Motivation

It takes a lot of fortitude and self-discipline to write a novel. Especially for writers, who tend to be even more prone than most to daydreams and tangential thinking. Once I'm into my story, nothing can tear me out, but sometimes getting into it, actually sitting down and opening the document, can take some additional motivation.

I found after experimenting with lots of strange dieting techniques that I'm not really motivated by rewards. Promising myself a Ben & Jerry's if I eat well for the rest of the week isn't good for much except causing me to fixate on Ben & Jerry's. So, playing games with my brain like "write 1000 words and you can do a google image search for kitten memes" doesn't really work.

No, the best motivation is a stern lecture.

"Sarah," I say, "You can sit down and write something, or you can engage in the online death cycle of facebook - twitter - email - facebook. One of these things will make you a writer. The other won't. Oh, and in case you'd forgotten, EVERY MOMENT THAT YOU'RE CLICKING ON AN AMUSING LINK TO TUMBLR IS ANOTHER MOMENT CLOSER TO YOUR DEATH."

P.S. Sloths!

 What about you? What do you say when you're giving yourself a pep talk? What kinds of motivation work best for you?

Creativity vs. Originality

Lately I've been putting a lot of thought into the difference between creativity and originality.

Creative people tend to have a certain intelligence with the way they approach art (and life). They know how to look at it, how to solve problems, how to develop an idea, how to find patterns and inspiration between disparate sources, how to change perspective, and how to fit things together in a logical fashion. Often, they also have the drive and impulse to create art.

Originality can be an aspect of that, but I would argue that many people are creative without being original. Some people are also original, without ever honing their artistic skills. Originality is that way of looking at the world with unique eyes, of finding words no one else would ever think to use. It involves ideas that seem to come out of nowhere - random and powerful like lightening. Maybe that's why originality occasionally disguises itself as craziness or eccentricity.

So, here's my question, from the perspective of a creative person who would like to be more original: do you think originality is a skill that can be developed, or is it innate? If it can be developed, how would you go about increasing your own originality? Or do you believe that originality is a sham and is no one truly original?

Could you be protecting your characters without knowing it?

I've always thought I was a bit of a hard-ass when it came to writing. Some writers hate putting their characters through hell. I laughed at those writers and happily thrust my characters in the middle of hurricanes, slaughtering them right and left, hacking off limbs and destroying sanity. The ones who made it to the end were the lucky and the few. Even then, their cost was high. Life is bleak. So is fiction.

But, it turns out, I'm not as much of a hard-ass as I thought. Because, despite the high levels of pain I was putting my characters through, I was still protecting them. I was protecting them from the one torment I find more horrifying and more devastating than all others.

Embarrassment.

Never once did I allow my characters to be truly humiliated or embarrassed by their own actions. Why? Because I was afraid they might embarrass me. And that was not okay.

I'm working on correcting this... and I think I've made great strides in my latest novel (parts of which make me blush with embarrassment), but I've still got a long ways to go.

What about you? Do you have a hard time humiliating your characters, or does it come easily to you? What do you find most personally embarrassing?