Thanks to a series of rather fortunate events, I am once again taking part in the Advanced Studies in England program, which means I will once again be updating this blog regularly. However, both my ASE experience and this blog are going to look a little different this time around. More specifically, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this summer I am taking an ASE online course from the comfort of my own home. This course is called Writing Character-Driven Prose and is being taught by my tutor from last fall, whom I am extremely excited to be working with again. To make sure that we gain as much as possible from this class, my classmates and I are expected to blog about our thoughts, opinions, and experiences surrounding our coursework. Therefore, my blog posts from here on out will be very text-heavy, though I might throw in the occasional picture from my time in England to spice things up. Additionally, I plan to include concrete writing goals or advice at the end of each post, as I feel that doing so will be beneficial for me.
So, now that I've clarified what exactly I'm doing here, let's get into the meat of things, shall we? For class this week, my peers and I were instructed to watch two TED Talks: "Tales of Creativity and Play" by Tim Brown and "Your Elusive Creative Genius" by Elizabeth Gilbert. In "Tales of Creativity and Play," Brown discussed how his design company, IDEO, uses several techniques to facilitate worker creativity. These techniques include encouraging employees to make prototypes of their ideas, asking for quantity instead of quality during brainstorming sessions, and allowing space for play. Ultimately, although this video was enjoyable to watch, it mostly rehashed lessons that I learned from a Psychology of Creativity course that I took two years ago. Therefore, it didn't particularly catch my attention.
In contrast, "Your Elusive Creative Genius" caught my attention in a big way. To explain why, I first need to reveal a somewhat embarrassing secret about myself: I often let fear prevent me from writing. This fear can take several different forms; sometimes it appears as anxiety that my writing will never be published, other times it materializes as the worry that even if my work is published, no one will enjoy it. Most often, however, it takes the form of the fear that I've lost my creative spark. Regardless of the shape this fear takes, it frequently paralyzes my hands and my mind, blocking my ability to write. In turn, this inability to write makes me feel guilty and fearful that I've lost my touch, which paralyzes me even further. It's a vicious cycle, but fortunately, Elizabeth Gilbert's TED Talk offered me advice on how to break out of it. Gilbert argues that a lot of creativity comes from an outside source--a muse, of sorts. In order to create, you have to show up and put in the effort, but you also have to trust the muse to do its part. But if the muse doesn't visit you for a while, don't worry; it's simply off inspiring someone else, and will visit when the time is right. This may seem like a nonsensical, fantastical idea, but as someone who engages with fantastical ideas on a daily basis, I quite enjoy it. Regardless of whether or not it is objectively true, the idea that creativity is a sprite that visits on its own terms is reassuring to me, as it means that I am not to blame when my creativity disappears for a while. Therefore, I don't have to feel guilty or fearful when I'm feeling uninspired, so long as I show up and do my part--i.e. put words on the page.
So, that was rather long and rambling, but hopefully it made at least some semblance of sense. If not, or if you have any suggestions or thoughts about writing for me, please feel free to comment down below.
Thanks for reading!
Abby
Writing Advice: Challenge the muse. If creativity strikes at a moment when you physically cannot write (e.g. when you're driving, when you're in class, etc.), tell it to come back later. Similarly, if it refuses to appear when you want to write, invite it in. In short, acknowledge that some aspects of creativity are external and engage with those external aspects when you're struggling with your writing.
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