I am currently reading the Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. It is an interesting read. I am not sure if it is inspiring or not.
His big idea or theory as far as I can work out is that beyond a certain threshold of ability, the real thing that matters is opportunity and hard work. It is what you do as an individual with those opportunities that counts. Having talent matters to a certain extent but it is what you do with that talent that matters. It is the drive and the desire to succeed that matters as much as intelligence or raw test scores. For example, the affirmative action programs in various law schools have shown that achievement after law school is not based on the test scores/grades that people have to get in.
Because of the nature of the human experience, certain periods in history have thrown up opportunities. Certain familial backgrounds assist in making it easier for individuals to succeed.
For example, Mozart in part succeeded because his father was a musician and determined that his son would use his talent. Steve Jobs, a co founder of Apple and Pixar succeeds because he lives near HP engineers and is able to spend time working on computer projects. The book is slightly off here as Jobs lived in Cupertino during his junior high and high school years (he went to Homestead) rather than Mountain View. You simply do not live in Mountain View and go to state school in Cupertino. Says she who grew up in Mountain View. In any case it was the Santa Clara Valley and there was a predisposition towards computing as well as raising money for start ups in computing.
The Beatles succeed in part (according to Gladwell) because they learn to play together in marathon session in Hamburg.
It is not luck but making the most of the opportunities given and working very hard.
Once you have the ability, practice does make perfect. The better someone is at something, the longer they have probably practiced. It takes 10,000 hours to begin to know what you are doing and to start understanding the whys behind things so you can solve problems quickly. And there are a lot of people who do not want to put the time in and keep putting the time in. Most people give up or find something else to do.
People who truly succeed at something have an in depth knowledge of the subject and use that knowledge. When adversity strikes, they use the opportunity to succeed or to get themselves in a position to succeed. They are not strangers to rejection, but use it. They are also very focused on their goals, rather than on the prize at the end of the rainbow.
It is an interesting book and I am about 2/3 through it.
How can I apply it to my own writing. First of all, I need to be aware of the need to practice - -to write and to keep striving. 2. I need to make the most of opportunities that present themselves and to make my own luck. Success comes from making the most of opportunities.
Right now, though I remain behind on my wip and the deadline is looming. One of the great things about M&B is that it does the author the opportunity to write and to write a lot.
Showing posts with label creativity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label creativity. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Friday, May 25, 2007
Creative limitation: McKee
McKee is very good on creative limitation and its purposes. It is slightly counter intituive, so bare with me.
Many people think that creativity happens when you have a free reign. McKee argues (as does Twyla Tharp btw) that true creativity needs limitations. Just as every house must have a foundation and a framework, every story should have its limits. Without limits, your wheels spin. It is why writing genre frees the writer to be truly creative.
This means creating a small knowable world. According to McKee, every good story takes place within a limited word. Even stories that seem epic such as War and Peace concentrate on a few families and their struggles. Dr Strangelove has three sets and eight principal characters. Gone With The Wind again once you start actually the world is small. The cast of main characters number only a few. The main focus is on Scarlett and her relationships with Rhett Butler,AshleyWIlkes and really Melanie.
The key to writing a good story is to limit your world. This does not mean to create a trivial world, but one where you as the writer know everything about the world.Knowledge is power. The smaller the world, the more God like you as a writer become. As a writer you must know everything. The reader does not need to know everything, but you need to by the time you finish YOUR LAST DRAFT. Notice the emphasis. You do not needto know everything before you start writing the story, just by the time you finish.
Small means that the writer knows the laws and probablities of her world. Your story must follow its own internal logic. It is the relationship between coincidence and causality or how to avoid deus ex machina.
Small means you can explore the complexities of your characters and their interactions with each other. Every time you expand your speaking cast, you add complication but you sacrifice complexity. And the size of your cast is in part determined by what you want your story to do and what sort of genre you are using. For example an adventure film such as James Bond does not have a great of complexity. James Bond is shaken not stirred. He does not really change from film to film. The excitement is the complications that he faces. The cast of characters is large. On the other hand, romances are very much focused on the interpersonal relationships, and the characters do change and grow. You get to know them, you walk in their shoes. They are complex. Keep your cast size small forces the writer to increase the complexity of the relationships between the characters.
McKee also dissects the variuous different genres, explaining generally what each is about. It is very interesting and helped me to understand WHY pure detective stories do not make good romance. Clue it has to do with the passivity of the progtagonist.
IN short limitation is a good thing. It frees your creativity because it forces the writer to find new ways to say things. Because writers do have to try different ways, not everything will work. It is the getting it right in the LAST DRAFT that counts.
He also makes the point that no one has to see the 90% of a writer's work that is less than the best. When a reader reads the finished book, the reader does not know how many drafts you have written to get there. She only knows the feeling of satisfaction that she gets from reading your book.
Questions/ comments/ Have I convinced you to buy this book yet?
Many people think that creativity happens when you have a free reign. McKee argues (as does Twyla Tharp btw) that true creativity needs limitations. Just as every house must have a foundation and a framework, every story should have its limits. Without limits, your wheels spin. It is why writing genre frees the writer to be truly creative.
This means creating a small knowable world. According to McKee, every good story takes place within a limited word. Even stories that seem epic such as War and Peace concentrate on a few families and their struggles. Dr Strangelove has three sets and eight principal characters. Gone With The Wind again once you start actually the world is small. The cast of main characters number only a few. The main focus is on Scarlett and her relationships with Rhett Butler,AshleyWIlkes and really Melanie.
The key to writing a good story is to limit your world. This does not mean to create a trivial world, but one where you as the writer know everything about the world.Knowledge is power. The smaller the world, the more God like you as a writer become. As a writer you must know everything. The reader does not need to know everything, but you need to by the time you finish YOUR LAST DRAFT. Notice the emphasis. You do not needto know everything before you start writing the story, just by the time you finish.
Small means that the writer knows the laws and probablities of her world. Your story must follow its own internal logic. It is the relationship between coincidence and causality or how to avoid deus ex machina.
Small means you can explore the complexities of your characters and their interactions with each other. Every time you expand your speaking cast, you add complication but you sacrifice complexity. And the size of your cast is in part determined by what you want your story to do and what sort of genre you are using. For example an adventure film such as James Bond does not have a great of complexity. James Bond is shaken not stirred. He does not really change from film to film. The excitement is the complications that he faces. The cast of characters is large. On the other hand, romances are very much focused on the interpersonal relationships, and the characters do change and grow. You get to know them, you walk in their shoes. They are complex. Keep your cast size small forces the writer to increase the complexity of the relationships between the characters.
McKee also dissects the variuous different genres, explaining generally what each is about. It is very interesting and helped me to understand WHY pure detective stories do not make good romance. Clue it has to do with the passivity of the progtagonist.
IN short limitation is a good thing. It frees your creativity because it forces the writer to find new ways to say things. Because writers do have to try different ways, not everything will work. It is the getting it right in the LAST DRAFT that counts.
He also makes the point that no one has to see the 90% of a writer's work that is less than the best. When a reader reads the finished book, the reader does not know how many drafts you have written to get there. She only knows the feeling of satisfaction that she gets from reading your book.
Questions/ comments/ Have I convinced you to buy this book yet?
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Hands in marriage
One of the things about writing is knowing the creative limitations. Everything must be believable in the world you are writing about. Certain laws have to be obeyed. In the context of writing historicals, I do believe you have to obey historical laws as well.
After I got my idea for Sold and Seduced, I started to think about it. And suddenly realised that I had a problem --- basically Roman marriage law. Th Romans recognised four types of marriage. In the time period that I write about, in the vast majority of marriages, a woman's hand was not given in marriage. It was sans mano. She remained under her father's or guardian's control. This is why Roman women do not bear the same family name as their husband's. In the very early Republic and then later in the Christian era, Roman women did come under the control of their husbands and were married cum mano, but during this time, it was felt that women would be batter served if the legal guardianship stayed with her birth family. The intention was to make marriage stronger, but actually, it only increased divorce and made families less stable.
Personally I think it interesting that the early Christians went for the cum mano. I suspect Jewish tradition may have played a part, BUT as Roman custom and law prevailed at that point, and there are certain similarities in the wedding ceremony, I find it interesting.
Anyway, I had then had to come up with a reason why after Aro and Lydia were married, they would stay married -- particularly as Lydia's father was not keen on the marriage. In other words, I had to find a reason WHY Aro would insist on a marriage cum mano or with hand.
Once I had accepted the limitation, I was able to work with it, and the rest of the story flowed.
Some writers like to think about total freedom, but actually it is the structure and the demands of the world you create along with the main arc of the story that force you to exercise your creativity.
After I got my idea for Sold and Seduced, I started to think about it. And suddenly realised that I had a problem --- basically Roman marriage law. Th Romans recognised four types of marriage. In the time period that I write about, in the vast majority of marriages, a woman's hand was not given in marriage. It was sans mano. She remained under her father's or guardian's control. This is why Roman women do not bear the same family name as their husband's. In the very early Republic and then later in the Christian era, Roman women did come under the control of their husbands and were married cum mano, but during this time, it was felt that women would be batter served if the legal guardianship stayed with her birth family. The intention was to make marriage stronger, but actually, it only increased divorce and made families less stable.
Personally I think it interesting that the early Christians went for the cum mano. I suspect Jewish tradition may have played a part, BUT as Roman custom and law prevailed at that point, and there are certain similarities in the wedding ceremony, I find it interesting.
Anyway, I had then had to come up with a reason why after Aro and Lydia were married, they would stay married -- particularly as Lydia's father was not keen on the marriage. In other words, I had to find a reason WHY Aro would insist on a marriage cum mano or with hand.
Once I had accepted the limitation, I was able to work with it, and the rest of the story flowed.
Some writers like to think about total freedom, but actually it is the structure and the demands of the world you create along with the main arc of the story that force you to exercise your creativity.
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