Creatives Next on the Pop Psychology Hit List

The war against the individual is moving forward at full speed, and the creatives are next on the list of being targeted for having a mental deficit. As a creative, I see this as dangerous. Equating creative people as having any kind of deficit is the first step to inventing a new mental illness.

A study was conducted on creatives who were put through a series of tests. The creatives scored lower at identifying a large letter that was composed of   smaller ones that were  of a different letter. Creatives were deemed as having a deficit because there was no difference in the way both creatives and non-creatives shifted their focus from tree to forest level focus. The test doesn’t demonstrate any deficit. All it shows is that we’re all different in how we act and perceive things. Technically, the way I see it is that either letter answered would be correct as both are present. I can clearly now see why being  a big picture thinker made it harder for me to take tests at school. I saw too many variables at getting to the answer. This is a major reason why outlining and plotting is so important to me as a writer. I’d be all over the place without them!

I hyper-focus, easily missing things that are happening around me when I’m writing, including a very loud hurricane alarm! This actually happened during the last tsunami warning when I lived in Oahu. I heard it in the back of my mind. I knew what it was, but I didn’t process the information. The next morning, I told my family about it, and I was concerned as to how shut off I was from the outside world. After some reflection, I concluded that on a sub-conscious level, I must’ve known we weren’t in any immediate danger as we lived in an area that was not in the evacuation zone. Not that I trust human calculations and planning when it comes to surviving a natural catastrophe, but that’s a whole other topic, so I’ll end my digression here.

Just how intense is my hyper-focus? My husband told me when I work, I remind him of his autistic friend. Interestingly, the article states something similar by mentioning ADHD and autism.

“The general idea is that [people with ADHD] are not able to focus on anything. But really there are two different parts of the disorder, and one is that if they really get interested in something, they become almost like autistic people: really focused, so much so that they are not able to practice anything else.” 

I find it revealing that they’d mention ADHD and Autism in an article about creatives who supposedly have a mental deficit. The article also states that creatives achieve success by “stubbornly clinging to ideas.”

“The research may help explain why autistic people, who tend to focus obsessively, can often be highly creative. Paradoxically, it may also help explain the link between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and creative success.” Maia Szalavitz (from the linked article)

Apparently having drive and focusing on something until you find success is now a stubborn trait and a mental deficit. If that’s the case, I say, stubborn is great—which I did happen to tell my daughters a while back. I told them that if you’re going to be stubborn, be stubborn where it counts. Be stubborn when it comes to your art and to your interests because that’s what it will take to produce your best work.

From Quirky to ADHD

Before I even clicked on the article, I had a strong suspicion that ADHD was going to be mentioned. There was a book I read that was first printed in the seventies, The Career Guide for Creative and Unconventional People. Most of the ADHD traits were listed in there:

“Again and Again, the findings from psychological and vocational studies indicate interests in art, music and literature are associated with more neurotic problems.” Carol Eikleberry

If you’d like to read the review I wrote for the book at Amazon way back in 2007, click here. Flash forward to 2013, and we find the article like the one I linked to above. What does all this say about ADHD? Personally, I don’t believe it’s a disease. I’m not here to start a war against those who think it’s real. That’s my personal opinion, and as a person that would’ve been drugged to the max had I grown up at this time, I can state it with authority. I just choose not to label myself as having a mental deficit as I don’t feel that I have one. I prefer to say I have an over-abundance of creative energy, and when I’m not spending it, I certainly exhibit neurotic characteristics. I was also diagnosed with borderline personality disorder in my teens, and that’s another label I ignore now.

ADHD Characters in My Writing

In my stories, I champion the ADHD personality-type. My protagonist in Jessie’s Song deals with his creative energy through music. In Six Pack, which will be released in 2015, my protagonist, finds her focus through bodybuilding. That particular book is semi-autobiographical, and I hope that it will inspire women to nurture their own quirkiness. I struggled to fit in most of my life, but now I appreciate my quirkiness. I told my landlord that when I was a child, I felt like a freak. As an adult, I’m glad to exist outside of the fringe of perceived normality.No. I’m not “normal,” and I say that with pride. We’re all different, and that’s something to celebrate.

Love and light,

Eleni

Lessons Learned By A Writer With A Short Attention Span

As of June 21, 2012 I completed my first draft of Sunrise, nine days short of my goal. As I reach another milestone in my writing career, I’d like to dedicate this post to everyone who suffers from PTSD and ADHD. The latter I see as a positive because the hyper-focus characteristic that comes with it enables me to finish large projects quickly. I can’t see anything that produces such positive results as being negative.  However, the former can be crippling for me. I only recently discovered that these old feelings and emotions that crop up and get tangled up in present events  are flashbacks. Through the years I’ve dealt with them successfully through mindfulness meditation, chanting and  remaining steadfast on my spiritual journey. It keeps me grounded in the moment and allows me to maintain a focus I’ve never experienced before.  I  accept the events that led to my condition will forever be a part of me, and this acceptance helps with my healing and forgiveness of those who’ve imprinted themselves into my psyche. It’s only through forgiveness that I’ve been able to progress to a place where I love and appreciate the life I’m living.

As a side note, Harmony, a technology used in my novel, Unison, eliminates traumatic emotional memories from the past. The protagonist’s conclusion as to whether or not that’s a good thing is answered in the book and also mirrors my own conclusions.

Now…on to the writing stuff!

THOUGHTS UPON COMPLETION OF WRITING, SUNRISE

Discomfort leads to growth

I always remember that when I decide to take the road most traveled, which for me would’ve been to have an unnamed narrator in the omniscient voice. However, it’s my named narrator that strings the whole story together and brings it to a satisfactory resolution. I focus on that whenever I think about going into the book and taking out all the references that identify the narrator. All in all, Sunrise  has grown on me because of a strong likable cast of characters that came alive because of the specific narrator and her personal views towards them.  Another unexpected surprise for me was that I found that writing in this voice is not unlike first person—except for the fact the voice doing the narrating  isn’t directly involved in the story. I like the level of mystique this adds to the story.

A question I asked myself at the start of this book was:

Could I write a fulfilling story with twelve characters and complete all their arcs in an emotionally satisfying way without writing thousands of pages?

Answer: Yes, and using omniscient narration helped me achieve this in under 80,000 words. After my next edit, which I scheduled in for September, I’m fairly certain the number count will go up a bit. With Unison, it moved up over 25,000 words! I’m fairly certain that won’t be the case with Sunrise as I’ve been editing as I go along, and I don’t forsee many holes that need plugging. As I’m free until July 1st, I’m going to continue to clean up the last remaining chapters.  When I come back to this book, I’ll have an easier time because of the following techniques I’ve improved upon.

Editing as I go along –  In July I’ll begin my edit on Jessie’s Song, and I dread all my visits to Autocrit to see how many times I overused it, that or was. Not to mention all those duplicate words that I failed to notice because I was more interested in getting the story down! It’s emotionally daunting—and draining just thinking about it. With Sunrise it will be a smoother—and faster edit.

Don’t start typing until I picture the complete scene – Before each chapter, I lie down and listen to music or go for a walk to visualize the scene. When I’m away from home, I carry a digital recorder, so I don’t lose an idea.

Channeling a character – This one is a first for me. I channel the characters and have discovered that it’s a great method to reveal character motivations.  After I played it back, I was surprised how my voice changed to mimic the character! I’ve saved them as MP3s and will make them available on this site after Sunrise is released. All these techniques shortened my writing session which is important to someone like me as I have a short attention span.

Run through as many setting and scene alternatives until one screams out “Write me! Write me now!” As I run through the scene, I keep at it, coming up with as many scenarios as possible. When I get to the one that makes me jump up from where I’m sitting and run to my computer, I know I’ve found the right scene, setting or idea.  I won’t write anything down until I get that aha feeling.

Add editing-type columns in my outline – This was another big one for me. I outline my chapters using outline software.  I color code all the different threads, and this helps ensure I have an even balance between them. As I work out of order, I have to take notes to remind myself of what chapters I edited. Making things more complicated is I do different kinds of edits.  I first use WhiteSmoke for grammar checks.  I then run my chapters through Autocrit for redundancies and overused words. Although they help a lot, software can’t replace a personal understanding of grammar, but it does help speed up the editing process. After my first clean-up, I do a Kindle read through using speech to text for flow and tempo.

To keep track of the above, I made four check box columns in my chapter outline. Each time I complete an edit, I check the appropriate box. Kindle gets an extra column because the first read through is of the first draft only. I do another read through after I edit and will sometimes go through a third time if necessary. With Unison I had to do four because of the complex timeline involved. I highly recommend Omni Outliner, which I started using only just recently. Wish I got this one sooner.

Change the sex of the narrator – This works great for distance, especially for a first person narration. Unison is in first person male, so when I did the final read through, I switched it to female and that gave me some additional distance.

Writing has become a lot of fun for me because of the creative ways I find my stories. These methods work especially well for ADHD-type personalities.  I hope some of these tips can be applied to your situation.

I’ll be releasing an Ebook on my writing, editing and producing Sunrise after it’s published. I’ll also include some additional spoilers along with concerns I had with several of the themes I used in this story

Love and light,

Eleni