Scatterbrained: Why Engaging in Multiple Creative Activities Can Help Your Writing
By Emilie-Noelle Provost | October 25, 2023 |
Back when I was the editor of a regional lifestyle magazine, I discovered that one of the photographers we worked with had a bachelor’s degree in music and that he had once worked as a professional musician. In her former career, an interior designer who was a consultant for the magazine had been a sought-after portrait photographer. Our creative director, a skilled graphic designer, had a side gig working as a comic book artist.
The writers I worked with were no different. One freelancer was an accomplished painter. Another made jewelry. A writer who was also the author of several books used to knit elegant sweaters and scarves in her spare time. Nearly every creative professional I met at that job seemed to possess talent and inspiration that allowed them to excel at more than one type of imaginative endeavor.
This inclination has also been seen in a number of famous writers. Sylvia Plath created works in oil, pen and ink, and collage. William S. Burroughs was known for his “gunshot” paintings. Lewis Carol was a talented photographer. Throughout his life, Henry Miller created more than two-thousand watercolors. Drawings and paintings made by e.e. cummings were frequently shown at galleries in New York.
Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain, Rudyard Kipling, Kurt Vonnegut, Elizabeth Barret Browning, and George Bernard Shaw were all known for their skills as visual artists.
Although I hadn’t thought about it much before working with a large group of creative people, this predisposition also applies to myself. In addition to writing, I paint with watercolors and sew some of my own clothes. I’m more or less addicted to embroidery.
I’ve found that the creative projects I take on that are not writing-related often help me find solutions when writer’s block strikes. Painting has helped me come up with new story ideas. Learning new creative skills has also helped me write more realistic characters. A pottery class I took last winter with my daughter made it possible for me to better develop a character in the novel I’m working on who is a professional potter.
For years, I’d wondered why so many writers and artists tend to be drawn to more than one type of creative pursuit, and why engaging in more than one kind of imaginative project seems to boost one’s overall creative abilities. The answer has to do with the way creative thinking works in the brain.
In a 1997 interview with Wired magazine, Steve Jobs, co-founder and former CEO of Apple, said that “Creativity is just connecting things.” It turns out that he was right.
In their 2015 book, Wired to Create, authors Scott Barry Kaufman and Carolyn Gregoire write that creativity is a complex process that requires the interaction and collaboration of multiple parts of the brain, some of which don’t typically work cooperatively in the brains of non-creative people.
According to Kaufman and Gregoire, in order to write a story or compose a concerto, the brain must work to engage and connect memories, physical motor skills, emotions, critical thinking skills, imagination, analytical aptitude, empathy, planning skills, and the ability to sort and ignore irrelevant information, among other cognitive processes.
The science behind all this proves what most people reading this essay probably already know: Creative thinking is messy as well as a lot of work. It also lends some credibility to the stereotypical notion that writers and artists tend to be scatterbrained.
Because creative people’s brains are good at this chaotic multitasking, many of them seem to be naturally drawn to, and adept at, numerous creative activities that can often seem unrelated.
It makes sense to me now why working on varied creative projects helps when I get stuck trying to figure out what should happen next in a story. Creative thought lights up your entire brain, often stimulating the parts needed to resolve issues with tricky plot twists and problematic characters.
I’m no longer going to feel guilty about the time I spend working on my embroidery projects and the other creative activities I enjoy instead of writing or doing something more “productive.” Neither should you.
Do you enjoy any creative activities besides writing?
Do you find that engaging in different types of creative projects helps your writing?
Emilie-Noelle Provost is a writer, editor, and author who lives in a northeastern Massachusetts mill town with her husband, daughter, and three crazy rescue cats. She is an avid hiker and a fan of European crime dramas.
Emilie-Noelle has worked as an editor for four magazine titles and has written and published hundreds of articles. She is the author of two novels. The Blue Bottle, a middle-grade adventure with sea monsters, was published by North Country Press in 2018. Her second novel, The River Is Everywhere, the coming-of-age story of a Franco-American teenager, was a finalist for a 2023 National Indie Excellence Award, a 2023 American Fiction Award, and a 2024 American Legacy Book Award. The novel was published in March 2023 by Vine Leaves Press.
She is currently working on a series of novels set in Île d’Orléans, a historic island in the Saint Lawrence River near Québec City.
Oh, yes! I definitely think of myself as a maker. That can be stories, pottery, or knitted or crocheted work. They each feed some part of me which helps the creative process. Now I have science to back up all my interests! Yay! :)
I just call myself a Creative now, instead of writer, Metalsmith, jeweler, yarnhead crocheter, painter, sewist. They all feed into each other, nurturing and supporting each other.
This is very common. I’ve never met a musician that wasn’t also a visual artist of some type. I realized this years ago, when the chillest dude I ever met moved into the neighborhood. A jazz musician, he started giving my son lessons. After the first class he said, yeah your kid’s a natural, so what kind of artist are you? I was surprised he knew that I was an artist, but in his experience art of all types (creativity) runs in families and most musicians find expression in other art forms as well.
Is this true for most writers? I’m not sure. It doesn’t seem as recognized or assumed as in other artist communities. Why I’m not sure. But it’s true for me.
Yes to all of this! Especially the Steve Jobs quote about connecting things. I am ALLLL about connections between things, cause and effect, entanglements… I think there’s a natural rhythm to gathering materials, information, and ideas, and then arranging them into a new order that goes along with any kind of art or craft, which is exactly what we’re doing when we’re writing.
As for my own creative endeavors, I paint in oils and watercolors, I sew my own clothes, I quilt, I take photos, I play guitar and write songs. In the past (and possibly the future) I’ve crocheted, made mosaics, made jewelry, and sculpted. I used to love making dioramas in school and I loved every art class. I also compulsively collect rocks, birds’ nests, and other natural items to add to my decor (choosing paint colors and fabrics and decorating rooms is also a great creative outlet). I’m also someone who enjoys experimenting in the kitchen rather than always following a recipe.
And many of these things have found their way into my novels. It certainly saves time on research when you already know all about a thing and can evoke it viscerally because you’ve done it yourself.
Erin, I’m glad you mentioned recipes. I’ve never been one to follow a recipe when I baked, always experimenting. The more hectic and disorganized my life is, the more my brain wants to create.
I’ve also recently been re-examining my life because I sometimes thought that my life was such a waste. My career has been a hodge podge. However, I now see that my life gave me all the experiences I need right now to create. And I play piano, bead, and crochet when I can. This just has to be true!
I love LJ’s word. Maker. Right now, I’m hand-stitching a pair of pants while I stitch together the last third of my novel. The work shifts something in my brain. I also paint and draw and sing and play guitar by ear (musical family on mother’s side) although I can’t read music. I always wondered about that. But yes, connections! Wonderful post.
Yes! I also suspect us creative types are riddled with inspiration. It’s a connection to our muse, an energy source, or our souls–I don’t know what to call it, but it’s there, within us.
Hugs,
Dee
Interesting to see some of the science behind this topic, Emilie-Noelle.
Looking for a creative outlet that would offset the hours I spend sitting (reading & writing), I stumbled on traditional dancing back in my 20s (International dancing, country dancing from England and others, morris and sword dance). It’s is a passion that has lasted for decades and introduced me to a wonderful community. The dances look hard, but are usually quite easy, and beginners are welcome. Dancing has taught me about mind-body coordination, persistence, and the rewards of practice. It also, at its best, induces the kind of flow state that animates a good writing session.
Yes, yes, yes, to everything you said. Esp. with making connections. There’s so much cross-pollination that goes on. Music has completely taken over my life and I’m having a hard time juggling writing with all the new things I’m learning. Last night I wrote a post about this on my blog because it’s been seriously neglected and I even feel a little guilty for putting a beloved novel away…but here I am with new insights about it that I didn’t have before. Thanks for this lovely essay. Enjoy every moment!
I tend to say that I’m a storyweaver and when the tales don’t fit the page, the end up in song or art or stage.
But yes, generative and iterative thinking cannot be tied down to just books. Even Stephen King plays guitar, Rothfuss makes mead, Scalzi shoots photographs, and Mary Robinette Kowal is a puppeteer.
Seems silly to me to be any other way, but not necessarily the fault of the individual: many people have had creative and iterative and generative thinking beaten out of them, in some cases literaly
“many people have had creative and iterative and generative thinking beaten out of them, in some cases literaly”
lol I can laugh about it now, but I got a rap for doodling in the margins of my notebooks, and sometimes even twice for the same drawing. Now that I’m grown-up I’ve gone back to my childhood habits and write in the margins of books and enjoy marginalia in the used books I buy. I feel a strange kinship with the owners of those books.
Yeah that’s abusive behavior and it’s all too common. I was often shamed for drawing and writing
I have noticed how many actors and writers really want to be rock stars. or at least to be in a real band.
Well put, Michael. Have you ever heard the recording made by the Rock Bottom Remainders (a loose collection of writers: Barbara Kingsolver, Amy Tan, et al) with Stephen King singing “Stand By Me”?
I heard about the group, and envied anyone who was there to see it. Thanks for letting us know there’s a recording. I have a yellow sticky on my keyboard to remind me to search tomorrow. (I can’t figure out how I never get anything done…)
I draw and do digital painting, and I’ve always found that if I’m having a hard time writing, switching to whatever visual art project is my most recent tends to help get me unstuck.
I also sing, act, and narrate audio books. There are so many art forms – I’ve never been able to restrict myself to only one.
I’m a deadhead and the lead guitarist Jerry Garcia painted watercolors and designed ties. I also am a musician and a writer.