Wednesday, March 7, 2012

The Creative Process

Last night while talking to a dear friend and fellow writer, she confessed having a hard time jotting down the whirlpool of ideas that are spinning in her brain. I wonder if she was being hard on herself when she told me she sometimes doubted her creativity.

Today, I found an article by author and creativity coach, Emily Hanlon. She says, “The Inner Critic is terrified of the creative unconscious because it is the home of feelings, emotions, images and it is chaotic and unexpected. The Inner Critic likes order and loves the status quo, which is antithetical to the creative unconscious.” In the excerpt below, she explains more about this inner struggle we writers go through.
Creativity is a subtle and magnificent dance between the rational and the intuitive, between the left and right parts of the brains, between technique and imagination. Both partners in this dance are absolutely necessary and are needed in equal proportion, which means that imagination is not more important than technique and vice versa. If you only live in the imagination, you will never get organized, you will never complete your story. However, if you start from the rational, linear, organizational part of the process, (i.e. Gotta have the perfect opening sentence and first paragraph... better yet, an outline...) you will never fall into the rich, passionate cosmic landscape of the imagination where anything is possible.

However, the main problem I have seen in my twenty-five years of teaching fiction writing is over-dependence on the rational part of the equation. People want to get the story written and get it out. (Whatever that means?) They want to leap frog the process, get the words down on the page and finish the story. This is to symptomatic of the goal-oriented society that we live in, a society that is striving upwards toward success instead of embracing the deeper, more powerful and life changing journey of descent that takes us into the creative realm of the true self.

When we write from the imagination we are writing what we "know" but from such a deep level of knowing that we don't know that we know it until it is revealed in our writing. This is often the truer aspect of self, the part that we do not readily show to the world, and sometimes do not show even to our self — at least not consciously. This is what makes the journey such risky business. This is also the great joy of writing; when we are true to the process, we discover worlds within we did not know existed.

An image I use to describe the intuitive journey of creativity is "falling down the rabbit hole" into Wonderland. This is a perfect metaphor for the creative journey which can never take place in the "real" or conscious world. Writing, whether it be fiction, poetry or nonfiction, finds its origins in the dark, fertile chaos of the unconscious — your personal Wonderland.

26 comments:

  1. It's nice to be able to wallow in the creative process itself! It's good for the soul to just relish in the creation itself rather than the end product.

    Take care
    x

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    1. Hi Jennifer,
      You're right. When I first write my drafts, I go with my instincts and my soul. I forget about technicalities.
      Have a great weekend!

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  2. Ah, another beautifully expressed sentiment. I love the image you post here, along with the imagery you evoke around the creative journey. It feels like where I am at in all aspects of my life, of which the writing journey is but one. Thank you, Claudia, for naming something that feels nebulous.

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    1. Thank you, Kelly!
      Ah, the writing journey, it's beautiful, yet complicated like life ;)

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  3. Really interesting extract. It makes me feel better because it tells me something I know but sometimes doubt - ie when you're sitting at the keyboard mentally doodling and waiting for something to happen - bit like a oujii board. Before you know what's happening words come - but it's that time before hand you think you've been wasting

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    1. Hi Mike,
      I like your analogy of the ouija board minus the spooky part ;)
      For me, the creative process happens when I least expect it. It's either there or not, unfortunately. I guess my brain functions differently from other writers. The creativity just sits, waiting to surface. I go with my heart, really.

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  4. This is a fantastic post, Claudia. I love and agree with every word. In my personal experience, I've found that my initial creative work stayed too heavily on the intuitive side. This is still imbalanced though-- nothing ever really gets done. Now I've learned to set goals and create outlines. The rational side keeps us in check.

    Oh, I have to say it again, I LOVE this post. I've reread it twice already and I think I will go do it again. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts.

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    1. Hi Raquel,
      I am so happy to hear your REALLY enjoyed it. I think this process applies to a lot of us. When I first started writing (seriously writing), I only listened to my intuitive side. My rational side was non-existent. Now I have to merge both sides in order to create :(

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  5. Hello Claudia, I enjoyed this post very much. Thanks for stopping by my blog, and thanks for following me.

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    1. Hi Elizabeth,
      You're welcome! Happy to have you here as well. Thank you for joining mine, too ;)

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  6. Rather beautifully written post, Claudia. You should write a book ;)

    But seriously, it is a lovely piece and hits home so accurately that I can see so many aspects within myself, and maybe that's why I still have a story dating back to the mid-eighties still waiting for me to conclude it?

    Food for the brain indeed.

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    1. Hi Mark,
      Actually, I am writing a book ;)
      However, I cannot take credit for this post. This is an excerpt from Author, Emily Hanlon. She deserves all the credit. I just wanted to share her wise words with my readers :D

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    2. Claudia,

      I was teasing when I said you should write a book--it was the devil inside me, honest!

      A question for you, though: in writing, how much of what is read on the page is from the soul/heart of the author, and how much is from the mind? I've often wondered about my own writing; is it purely a mental process, or is it an emotional one, where the true essence of your being is engaged and translated into word? No doubt many will say that it is both. But to be honest I have been told I sound differently in person as opposed to how I am read? So I'm a tad baffled?

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    3. Hi Mark,
      Hmmm, to answer your question, I think it depends on the author. I know some authors write from what they know/ what they've experienced in life. Others write about what they like, for instance, philosophy, psychology, religion, etc. I write from the inspiration I get at that moment, whether it's a conversation I overheard, something I saw while walking on the street, or even from a show on TV. The important thing is to put your thoughts on paper. The editing process will help you take care of the mechanics of writing. Hope this answers your question :D

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  7. Great post, and the timing of it (for me) couldn't have been better! :D Thank you!!

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    1. Hi Thomasina,
      Thank you for dropping by :D
      I'm so glad this post found you at the right time ;)

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  8. Thanks for an inspiring and a fantastic post! No wonder when we keep waiting for creativity to strike- we keep waiting!

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    1. Hi RBH,
      Thank you for joining my blog. Welcome! :D
      Glad you found it inspiring.

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  9. Okay. I am going to play devil's advocate here, which is something I don't usually do. I liked your post and understand your point. However, I'm a left-brainer, so I get paralyzed without structure. I find my creativity within order. I know that sounds crazy, but when I write, I set up the plot and outline. Then, when I fill in the blanks, my creativity crawls out. I have to do left first in order to pull out the right side. I also ignore the inner critic as much as possible until revision time.

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    1. Oh, don't feel bad at all. Some writers fall into this category, too. Well, in this excerpt, Ms. Hanlon bases this theory on her many years of teaching fiction writing. This is not cast in stone, however. ;) Each writer follows what works best for him/her.

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  10. This is very psychological, and thus interesting to me. Jung used to say the same thing. The inner critic is a kind of censoring agent that keeps us away from our true and innermost nature; everything happens but at an unconscious level, to the point where not only we have no control over it, but we aren't even aware of its happening.
    How can I jump into the rabbit hole, though? How can I prevent the preventer from preventing me to jump in?
    Lovely post!

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    1. Hi Jay,
      I wonder what Jung would say if we assumed our Inner Critic was just our ego choking the life out of our creativity. If you want to jump into the rabbit hole, you'll have to subdue your inner critic by either meditating, listening to some music, or asking "real" critics (e.g. fellow writers) to critique your work.
      Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

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  11. This article made me realize how much I battle with my creativity and my need for order and structure. Sometimes the latter gets so much in the way, I can't get creative.

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    1. Hi Laura,
      I think most of us go through this. In my case, I unleash my creativity while writing my first draft and then, I invite the editor in me to take care of order and structure ;)
      But that's just me.

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  12. Not sure about wanting to getthe story written and get it out? I tend to suffer from a fear of 'getting it out', and by that I mean, I get to a point where suddenly I'm almost afraid to go any further for fear of ruining the story. Crazy, right? No one else gets to read it, but yet I still get this 'barrier' that stops me going further?

    Any ideas on this? Am I alone (or just crazy) in this experience? And any suggestions regarding how best to get past it?

    Thanks :)

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    1. Hi Mark,
      I'll share my personal experience. When I started writing (professionally), I was so confident in my work I entered every contest and magazine I found. However, that was not the problem. My haste led to a lot of refusals, hence despondency. From this experience, I learned to be patient, to be humble, and most importantly, to edit, edit, edit. Ask fellow writers to read your work (family and friends are not necessarily good judges of our work since they're biased). So being a bit fearful is a good thing as it helps you to revise your story before sending it out, and thus, suffering rejection.
      Hope my answer was helpful.
      Have a great weekend!

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