Monday, April 19, 2010

ADD Writing

If you're the creative type -- anything from inventing gadgets to writing music -- you probably have a routine, rituals that help you create: utter silence, background music, the noise and bustle of the food court in the mall. I tend toward a combination: solitude, but not necessarily silence; concentration, but not always single focus.

At this moment, I'm watching (more like listening to) The New World while typing this post. A half-hour ago, I was watching a television episode online while working on the rough draft of a script, an adaptation of someone else's novel.

An aside: The first time I read the book, I was disappointed in the outcome, but the story stayed with me. A couple readings later, I see the beauty of it, and the outcome is not disappointing at all. It reads like a collaboration between Charles Dickens and Jane Austen, where his darkness is tempered by her optimism.

During commercials, or when I needed to pause the online show in order for the buffering to catch up, I stopped working on the script and read a few paragraphs in a different book. I didn't plan it -- I just did it -- and the creativity and concentration actually improved. It's as if the distractions helped my focus.

This is not always so.

I need to progress with my own stories, but the only creativity I find lately is in adapting the words of a writer long dead.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can appreciate your description of the A.D.D. creative -- Squirrel! As I was saying, I can appreciate -- Hey! Look at that over there!

:)

-- Bubba

Keanan Brand said...

Hey, Bubba! So, notice how I slid that "aside" in there? It's the long, snobby version of "Squirrel!"

Having more of those ADD moments tonight: TV show on one computer, typing on the other, and the television on mute.

Gotta love technology!

Phy said...

Throw in a smartphone for additional distraction and you've described my status quo.

Keanan Brand said...

Phones -- I have a like/utterly detest kind of thing for phones.

Excellent when one needs to communicate; pain in the neck when the communication is unwelcome interruption.

But a cell is on the list of things I need to add to the budget in the next year or so. Any advice is welcome!

Sandwich Recipes said...

Very nice bloog you have here