Showing posts with label Creativity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Creativity. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Tuesday's Inspiration - Creativity and Limits #aminspired #MFRWauthor
The inspiration for this bit was taken from Creativity and Madness by Rollo May, a great book I've read several times. "There is no such thing as unlimited creativity. It is within limits, often very narrow limits, that a creative work comes into being."
Thought about this for a long time. Then I began to think about my own limits when writing. Do I enjoy every kind of fiction? The answer to this was no. I don't read horror and I definitely have limits when it comes to writing stories that have horror elements. Thus there is one limit. There are genres I really enjoy but I have limits when thinking about writing them. Science fiction is one. I just don't have the scientific knowledge to write novels about space. I tried several times but needed more research than I was comfortable in writing. So there are some limits. Self-imposed maybe or perhaps imposed by my education and interests.
What are your limitations? Does your family limit you when you are attempting to write? This can happen. What about your own take on the world? Knowing your limitations can make you a better writer since you can work within your narrow limits and produce gems.
So look at your limitations and use them to write the stories inside waiting to sneak around those limitations.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Tuesday's inspiration #amreading #am writing J L Walters' Thoughts on Limits and Creativity
It's always interesting to find someone who has read some of the same books you have while seeking to learn about the creative process and limitations. Katherine Paterson is such a writere both read Rollo May's Courage To Create. This is what she discovered. "There is no such thing as unlimited creativity. It is within limits, often very narrow limits, that a creative work comes into being."
What are your limits? There are things limiting me. The way I grew up, the life I have today, the kind of memories I have about emotional events and the very emotions, the love I've had and the love I've given. The list could go on. Even my imagination has limitations. There are stories I can never tell, words write. Take horror stories. I can't read them and I can't write them. This isn't to say I can't write very bad people into my stories. Their villany is limited by what I know and have lived.
Part of the trick is in recognizing the limitations you have and using them. Filtering them through your imagination brings a story into being. My life as a child, as a teen, as an adult, the things I feel about what happened to me is filtered through my imagination and usually finds its way onto the paper.
What about you? Have you looked at your own limitations and filtered them through your imagination? Take a moment to think about this.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Tuesday's Inspiration - Creativity - Limitations
Are there limitations to creativity? I'm sure there are but when reading this segment, several things struck me as interesting. Rollo May began with death. That really does limit not only creativity but also life. Yet, I thought, there are cretive works that live far beyond the lives of their creators. Daydreams of writing something like this often will stunt a writer because they're too worried about what others will think rather than expressing what they have discovered.
Another limitation he mentioned was physical health. This is also true and not true. We've all read and heard about artists and writers who may have a physical limitation but rise above that and produce creative works.
Other limitations mentioned here were such as family, country, era and education. The point he made was that to be crative one must recognize their limitations and then surpass them.
I found these thoughts to be interesting. So explore your limitations and perhaps you can transcend them.
Another limitation he mentioned was physical health. This is also true and not true. We've all read and heard about artists and writers who may have a physical limitation but rise above that and produce creative works.
Other limitations mentioned here were such as family, country, era and education. The point he made was that to be crative one must recognize their limitations and then surpass them.
I found these thoughts to be interesting. So explore your limitations and perhaps you can transcend them.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Tuesday's Inspiration -- Courage and Creativity
When one thinks of creativity the mad genius comes to mind. Is creativity akin to madness. One reads about the number of artists who commit suicide or end up drug or alcohol ridden, but there are also many writers who live for long years and continue to produce works. Could the difference be that those who write for many years have somehow discovered the symbols that are meaningful to them and ignore the ones that aren't?
When writing I often don't think about those things that are my symbols, a dark cave, bright jewels? What about you, what symbols do you find creeping into your writing?
Does wanting a happy ending make a creative project less than one that's steeped in tragedy? Seeing justice done whether it's in the hero and heroine finding love or the criminal being brought to justice, or the evil villain defested. These are the focus of what I create.
Creativity comes of struggle. I've read books that are well written but the characters have little struggle and I'm disappointed when I reach the end because I'm searching for some struggle and find none. So think about your characters when you write. Is there a chance they could lose all they strive for? If not what is the purpose of writing their story? The struggle is important and what the characters learn about life and about themselves means the writer has either learned or is learning these things. So look at your stories and see if there is a way to increase the characters' struggles before they find the happy or satisfactory ending. All endings don't have to be happy but they must leave the reader saying, "yes."
When writing I often don't think about those things that are my symbols, a dark cave, bright jewels? What about you, what symbols do you find creeping into your writing?
Does wanting a happy ending make a creative project less than one that's steeped in tragedy? Seeing justice done whether it's in the hero and heroine finding love or the criminal being brought to justice, or the evil villain defested. These are the focus of what I create.
Creativity comes of struggle. I've read books that are well written but the characters have little struggle and I'm disappointed when I reach the end because I'm searching for some struggle and find none. So think about your characters when you write. Is there a chance they could lose all they strive for? If not what is the purpose of writing their story? The struggle is important and what the characters learn about life and about themselves means the writer has either learned or is learning these things. So look at your stories and see if there is a way to increase the characters' struggles before they find the happy or satisfactory ending. All endings don't have to be happy but they must leave the reader saying, "yes."
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Walking in other people's shoes
While reading On Becoming an Author, I came across this need for a writer and I found it very interesting. Yo me, it means becoming the character you're writing about. This holds especially true for your major characters. A writer needs to step into the character's life and discover likes, dislikes and other things. If not, all the characters come out sounding and acting the same.
Putting yourself into a hero or heroine is usually not hard, or is it? I've read many stories where the dialogue of one character could be said by another just as easily. Are there tricks to learning to live the lives of your characters? There are some tricks to be learned. Choose the character's occupation and try to be around people wo practice that profession. Here's where you learn the buzz words and the attitudes they bring to life in general. Listen to how people speak to each other. Read books on psychology and other aspects of human interactions. Write a scene from one of the character's viewpoints and then do it again from another character in the scene. How do they differ. Tear the scenes apart and do it again.
For me, Astrology often gives me an insight into the complex natures of my characters. What you need to do is become the character, not yourself telling about the character. Showing is the word and if it means tearing up or revising do it. Actually revision is fun since it allows you to add layers to the characters. This doesn't mean substituting one word for another. It means putting the feelings in and in your mind becoming the character you are writing about. I once read a statement that creativity is akin to madness. For just a bit, you need to enter a state of madness.
Putting yourself into a hero or heroine is usually not hard, or is it? I've read many stories where the dialogue of one character could be said by another just as easily. Are there tricks to learning to live the lives of your characters? There are some tricks to be learned. Choose the character's occupation and try to be around people wo practice that profession. Here's where you learn the buzz words and the attitudes they bring to life in general. Listen to how people speak to each other. Read books on psychology and other aspects of human interactions. Write a scene from one of the character's viewpoints and then do it again from another character in the scene. How do they differ. Tear the scenes apart and do it again.
For me, Astrology often gives me an insight into the complex natures of my characters. What you need to do is become the character, not yourself telling about the character. Showing is the word and if it means tearing up or revising do it. Actually revision is fun since it allows you to add layers to the characters. This doesn't mean substituting one word for another. It means putting the feelings in and in your mind becoming the character you are writing about. I once read a statement that creativity is akin to madness. For just a bit, you need to enter a state of madness.
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