Writerly Paradoxes

[Butterfly]

I found this article. I thought it would interest everyone else.

the 10 paradoxes of creative people – In the end, Huxley was right...

I tend to agree with most of it, any thoughts guys n gals?

 

[Feo Takahari]

Seems generic enough that almost anyone, creative or not, would say "Yeah, most of this fits me."

 

[Shockley]

To me, it seems like the whole post could be summed up as 'Surprise surprise, writers are just like everyone else.'

 

[Ireth]

To me, it seems like the whole post could be summed up as 'Surprise surprise, writers are just like everyone else.'

Sounds about right.

 

[ShortHair]

Seems generic enough that almost anyone, creative or not, would say "Yeah, most of this fits me."

it seems like the whole post could be summed up as 'Surprise surprise, writers are just like everyone else.'

It doesn't read that way to me at all. Takahari and Shockley are creative people, so yes, those combinations of traits will apply to them. To take one example, though, most people are either introverts or extroverts--not both in the space of a conversation. We are not typical people.

My theory (I always have a theory) is that writers are better attuned to their subconscious. Jung believed that the subconscious contained all the traits and urges opposite to those of the conscious mind. Only by acknowledging that we contain Yin and Yang at the same time can we begin to integrate them.

Writers do the same thing in their work. For every good trait a character has, some other character has an opposing bad trait. We try to think like men to write male characters, and then we try to think like women to write female characters. We try to think all the thoughts that people can think, to feel all the feelings, to create entire worlds out of nothing more than our own conflicted selves.

Take a good look at the people around you. Celebrate the potential for newness inside you. It's more rare than you think.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Grief what a muddle! Speaking as a sensitive boy - what a load of sh*t. This could apply to anyone and everyone. Its just a way of making everyone think it applies to them, and at the same time making them feel good about themselves.

I mean just the first one - I have loads of energy but sit on my backside using my brain instead of running around. What a nice way of saying I'm lazy! And because everyone sits on their backside occasionally even extreme sports persons are going to be able to read this and think - wow I'm creative!

This is fortune cookie psychology.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[shangrila]

Some of them are a little broad but this is basically how psychology sees creative people, so I wouldn't say it's incorrect either.

 

[BeigePalladin]

that really can apply to anyone - its far to broad to say its ust writers/creative folk, to be honest

 

[Shockley]

@ShortHair: The introversion/extroversion point is a really good one, because I think it does the most to back up my claim. Every single human being on the planet has moments pointing in both directions, and they will have different levels of extroversion (I'll use that as the catch all term, since introversion is just the absence of extroversion) based on what group of people they're with at that moment.

Just for example, I have a small level of extroversion when I deal with my family, for a variety of reasons. When I'm with select groups of friends, I have extreme amounts of extroversion.

Ya dig?