useful information. Also, most 'rationally minded' people seem to dismiss out of hand the idea that such divination systems as Tarot readings could have ANY utility beyond self delusion, and I think they are missing out on a potentially useful tool.

[Steven Barnes]

Excellent! Please share more thoughts!

Steve

[baubosboy]

I agree. I'd always dismissed things like the Tarot as divinatory tools, though not as fun games. Came across a novel by John Sandford, in which the protagonist uses the tarot in exactly the way you describe. We tend to think in patterns, and can get stuck in them; random suggestions, out of left field, can break us out of those. I thought that was just brilliant. Sometimes you need to disconnect. I was kind of, around that time, or a little before that, doing something sort of similar with my weight-training; I'd done up a list of my six favourite training protocols, and would roll a dice to see which I'd do for the next two or three weeks. I decided it wasn't the best way to achieve specific goals, such as hypertrophy or strength gains--but it's a great way to shake things, to emotionally rejuvenate the workout. I believe Steve has mentioned something similar with regards to his training. Chance, the Wild, the unforeseen, the unaccounted-for--these things can break us out of the doldrums like nothing else. Being no mystic, I now see things like the tarot, or runes, as interesting tools, good for tapping into the random and the overlooked. Excellent post, thanks for bringing it up.

[Steven Barnes]

One way or the other, consciously or unconsciously, creativity involves both re-integrative and synthetic aspects. Some are clear and chartable, others are mysterious and almost mystic. I'd love to hear from people who create in different arenas--including home life. Who is aware of their process, and the way they assist it? Who is aware of the ways they sabotage their creative process?

[Argent'horn]

As a professor and research mathematician, I find that NOT trying to protect myself from distractions is an aid to creativity. I don't know whether this is the same phenomenon that we have been discussing in ths thread or not. It may be what is called 'stochastic reasonance." This is what occurs when, paradoxically, more information gets through a noisy channel than a noise free channel. I have been planning to mention this here, but I was going to wait until I could fine a reference to a _Science News_ article on it which I read several years ago. One demonstration of this effect is when music is played at a volume below ones threshold of hearing, nothing is heard. Add some white noise, and it becomes possible to discern the music as part of the overall sound.

[Argent'horn]

I want to clarify a bit. I don't ALWAYS welcome distractions. When I have a concrete idea I want to pursue, I want quiet isolation. But when I do not have such an idea and am unsure what to do, I find that distractions are as likely to be helpful as not.

[Steven Barnes]

This is a great thread. I have a peculiarity about my re-write process I thought I'd share: I go over a printed copy of the book while watching a movie on television. Swiftdeer, one of my teachers, called that "working at second attention," where you have a primary conscious mental channel busy with a task, allowing the subconscious to express itself. Sometimes I have to freeze the movie and concentrate both "first" and "second" attentions on the task, but I find that it works really really well for otherwise long and grueling edit sessions.

[margobears]

I almost always have more than one book being read at once, sometimes as many as five or six. They're scattered around the house and I pick them up as I see them.

I create in many different ways, among them writing, drafting patterns, sewing, illustrating, making jewelry, singing, dancing, and parenting.

Also, and not surprisingly given the previous, I'm polyamorous. Having two relationships at once doesn't double the creative work that good romance requires, it cubes it, at the very least.

So, there's a lot going on for me creatively. I fact, I'd say that the "creation" window is always open and running. This struck home for me a few months ago when I was having an intense relationship discussion with one of my loves. My heart and soul were in it, and it was very important to me...but there was still a part of my mind that insisted on working on a design project, and I was powerless to stop it!

One of the few things that really dampens my creativity is focusing too much of it in one area. This happened this year, when the creative work that I get paid for was taking most of my focus. Not only did my work suffer, but I became quite unhappy and depressed, and only started to pull out of it when I began to focus on my dance hobby again. Cross training is important.

And, to those of you who are wondering, yes, it seems highly probably that I have AADD. I haven't gotten a formal diagnosis, but on the "If you answer 10 of these 20 questions with Yes...." tests, I score a perfect 20. I doubt if I'll ever go on medication or seek other therapy for it, though. To me, it's just the way things are.

[Steven Barnes]

Actually, it never occurred to me to suspect you of ADD. Nor do I think you should seek help for it unless it causes you disuption in one of the three major arenas:
1)Inability to sustain intimate relationships.
2) Inability to sustain a satisfying career
3) Inability to create a healthy, energetic, attractive body (a body you would find attractive on a partner)

Assuming your ADD doesn't interfere with any of those three, who cares?

Steve

[poetx]

(my first post here, btw)

I'm one of those people that always has several things going on at once. I work in IT and am always creating something in that arena, but am also a published newspaper columnist, and also have several other creative outlets (drawing, painting, poetry, music).

As far as reading several books at once -- that is me to a 'T'. I can swap back and forth between them (anything from history to politics to sci-fi to humor) without really missing a beat.

When I create, however, I've noticed a tendency toward something that i call 'creative procrastination'. I don't blog, but i post a lot on other message boards, and find that as my 'real' responsibilities and stress encroach, my backchannel creative output goes up, in the form of satire or humorous posts which are creative writing in their own right. Problem is, they are not what i'm being *paid* to do. :-)

Particularly when on deadline for a column, my mind is flooded with all these other tangential ideas that simply demand expression -- creative procrastination. In some senses this is a good thing, as I am pleased with the output, but it's also a way in which my subconscious seeks to derail me from doing what is needful. I have a suspicion that the ideas are there anyway, but i only notice them because i don't want to do what i *have* to do. I need balance.

Also, the for the woman above who posted about stressing and, to paraphrase, losing her muse when her creative outlet becomes a source of income, i can relate. I used to paint pretty well and my career (in IT) wasn't really progressing, so i leaned on my art as a side hustle, vending at street fairs, painting murals, and, eventually, doing paintings (portraits and such) on commission.

And one day i got up and had a portrait to do and simply could not paint another thing. I hated everything i put on paper. I still have the canvas with the started work on it. It's been 8 years. My wife reminded me that i did my best work when it came to me, at odd hours of the night, versus under pressure. I think she's right. Since then my creative void has been filled by my writing, but every now and then, on deadline, i feel that familiar twinge.

I am interested in your lifewriting concept, as i have several ideas for novels, but the concept of 'starting' is daunting.

(i just finished The Kundalini Equation, btw, on recommendation from a friend, and enjoyed it very much).

[Steven Barnes]

It can get difficult when you connect creativity to bread-winning. Of course, this is much like many things in life: a non-stressed expression of a thing is usually more organic than an expression of a skill under pressure. the question of bending the creative drive to commercial purpose is also a cause for concern. Meditation of various kinds can help us connect with the creative drive. constant creative expression, only some of which is connected to income, is also useful. The 'creative procrastination" comment was great, BTW--and a very real dragon the professional artist must learn to slay.

[Argent'horn]

I have just remembered something that I realized several years ago. The greatest boost to creativity of every sort. I believe, is spending time at the interface of two disparate cultures. This may be especially good for children whose parents belong to, or at least come from, different cultural or ethnic groups. In addition to the unexpected juxtaposition effect that we have discussed here before, there is the very real necessity of coming up with one's own answers to the questions of life when the environment gives at least two, likely conflicting, ones. It seems likely to me that all of us can take advantage of this just by spending time with people as different from ourselves as possible. It helps to read books and expose oneself to other artistic creations by people of other cultures, races, etc. However, I suspect that actually spending time in genuine interpersonal contact with people from other cultures or races is far better, if we do it honestly and spend enough time to get past superficial interactions.

[Argent'horn]

A question, following up on my previous post here: If my observation is correct here, is this easier for people in ethnic or racial minorities, since a different culture pervades the environment, or is it easier for people in the majority group or culture? (I am now wondering whether the answer to this is knowable at all. Maybe it would require someone who has lived completely in more than one culture.)

[Steven Barnes]

Numerically, it would be easier for a member of a minority to interact with members of a majority--there are more of them! But there are, of course other factors: intimidation, anger, class difference. In some of these, the majority culture member can contol the interaction more than the minority. On the other hand, anger and fear on the part of some minority groups can make such an approach dicy. So...I would say that, on the average, members of a minority understand the majority much better than vice versa, but even that can be wrong, especially in Hollywood, where (and I was just thinking about this ten minutes ago!) white executives often seem to think they know more about black people than black people do. And of course, what they really mean is that they can write black characters THAT APPEAL TO WHITE AUDIENCES better than black people can. And that may well be true.

Steve