Humor, Puzzles, and Creativity

If you subscribe to the New York Times online, they had an interesting article yesterday about scientists who are trying to understand the "Aha!" moment of creativity. What the scientists have found is that humor helps put the brain in the right frame of mind to achieve insight in solving word problems (as opposed to the trial-and-error method). Apparently humor makes it easier for the brain to spot the less-obvious connections that may be necessary to solve a puzzle. Doing crossword or Sudoku puzzles also helps open up the brain. Subconscious clues may also help people solve problems. Although analysis and insight may both be required to solve a problem, they are different states of the brain. If we know how to switch ourselves from one state to another, we may become more creative and better problem-solvers.

I think we writers need to keep these points in mind not just for ourselves, but for our characters, since we often toss tough tasks their way and expect them to muddle through. Knowing how to achieve insight will help us resolve our tangled plot points, which are often problems our characters have to face too. Sometimes it's not enough for them to resolve the problem; we have to show how they figured it out and how creative they were. The more we know about creativity and problem-solving, the better we'll be at helping characters solve their problems and showing how they do so in a realistic way. Perhaps that wise-cracking sidekick is more helpful than he or she knows.

Finally, to help you with your creative thinking today, here's some Whose Line Is It Anyway? humor. I've posted it before, but it's been a while:

100 Follower Book Giveaway

I knew The Great Blogging Experiment was going to be popular, but I had no idea there would be so many participants or that I would gain so many followers. As Colin Mochrie said on Whose Line Is It Anyway?, "You tolerate me! You really tolerate me!" As a thank you, I'd like to give away the following books:

1.  Red Hot Fury


2. Love in the Time of Dragons

3. The Crystal Throne--This one is signed by the author!

4. Writing the Other: A Practical Approach

To enter, all you have to do is a) be a follower, b) leave a comment on this post, and c) tell me which books you're interested in. You can enter to win one, some, or all of the books. Please leave your comment by midnight CDT Sunday, October 3rd. For each book, I'll draw a winner at random out of all the people entered for that particular book. Winners will be announced on Monday, October 4th. Good luck!

Who's Live Anyway? (Ryan Stiles!)

If you've been following my blog long enough, you know Eugene and I are big fans of improv comedy, especially the show "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" But after a while, watching repeat episodes umpteen zillion times can get a little old. We've seen Colin Mochrie and Wayne Brady live, but my favorite cast member is Ryan Stiles. So when we found out he was performing at a theater in Skokie, we had to get tickets. We chose the early show so as not to interfere with Alex's bedtime. Eugene's parents watched him while we were at the show, so this was our second Date Night in a week. (We went out for fondue for my birthday; my dad took care of Alex then.)

Ryan wasn't performing by himself; Greg Proops, Chip Esten, and Jeff Davis. As Greg said at the beginning of the show, they brought everyone but "the fat guy, the bald guy, and the black guy." They did several of the games from the show. I can't remember too many of the lines beside "Todd is the past tense of Ted," but Eugene and I laughed more than we have in a long time. (For me, it was to the point where it had physical effects.) They used one of my suggestions--paprika for a spice. (That's probably the closest brush I'll ever have with any of the cast members.) The show was about 90 minutes, three times the normal episode length, but it didn't feel like it. If you have the chance to see this show, I wholeheartedly recommend it, even though every performance will be unique.

Back on the Blog Chain: Whose Voice is It Anyway?

I'm back again with another installment of the Blog Chain. This time, Sarah asked the question:

How did you discover your particular voice as a writer?

Mandy answered this question before me, and Eric will post tomorrow.

I have what may be an unconventional take on voice. While there are some parts of my writing style that are constant -- I use semicolons and long sentences, and even semicolons in long sentences; I like beats, similes, and interior dialogue -- my voice changes with each project. My voice is flavored by the viewpoint characters who tell my stories. In the end, they are all products of me, filtered by my perceptions of how a noblewoman, seamstress, teenage male actor, embittered lab tech, or magician in exile might view the world. But I work hard to ensure that the words I choose fit the character. It's like the improv game of All in One Voice, where two people have to make up and sing the same lyrics at the same time:



Voice is especially important when writing a story told in the first person. My two most successful stories so far were written in first person. ("Move Over Ms. L.," the prequel to my current novel Across Two Universes, earned an Honorable Mention in an international competition for novellas. "A Reptile at the Reunion" was published in an anthology two years ago.) I think part of the reason they worked so well is because of the voice. It's interesting that both main characters had some things in common with me: both women worked in a lab, either scientific or veterinary. They were also both soured by events in their pasts, and this cynicism and hurt carried over into their voices. (I hope I don't come across this way in real life!) Jo, the heroine of "Move Over Ms. L.," is described by her husband in Across Two Universes has having more chip than shoulder. Jo reconciles with her past over the course of "Move Over Ms. L.," going from this:

I stopped myself from blurting out the rest of my private nickname for him – Uncle Jackass. He was the heir to the wishing well – not to mention the money well.

To this:

And you’ll be loved, Paul. No matter what happens, both George and I will always love you. I promise you that.

My current novel is told in third person, mostly from Paul's point of view. I find it harder to establish a voice in third person, though as I said before, I try to filter the narration through his perspective. The expressions he uses are a product of his upbringing. For instance, when he gets in trouble, he refers to himself as being "in heavy water" instead of hot water. Although heavy water isn't used in the fusion engines that power the spaceship where he lives, it still seems like something he would know about and know was dangerous. Paul is also much more free with swear words than I am in real life, and as an actor, he likes to quote Shakespeare. I don't think Shakespeare counts as part of my voice, though.

One final point I'd like to make about voice is that for me at least, it takes time to develop. My first draft of a scene tends to be sparse, mostly dialogue, beats, and action. Dialogue comes fairly easily to me, but setting doesn't. I'm an organic writer who tends to figure out the purpose of a scene as I create it, so this is part of the reason why my drafts are quite drafty. And frequently, especially if I'm tired, the words I choose tend to be ordinary. Once I have a better sense of the scene and what my viewpoint character's motives and emotions are, I can go back and punch up the scene with details and interesting phrases to give it some spark.

To sum up, the voice of a particular story isn't just mine; it's a fusion of my perspective and my character's. We improv and experiment together until we come up with the words that sing. And my readers are lucky in that they don't have to hear me actually sing my stories. I'd drive them all away!

What are your thoughts on voice?

Back on the Blog Chain: Writing Funk

As promised, I'm back once again for another Blog Chain Pooooost! Michelle posted right before me, and Abi will finish off this round. Elana picked the topic for this round; it consists of two parts:


1. When you're in a pool of writing funk, how do you get out?
2. I want your favorite funny and/or thing that makes you happy.

Elana is very specific about what makes up the pool of funk: Not sure what the Pool of Writing Funk is? Maybe you've heard of the Lake of Self-Doubt. No? The Ocean of What-the-heck-am-I-doing? Or maybe each rain drop in your life seems to whisper, "You're not good enough." These all contribute to the pool.

After re-reading these words last night, it struck me that this topic was similar in some ways to the one we did in October on confidence. In the last few years, I've encountered other people, mostly women, who lack confidence in themselves. I wonder if this is a gender thing. After all, not only are we women juggling more roles than ever before, we're constantly assaulted by ads saying we're worthless if we don't have long enough eyelashes or don't wear a size zero or fail in any way to live up to impossible standards. (I'm so glad I don't see those kinds of ads in Scientific American.) It's in the beauty industry's interest to make us feel insecure so we buy their products. But perhaps this would be a better topic for a WisCon panel than for our current blog chain.

Anyway, like Mary, I try to avoid swimming in the pool of writing funk/lack of self-confidence. I mentioned in my post in October that I regard myself as a student of writing, always improving my skills. So yesterday, when I was editing a long paragraph from Across Two Universes, I was happy when I saw how I could cut out some unnecessary information and speed up the pace. I didn't cuss myself out for writing a slow scene in the first place, because I've learned more about pacing and what's really necessary to include in a scene since then.

But what do you do if you are swimming in the funky pool? You need to rebuild your gumption. Gumption, as Robert M. Pirsig says in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, "is the psychic gasoline that keeps the whole thing going." (If you haven't read this book, I recommend it whole-heartily. On one level, it's the story of a man and his son on a cross-country motorcycle trip, but at the same time, the man is trying to reconnect with his past as a failed-scientist-turned-English-composition-teacher-turned-philosopher-turned-madman. Along the way, he discusses philosophy, especially as it applies to science and Quality. It's not a simple read, but the concepts are explained clearly.) Pirsig discusses gumption in the context of fixing a motorcycle, but it can be applied to anything you do. Like confidence, gumption is not fixed but can fluctuate during the process. Things that drain gumption are called gumption traps. One trap that might pertain to writers is value rigidity, or being so committed to what you think you know that you disregard what's actually in front of you. When this happens, it's time to sit back and re-evaluate what's in front of you. Both too much ego or too much anxiety can become gumption traps:


I was going to say that the machine doesn't respond to your personality, but it does respond to your personality. It's just that the personality that it responds to is your real personality, the one that genuinely feels and reasons and acts, rather than any false, blown-up personality images your ego may conjure up. These false images are deflated so rapidly and completely you're bound to be very discouraged very soon if you've derived your gumption from ego rather than Quality.

If modesty doesn't come easily or naturally to you, one way out of this trap is to fake the attitude of modesty anyway. If you just deliberately assume you're not much good, the your gumption gets a boost when the facts prove this assumption is correct. This way you can keep going until the time comes when the facts prove this assumption is incorrect. (Pirsig, 1974, p. 283-284)

Pirsig goes on to say that if you're anxious, afraid you'll do everything wrong, the way out of that trap is to learn and realize everyone messes up once in a while. When it happens to you, you can learn from the experience. "You should remember that it's peace of mind you're after and not just a fixed machine" (or story, for us writers).

There are other gumption traps discussed in the book, but those seem to be the most relevant for this topic. So I'm going to move on to the second part of Elana's topic: something funny or something that makes me happy. Well, my family makes me happy. Even when my son wakes up from his nap crying (as he did about an hour ago), he never fails to entertain, especially when he puts his boots on all by himself:























But for Elana, I'm going to recommend that she listen to some blues. Specifically, the legendary black Scottish bluesman Wet Biscuit McGlee:




That's enough for one post. Head on over to Abi's blog to see how she deals with writing funk!