Update - A Letter to Orson Scott Card

Good news! My dad contacted a guy from church, who contacted Aaron Johnston (Card's co-author), and he said that he would be delighted to answer my questions! (click here for original post)

So here's the new plan: I reformat the e-mail to address Johnston, send it off, wait for a reply, and, when it comes, follow up with a thank-you note and politely ask him if he would be willing to pass it on to "Scott," as they call him. If all goes well, I will have collected TWO responses from different successful authors!

Crossing my fingers...

Do Highly-Logical Activities Impair Creativity?

 

This is a question I've had for a while. When a person frequently participates in a highly-logical activity (such as computer programming or Sudoku), does that strengthen or weaken their ability to think creatively?
 
**DISCLAIMER - I don't know much about psychology, so if there's a simple answer, please leave me a note in the comments.
 
I am a computer programmer. In fact, aside from writing, it's really the only major thing I spend my free-time doing. I just love the way it challenges me to break down problems, analyze the components, and put all the little pieces back together in a cohesive, efficient manner. But I also feel like a robot, doing the same calculations over and over and over and over in slightly different contexts. And when I sit down to write after working on my 2D-Shooter, it feels like the only things coming to mind are a bunch of stereotypes. The same ones, over and over and over.
 
That's normal, right? It seems like most writers have trouble with stereotypes, regardless of their favorite pass-times. I have no frame of reference, though. There's no way for me to get inside your head, see what it's like to write from your perspective, and compare to see who has the hardest time. The result is that I have no idea how close I am to meeting my creative potential. It’s maddening, actually.
 
But then there’s the possibility that spending equal times using both hemispheres of the brain (yes, I know neuroscientists have disproved the whole left/right brain thing) can actually greaten one’s creative power. Prominent historical figures like Da Vinci, who were known for both scientific and artistic contributions, seem to be concrete examples of this.

So the question really comes down to: do “left” and “right-brained” activities counteract one another, or are they additive? Was Da Vinci just a prodigy, or did his practice of art and science strengthen him as a whole?
I’m curious to hear what you think!

Sensitive Subjects in Fiction

Even if you have never written anything on a particularly sensitive topic, you probably have read articles online or in magazines about them. To name a few that are popular in today’s world:

-          Health care

-          Abortion

-          Gay Rights

My goodness. Facebook has become a battle-ground for those debating how society should treat homosexuality. Say the word and you will most likely offend the entire human race for some reason or another.

I get so angry after seeing countless page-long posts, both at the offenders and the offended. To the offenders: you have a valid opinion, but posting it on Facebook is not going to do SQUAT. Find a more productive outlet. To the offended: “He who takes offense when no offense is intended is a fool, and he who takes offense when offense is intended is a greater fool” (Brigham Young).

But that’s not exactly what I want to talk about. It’s already been done to death on every culture-blogging site in the universe.

I’m wondering about a similar issue: controversial material in fictional stories. My question is, should authors adopt the mantra “Go Bold or Go Home,” or should they omit touchy material and try for an alternate subject?

For some, this may not be an option. Their stories may be set during the Holocaust (The Book Thief) or address the murder of innocent children (The Hunger Games). For others, it may be possible to leave out grey-area components and focus more on their characters because the two are mostly independent of one another.

I’d say there are a few factors to consider when deciding what to do:

-          Audience. You probably wouldn’t write a story portraying an evil Nazi as the protagonist and market the book to Jews. Make sure that you are AT LEAST omitting material that offends your TARGET AUDIENCE.

-          Time. Fictional reinventions of the Holocaust probably wouldn’t have sold many copies back in 1945. The event would be too fresh in everyone’s mind, and readers would be right to throw the book into the toilet.

-          Research. How well do you know the subject? This one’s really important because readers can smell ignorance a mile away, and they’ll call you on it (shortly after flushing your book). Elie Wiesel was a prisoner of Auschwitz, so his memoir, Night, is automatically credible. Consequently, it has enjoyed enormous readership and is now requisite material in most high schools.

-          Emotional appeal. If your story is a light-hearted tale about a time-traveler, throwing him into the middle of a concentration camp is going to make a lot of people uncomfortable. If it reads more like a tribute, however, it might just win some loyal fans.

In a story I am currently writing, Christopher Winter is a Freeze Agent, one of many people responsible for keeping the world “on the right track.” The Shadow President literally stops time, allowing Chris and his coworkers to move undisturbed in a frozen world, making changes as they are instructed.

The prologue tells the story of Chris’ initiation into the society, after being kidnapped and dragged away from his father. He’s only eleven, but his assignment has a profound impact: he must let a mysterious man through airport security.

That’s it. Little does he know that the action results in the hijacking of American Airlines Flight 11 and the eventual destruction of the World Trade Center.

“What’s going to happen?” Chris asks before all of this. “Won’t that hurt people?”

“Some will suffer,” the division-leader replies. “But many more will be strengthened. It is very, very important that this happens today.”

Afterwards, the story skips ahead ten years, and it’s the last we hear of the incident, except for the pain and guilt that Chris experiences as a result. This guilt is critical. Without it, my protagonist would be the insensitive cause of the 9/11 hijackings, and many readers would despise him. But the internal torture that he experiences combined with the fact that he didn’t know any better makes him human. Not a monster. A lost, confused, and scared child who only wants to get back to his family. A symbol of the 9/11 victims’ heartbreak. Instead of seeming like a way to get money, the story feels sympathetic, and celebrates the way America grew closer together after the terrible crisis of 2001.

I don’t know. Maybe I’m wrong, and as soon as I try to publish the story, a squad of assassins will pull up in front of my house. But those are my thoughts.

Do you think it’s too early to write fiction about 9/11? In general, how do you feel about including sensitive subjects in your writing? How do you feel when you read about them in a book?

Let me know in the comments!