Creative Instincts

Avatar directed by James Cameron

Perfecter and Innovator 

Perfecter

While on a little break - think 10 minutes of flipping through Instagram and checking FB/Tweets - I came across this theory of three creative types. It reminded me of Amanda Arista's Know Thyself and thy brain wiring post and made me wonder what type I was. The theory is simple: We instinctively approach creativity in three general ways.

1. Perfecter — An artist/writer who and maximizes what is, elevating it to the best it can be (think Bach, Mozart, Brahms, Spielberg, James Cameron, Stephen King, Tolkien, Pixar, Disney...)

Innovator

Laini Taylor - Perfecter

2. Innovator — An artist/writer who breaks the mold, pioneering a new style (as in Beethoven, Schoenberg, Kubrick, Picasso, Joyce, Dalí, Le Guin...)

3. Synthesizer — An artist/writer who draws from disparate sources, makes unexpected connections, to create something  new (e.g. Ligeti, Stravinsky, David Lynch, Tarantino, Murakami, Adams...)

Perfecter & Synthesizer

Synthesizer & Innovator

It's interesting to think of the creative process this way,  as an instinctual approach, and I suspect, after pouring through many films and titles, that writers are not one or the other. Like all things involving art, there is a certain blending. 

Categorizing is also dependent on the times. Kill Bill was break-out in 2003. Kubrick's 2001: a Space Odyssey blew minds in 1968. And, back in 1870, Jules Verne altered the course of history with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. As said by FP Walter:

"... this book has been a source of fascination, surely one of the most influential novels ever written, an inspiration for such scientists and discoverers as engineer Simon Lake, oceanographer William Beebe, polar traveller Sir Ernest Shackleton. Likewise, Dr. Robert D. Ballard, finder of the sunken Titanic, confesses that this was his favourite book as a teenager, and Cousteau himself, most renowned of marine explorers, called it his shipboard bible." 

Kim Wilkens as Synthesizer

China Mieville's 'New Weird' fiction is a genre blender, a synthesizer mixed with innovation and traditional representation. Michael Moorcock explains:

Neil Gaiman as Innovator

Miéville identifies with the “New Weird” movement, a development of what used to be known as “science fantasy” – a blend of the occult and scientific speculation... The New Weird, at its best, combines the virtues of visionary fiction and horror fiction, political satire, literary fiction and even historical fiction

Helen Lowe's Wall of Night series reads perfecter to me, elevating but also synthesizer with the feel of more contemporary themes and subtext. 

When I think about my process writing the Quantum Enchantment Series, I relate most to Synthesizer. It's a been called Science Fantasty blend. With The Blood in the Beginning, I align more with Perfecter, taking what I love most about the Urban Fantasy genre and giving it new wings (or make that fins). My YA Fantasy, The Bone Throwers, out September 2018 under the pen name AK Wilder, if anything, it might be innovation. My instincts were to bring together a traditional coming of age with a premise never seen before. We'll see when the jury (the readers) verdict is in.

How about you? I'd love to hear from other Sup authors and readers about their process and their favorite creative works. Films? Books? Plays? What's blown your mind recently?

xxKim

Kim Falconer's latest release comes out in 2018 The Bone Throwers, book one in the Amassia series, writing as A K Wilder. Find her new page on Facebook - AKWilder Author and on Twitter as AKWilder.

Her latest novel is out now - The Blood in the Beginning - and Ava Sykes Novel.

Learn more about Kim on Facebook and chat with her on Twitter. Check out her pen name, @a.k.wilder on Instagram, or visitAKWilder on FB and website.

Kim also runs GoodVibeAstrology.com where she teaches the law of attraction and astrology. 

Kim posts here at the Supernatural Underground on the 16th of every month, hosts Save the Day Writer's Community on FB and posts a daily astrology weather report on Facebook. 

The Shadow's Allure

Image from World of Lucid Dreaming

Fear is a state of mind.

It creates a simple chain of events: (1) a stimuli, (2) a chemical release in the brain, (3) a body response including rapid heart-rate, shallow breathing, sinking stomach, sweaty palms. It's basic fight or flight instinct 101.

Research also shows that we come into the world knowing how to be afraid, because our brains have evolved to deal with nature, and nature is full of threats. Think large predators, poisonous plants, snakes, spiders, ticks, tar pits, rip tides, hungry neighbors, flash floods, supernatural forces . . .  .

While many of us no longer fear saber tooth tigers and tar pits, the fear of the supernatural never abates. That's because, far from "super"natural, it represent a part of us, deep and repressed, waiting in the darkness. What's it waiting for? Basically, a chance to seep up through the floorboards and grab us by the throat.

The Scream by Edvard Munch

Jung defines this kind of fear as an element of our shadow—a part of our unconscious that is hidden from us, but ours none the less.

The shadow can be terrifying to experience whether it is triggered by a real life bang on the door or immersion in fiction that "makes the heart beat faster." This is because our brains can't tell the difference between real and make believe.

But if fear, and the shadow beneath it, are so horrible, why are we drawn to experience it in art, film and literature? What's the big allure?

Simply answered, this fear awakens a part of our un-lived Self.

Jungian psychologists would say these experiences of the Shadow evoke powerful emotional reactions because they contain disowned material of our psyche, ie, part of our soul. Getting to know the shadow is an opportunity for wholeness, meaning we become more balanced, more whole, more complete.

This is the enchantment that draws us into the darkness.

Working with the shadow is immensely rewarding and liberating. By no longer having to hold down and repress your shadow aspects (which consumes a lot of energy), you free up your life force and vitality, become much more present-moment centred and are better able to live life consciously, authentically and purposefully. - Dr Mark Atkinson

It's not a carefree road, this meeting the shadow. It's also why all heroic journeys, including our own, require a trip to the underworld. Dante wasn't kidding when he tacked that shingle on the door to Hell. All abandon hope ye who enter here. This state appears to be prerequisite for Horror's success.

No matter how disturbing, the experience of a terrifying book, film or work of art, can set the stage for our own expansion. All it requires is for us to face our inner demons, integrate the shadow and come out the other end alive.

Easier said than done, I know!

What are some of your favorite scary stories? Do you remember the first one that nearly frightened you to death?

Mine was Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (I was five.) followed by a close second with The Wizard of Oz, mainly the monkeys. (OMG that's why primates still make me squirm!)

Let's share some fears here and let the Shadow live.

xxxKim

Kim Falconer is a Supernatural Underground author writing paranormal romance, urban fantasy, YA and epic science fantasy novels.

You can find out more about Kim at the 11th House Blog, and on FaceBook and Twitter.

She posts here at the Supernatural Underground on the 16th of every month and runs Save the Day Writer's Community on Facebook.

Her latest release is "Blood and Water" in Supernatural Underground: Vampires Gone Wild.

Writing Fiction vs Fact

La-memoria-de-los-peces by Chelin Sanjuan

Fiction and non-fiction, fantasy and reality, they have a lot more in common than we think. On the surface, they seem like polar opposites. One is real, the other not, right? But given a large enough perspective, both are simply stories that we tell, and those stories have a way of swapping places over time.

For example, we've all heard this one: the world is flat - fact or fiction? The answer depends on 'when' and 'where' you ask it.  In the 6th century BC, Samos, the world is spherical, thanks to Pythagoras. Middle ages Europe, flat or round, it's a toss up. 16th century China, definitely flat. Stories change. What's real changes,and sometimes imagining something new can open doors to its existence.

We see this all the time when science fiction that becomes 'science fact'. Here are a few examples:

Edward Bellamy’s 1888 novel Looking Backward introduced the notion of 'debit cards' in a financial era that had no models for this kind of exchange.

Ray Bradbury's 1953 classic Fahrenheit 451 describes the earbud headphone perfectly, when that technology that didn't appear until 2000+.

Hugo Gernsback’s ancient serial Ralph 124c 41+ publised in 1911 included the 'telphot', basically SCYPE, or video conferencing.

Jules Verne, who wrote in the 1800s gave us everything from submarines to lunar landings.  The Earth To The Moon predicted Apollo 11's lunar landing in 1969 - from the launch from Florida to the amount of force that needed escape Earth’s atmosphere.

And Philip K. Dick's 1956 Minority Report portrayed multiple 'fictional' technologies that have since become reality, including facial recognition software, personalized advertising and gesture-based user interfaces long before touchscreens and motion-sensing inputs became common.

The Spell of Rosette, a story about DNA,
strange attractions and other forms of magic.

One of my favorite recent 'stories' from neuroscience is that meditation alters gene expression. It means that our thoughts (mantras) have a direct effect on our DNA, changing our physical make up. Of course, Vedic masters have been telling this story for thousands of years, but now researchers in brain science are saying it's 'real'.

The notion of altering gene expression with our thoughts is the bedrock of my Quantum Enchantment Series, a science fantasy whose hero is a quantum computer who thinks himself up a Tulpa body and gets out of Dodge before they pull his plug. I wrote that before the recent breakthrough . . .

Do you have a favorite 'fiction' you would love to see come true? A story that seemed outlandish at the time but is commonplace now? We'd love to hear about it.



Kim Falconer is a Supernatural Underground author writing paranormal romance, urban fantasy, YA and epic science fantasy novels.

You can find out more about Kim at kimfalconer.com or on the 11th House Blog, and on FaceBook and Twitter. She posts here at the Supernatural Underground on the 16th of every month. Her latest release is"Blood and Water" in Supernatural Underground: Vampires Gone Wild.