Tuesday's Inspiration ala Flannery O'Connor - More on limitations #amwriting

Once again, this is about limitations. "There is only one answer....and that is one writes what one can." Flannery O'Connor.

When I read this I wondered what it meant and the answer I found for me was that's exactly what I do. There are some books I won't write. Horror stories, science fiction unless it might deal with ESP, highly technical action adventure. That's because my mind doesn't work in that direction. I do read most of these types except horror.

Another way this limitation works for me is that I'm most comfortable in the 50,000 to 80,000 word length. I can and have written shorter stories but they're harder to write. Longer stories, perhaps once and that's because it's a trilogy all in a single book.

The third way this limitation works for me is that I don't like dismal endings. This means that I write genre novels that can have a positive ending.

How about you, do you see your limitations as holding you back or are they for you the canvas upon which you write your stories?

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.

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.