Lysistrata
Platinum Member
- Oct 11, 2017
- 17,484
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The brain works differently in different people, particularly in the area of imagination. I have known people, including a close relative, whom I would describe as flat. They just repeat whatever they heard from somewhere, and will read or watch only factually-related material, such as documentaries. Allegory, symbolism, mean nothing. No Tolkien, or science fiction, 1984, British, or French, or Russian authors, no Anne Rice. They will never sit around and play "what if."
Then there are the more moderate folks who appreciate imaginative works, and like to be told a good story. They usually don't try to create these things for themselves, though.
Then there are wackos like myself. From junior high on to senior high, I wrote stories that the English faculty read to all the classes, which I didn't know about until the other kids told me. My imagination was and is my favorite toy. I took a couple writing classes as an adult and absolutely loved for the professor to hand us the first paragraph of a story and assign us to go home and write the rest. Loved being given two weeks to write a short story with nothing coming. Then the night before, just sitting down and typing away! It always worked. There is no ability to turn it on and off. It comes or it doesn't. I always have carried a little notepad, so I can write things down before I lose them forever. A thought I have, a sign I see, a person who has made an impression on me, an incident, a line for a poem
You have to undergo a mental transformation. This is why I admire good actors. Getting into character is never easy, as one must understand the psychology of the character, and it requires a good degree of mental balance to maintain a separation between who they are as people in real life and who they are required to be convincingly when the cameras are rolling. My writing instructors were right in insisting on seeing a biography of any main characters we wrote, even if the material did not appear in the finished product. After all, how did 007 become 007: there must have been an eight-year-old Jimmy Bond running around somewhere with actual parents some years back.
I think that there is a connection between depression and imagination/creativity, and I think that it may well be caused by brain chemistry. It's teetering, mentally.
I remember reading a bio of Springsteen, who has been so supremely talented and has produced a really impressive body of work. He was the son of a depressive who sat in the dark and once cut his son's long hair off. Springsteen finally got help for his depression and learned a lot. And, he has always kept "the notebook."
I don't know what happened to Kurt Cobain or to Anthony Bourdain. I do note that Robin Williams knew that he was suffering from a debilitating disease. But having seen him ad lib brilliantly, there was something in that brain.
Then there are the more moderate folks who appreciate imaginative works, and like to be told a good story. They usually don't try to create these things for themselves, though.
Then there are wackos like myself. From junior high on to senior high, I wrote stories that the English faculty read to all the classes, which I didn't know about until the other kids told me. My imagination was and is my favorite toy. I took a couple writing classes as an adult and absolutely loved for the professor to hand us the first paragraph of a story and assign us to go home and write the rest. Loved being given two weeks to write a short story with nothing coming. Then the night before, just sitting down and typing away! It always worked. There is no ability to turn it on and off. It comes or it doesn't. I always have carried a little notepad, so I can write things down before I lose them forever. A thought I have, a sign I see, a person who has made an impression on me, an incident, a line for a poem
You have to undergo a mental transformation. This is why I admire good actors. Getting into character is never easy, as one must understand the psychology of the character, and it requires a good degree of mental balance to maintain a separation between who they are as people in real life and who they are required to be convincingly when the cameras are rolling. My writing instructors were right in insisting on seeing a biography of any main characters we wrote, even if the material did not appear in the finished product. After all, how did 007 become 007: there must have been an eight-year-old Jimmy Bond running around somewhere with actual parents some years back.
I think that there is a connection between depression and imagination/creativity, and I think that it may well be caused by brain chemistry. It's teetering, mentally.
I remember reading a bio of Springsteen, who has been so supremely talented and has produced a really impressive body of work. He was the son of a depressive who sat in the dark and once cut his son's long hair off. Springsteen finally got help for his depression and learned a lot. And, he has always kept "the notebook."
I don't know what happened to Kurt Cobain or to Anthony Bourdain. I do note that Robin Williams knew that he was suffering from a debilitating disease. But having seen him ad lib brilliantly, there was something in that brain.
