Voices of Fiction - Can Creativity Be Taught - Part Five

Welcome to Voices of Fiction.

We continue our discussion on creativity.

Please welcome our authors.

Ellen Spain is a retired Federal Investigator, now turned author, editor, and educator. She is active with EPIC, PennWriters, RWA, SCBWI, and the Pittsburgh East Writers. - Website

Joylene Butler is the author of Dead Witness and Broken But Not Dead. - Website, Blog

Joy Brooks is a Southern lady in love with the mystery and adventure associated with medieval warriors and royalty. She fills her spare time with reading, writing, cross-stitching, and playing with her seven cats. She enjoys the quiet life in a quaint, historic Georgia town. - Website, Blog

Bobbi Carducci’s book, Storee Wryter Gets a Dog, earned a GOLD Mom’s Choice Award for excellence and was named A Best Dog Book for Young Readers by Cesar Milan, The Dog Whisperer. She is an award winning short story writer, columnist and professional book reviewer. Bobbi will be the luncheon keynote speaker at the 26th Annual Pennwriters Conference in May 2013. - Blog, Website, Website


Welcome Authors! It's wonderful to have you back.

Can creativity be taught?

Ellen Spain: The right and left parts of our brains are very unique to each individual. Throughout the first forty years of our emotional maturing and learning processes, our behavior and attitude are greatly influenced by our culture, by the immediate surroundings and peer programming. Assuming we have no medical conditions that create a challenge to normal development, latent creativity nurtures when we reduce our stress factors and learn relaxation-meditation and focusing techniques. Hypnosis is another method to change one's behavior. Changing our behavior through confidence building and learning techniques, eventually changes our attitudes and opens the right brain to creativity. Once the individual tastes his/her creativity, I believe that individual will desire to experience more creativeness. The individual will change their behavior and surroundings to find the natural stimulation of creativity. I am not really an expert in creativity, however, my Doctorate in Psychology is based on cognitive methods and neuroscience. More about creativity and hypnosis at EllenSpain.com. I strongly believe that achieving happiness, confidence, creativity, and success through TM is well documented. Writers need ideas for their stories. However, creativity is only the beginning step to become a professional novelist.

Joylene Butler: Yes. If the desire is there, any writer can learn to create beautiful and compelling prose. Because to yearn to improve one's craft is a derivity of a love for writing that knows no bounds. To improve as a writer is every writer's obligation.

Joy Brooks: To be creative you have to love what you do. If you don't have passion for what you are doing, it's going to be hard to be creative. I think it can be taught on a basic level, but it will soon fade if not lovingly nurtured.

Bobbi Carducci: That’s a tough one. It can certainly be inspired. Some people are far more creative than they realize. Somewhere along the way they received the message that their ideas don’t have merit, or aren’t original. Bull feathers, as my mother used to say. I encourage these writers to take an old idea and spin it. Once you show them that by doing something as simple as having the characters change gender or move to another part of the world, the story can be transformed the ideas start popping. I believe we all possess the ability to be creative. I love to help people rediscover it in themselves.

Thank you all for joining us today.

Readers feel free to ask questions concerning this topic in the comments. Also feel free to send questions to chergreen@chergreen.com Subject: Voices of Fiction Question, and have them answered by the participating authors in later editions.

There’s also room for more authors to participate. Drop me an email, Subject: Voices of Fiction.

(Disclaimer - Bios and photos submitted by authors.)