Being Creative
(Women)
A piece on the Mystery of Creativity,
by Debbie Taylor,
in Mslexia’s
2018 diary, struck several chords with me; enough to make me wonder if I could
finally join the (official creative person) club. I’ve always felt unable to call
myself creative or writer or artist because I haven’t made
it (professionally) yet.
But Debbie’s article reviews fascinating research into the creative personality; research aimed at
ascertaining where creativity comes from because, traditionally, we believed it
was beyond conscious control. Like Muse visiting writers in the night...
I’ve borrowed a handful of pertinent points for this blog-post.
Researchers found that writers’ creativity was more of an attitude than an attribute. Rather an approach
to work than their gene allocation.
A longitudinal study in 1957, by psychologist Ravenna Helson,
following creative women until old age and examining commonalties, found subjects
were, markedly more tomboyish as children…
and somewhat less sociable [than their matched peers.] They were unconventional, introspective
and anxious.
Incidentally - as a child - I played bow and arrow with my
brother, built dens in high trees, and battled to pretend deaths with sticks
for knives. When not making mud-pies, I sat on the swing at the end of our
garden, dreaming alone. Always thinking, often worrying, my mother called me Lizzy Dripping. As soon as I could change
my appearance, I did it differently to others.
The study found creative women
liked to mull things over and come to
their own conclusions, often differing from those around them – producing sometimes
rather prickly social personae.
(I can be prickly as a hedge pig.)
Later in life, the most creatively-productive subjects were far more persistent, ambitious,
independent, confident, and socially skilled, and had been so from early
childhood.
(It’s not all about me, then.)
Debbie’s article states successful creatives refused to close their options. As children,
they were independent rebels; as adults… resisted the domestic pigeonhole,
struggling to combine creative work with family responsibilities.
The downside? Creative
fulfilment was accompanied by anxiety, stress and guilt.
(Tell me about it.)
Debbie asks if a certain amount of stress is necessary to
produce the creative personality. She cites from Mark Runco and Steven Pritzker’s
Encyclopedia of Creativity, wherein 28% of
exceptionally creative people…had lost a parent as a child, compared with just
8% of ‘ordinary’ people.’
I lost my dad when I was six. How
can such tragedy forge creativity?
The
suggestion is that misfortunes of this magnitude jolt a child [from] its normal
patterns of thought and behaviour and force it to consider alternatives.
Thereby developing the characteristic openness of the creative personality.
Elaborating on this, I’ve read that creativity and diverse
thinking are associated with wider neural connections, meaning a person with
such interlaced networks will naturally generate more unique ideas, (above
brains with lesser links.)
Debbie’s article continues: those
who weather the storm go on to become fulfilled, albeit troubled, creative
individuals.
Psychologists
have developed a three-pronged theory of creativity: First - A-class skill and knowledge in the field of
creative endeavour. Applied to writing this means honing your craft until it’s
second nature, reading widely, researching your subject. The second prong
is ‘cognitive style’… how one approaches
a particular activity. Creative ‘cognitive styles’ are enquiring and flexible;
imbued with the independence of mind found in all the surveys of creative
people. The third prong (my personal favourite) is motivation: the determination and passion, often bordering on
obsession, of the true artist.
(Crazed obsession, I can
relate to.)
Hans Eysenck emphasized the vital importance of knowledge, skill and persistence. And ‘ego strength’ which is all that stands between the artist and the mental health system.
Hans Eysenck emphasized the vital importance of knowledge, skill and persistence. And ‘ego strength’ which is all that stands between the artist and the mental health system.
(Hmmm.)
Debbie’s captivating piece – penned for Mslexia writers – delved
much deeper in than this, I’ve borrowed relevant snippets. Interesting, no?
So, now, Dear Creative,
wipe up your tears, take your snazzy label and go produce the goods.
