Thursday, February 5, 2009

connection: "cauldron of fiction"

A friend is studying creating fiction and he has written a wonderful essay on the topic. Rather than copying the whole piece here, below are a few teasers and the link to read it in its entirety. I, too, believe that creativity is like water: there is a constant stream of creativity available to anyone if we know how o find it, we need it like we need air to breathe, and more. For now, see Sven's main ideas below and then head on over to the Scarlet Letters to read it all; it's worth the trip *wink.

I'm studying how to create fiction. Here are three metaphors I'm finding useful –– each of which has to do with water.

the stream of consciousness

There is the conscious mind, and then there is the unconscious mind. The conscious mind can attempt to work things out by logic... But the true source of thought is the unconscious.

I mean this literally: try ....

the pitcher of thought

I've heard it said that the mind can only hold seven thoughts at a time. Whether or not the number is accurate, it matches my experience that I can only consider a limited number of things simultaneously.

In a very literal way, if I can remove one thing ....

the cauldron of fiction

notebook as cauldron

Fiction is created through the process of listening to your stream-of-consciousness and writing it down on paper as fast as you can. You're allowed to think in ways ...

Thank you, Sven!