Psychology Of Creativity. I Can't Create Every Day

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

I am a writer and I myself believed in writing every day. And when it didn't work out, I felt alternately a sense of guilt (before a book, society, a muse), a feeling of anger, confusion, misunderstanding, disappointment. Apparently I'm not trying hard.

A revolution in consciousness occurred after a conversation with the artist Oleg Shchigolev. I wrote a scientific paper about his work and got an interview. And when I asked how much time it takes for one picture, I suddenly heard: "It depends on what to count at this time - just the writing process itself? Or when I lie on the couch and look at it? So I'll tell you what time it is for the couch is much more valuable."

It dawned on me that there is a lot involved in working on a creative project. In June, I finished the first draft of the book. It took him two months and if you look from the outside, then I worked from half an hour to several hours a day. And only I know that I worked twenty-four hours a day. I had dreams, I endlessly scrolled through the dialogues, thought about the motivation of the characters and much more.

And in those two months there were two weeks when I did not write a single line. The first week happened almost immediately after the start of work. I wanted to work with the psychology of the characters and a little later I will write in more detail what exactly I did. I felt like I couldn't sit down to write again until I had a clear understanding of how my characters could and could not behave.

The second week of the break happened in the middle of the book. The action moved to another country and I wanted to feed on it in order to understand what to write about. I read books, blogs, articles, watched programs and returned to the novel only when I felt ready.

So, in fact, these were not breaks. The work was in full swing, but not on paper.

While working on another book, I took a break from writing for six months. And it was a terrific time, because I learned so much I needed to continue reading books on mythology.

Was it possible to find out all this after the completion of the first draft? Probably yes. But then some of the plot twists might not have happened or you might have had to edit too much.

Is it worth creating every day? Yes, it helps to keep pace. But does "create" include only direct work on a manuscript, painting, song, dance? It is impossible to create if the vessel is empty. Creativity is possible out of abundance, when you have something to share, you are filled with knowledge, experience, impressions and can not wait to throw it out on paper, canvas, in melody, movement.

And as soon as you understand this, the feeling of guilt disappears and inspiration appears. Everything is not in vain and everything is important.

Of course, there is a danger that the pause may be prolonged, but we will talk about this next time. In the meantime, think and write down what fills you, inspires and helps you create. What creative pauses do you allow yourself now?