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Saturation: Immersion of the Writer in Art to Achieve Inspiration
The discussion of inspiration and how to attain it has been the make-up of mythology, fiction, textbooks, and
a source of concern for scholars, poets, musicians, and artists. Furthermore, for the writer, the question of how
to go about achieving the creative impetus and wherewithal to complete a successful piece of writing is something
that is timeless. To successfully overcome obstacles to creativity, the contemporary writer and also critic of
creative works should look to great pieces of writing, music, art, and cinema for inspiration. Saturation of
the writer by immersing his or herself into a variety of mediums is an essential method to derive inspiration.
When I was 12 years old, I was captivated by science fiction. Later my tastes became more refined and advanced,
but as a fledgling writer at age 12, I fancied science fiction and its seemingly endless possibilities. I rather
liked one television show. It was a cheaply made Canadian production which based its episodes on the writings
of Ray Bradbury. It was entitled, aptly enough, The Ray Bradbury Theater. Each episode was introduced by a
signature narration by Ray Bradbury, wherein, he addressed the fact that people were always asking him where
he got his ideas. He then explained that he had a workshop surrounded with posters of far away lands, models
of spacecrafts, and an eclectic assortment of paraphernalia meant to stimulate his imagination. He would say,
"I look around and everything I have is here." I tried to emulate this procedure by looking around at household
objects like soap, and constructing tales of soaps whose lathers produced everlasting beauty and life. I would
look at the blender and manufacture a story that dealt with an appliance that allowed its users to go back in
time. While the stories were somewhat hackneyed and ridiculous, I latched onto Bradbury's premise of immersion
to create stories and it remained with me.
The crux of inspiration lies in the stimulation of imagination, as Bradbury discovered. For Stephen King, a similar
but different process took hold. He maintained a series of odd jobs washing hospital sheets and performing janitorial
duties at a local high school. It was there where he developed the character of Carrie, a high school misfit, with
destructive powers of telekinesis. King, like Bradbury wrote about what he knew and then added his own creative
spin. King was a proponent of mining the commonplace and the mundane for inspiration. He too was saturated with
comic books and dime store novels at a young age. The combination of his own experiences in the common place,
combined with the saturation of other "arts" is arguably what made him so successful.
The old adage directed to writers holds true: write about what you know…and then of course add a little of your
imagination that reflects the darkest and most fantastical reaches of your soul. I always write about what is
in my immediate vicinity, but I always add little snippets of other writers. Here the other adage holds true:
good writers borrow, great writers steal. While I never aim to steal anyone's work, I do find that my writer's
block, when I experience it, is assuaged by viewing a fantastic movie, or reading a great short story, or
listening to an excellent piece of music. If ever I can't come up with ideas, I will sit at an empty keyboard
listening to iTunes of Bobby Gentry's "Ode to Billy Joe", while simultaneously watching my favorite part of
Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets. I will then conclude my day and read another great minimalist piece by Raymond
Carver. When I begin to lay my head on the pillow, I allow all the stimulation to permeate my brain. It is
the minutes between consciousness and sleep that my ideas take hold, and very often before I drift to sleep
I will wake up and jot down these ideas. Often I fall straight asleep, but most times I remember my ideas.
The equation is simple: if one is seeking the creative stimulus to write a critical evaluation and discussion of
creative works or seeking to create a creative work, one should surround oneself with the creative outputs of successful
artists that have come before. Writing works harmoniously with literature, music, art, and cinema and one is attained
through the other.
If one were for example seeking to write a cultural criticism on pulp fiction, one should seek to surround
oneself with the best of that field: Charles Willeford, Jim Thompson, James M. Cain, Raymond Chandler.
One should seek out filmmakers such as John Huston, Sam Fuller, Sam Peckinpah, and even Quentin Tarantino.
By observing and reading such material, the imagination is sparked and the writer's whole cultural criticism
is fueled by the enormous emotional impact of these works.
I speak of saturation. Saturation is what I find to be the single most effective tool when overcoming block.
I speak of the saturation that involves immersion into the great works of others. Brahms, Beethoven, Fellini,
Shakespeare, Dante, Doestoyoevsky-these artists should be the staples of any struggling writer. Notice that
I did not limit the inspirational figures to just those who preside in the literary realm, but rather took
into consideration composers and even filmmakers. The key is to not only stimulate but, in the case of writer's
block, over- stimulate the senses.
The French Symbolists like Rimbaud and Baudelaire attempted to achieve a prolonged derangement of the senses.
In many ways saturation with a cross section of a variety of pop-culture and high-brow artistic sensibilities
helps the writer to achieve and then convey this manner of derangement of the senses. Additionally, it has been
said that there is no such thing as true originality, only what we can do to rearrange old ideas and make them our
own. When we are constantly stimulated by the "greats" we can cross reference them and create a new type of art
from familiar plot lines and artistic directions.
It is ambiguous exactly what "great" art is to this day and it has been the source of dispute among critics.
I suggested that writers saturate themselves with "great art". While it is hard to pin down what successful
art is, I think that a writer for the sake of inspiration should seek to immerse his or her self into the
kind of art that moves him or her the most. For example, if a writer is particularly moved by classic rock
or by comic books, I suggest a steady diet of these. Perhaps, disco music of the 70's fueled by stream-of-consciousness
rants by Bukowski or Kerouac will stimulate the writer's imagination.
I suggest mixing and matching different eras of music, film, literature, and art. Try to engulf Notes from Underground
in its fullness and then listen to Charlie Parker or maybe Guns and Roses. In many ways, the modern author and critic
needs to be a glutton. A glutton for song, image, thought, idea, concept, axiom, principle, story, nostalgia, and art.
By imbibing in mass quantities of pop culture mayhem, mixed with high brow sensibilities, and balancing it out with
a healthy dose of folk music, art, and storytelling, the writer has no choice but to generate a multiplicity of
conflicting emotional states. The author is forced to do two things: come up with a criticism or conflicted emotion
about what he or she has seen, heard, or read, or to come up with his or her own ideas or concepts. The writer
should be urged to be open-minded to all modes of expression and should also be forced to react to these modes
of expression. When I say "forced", the writer obviously must do this, or maybe through the aid of a writing
instructor. The thing to note is that writing and criticism is an extremely personal experience. Only the writer
will know what type of "art" will fuel his or her imagination and emotional state.
To overcome writer's block and to achieve a successful piece of writing and criticism, the writer
must seek to entrench his or her sensibilities into the work of others. Saturation of the senses must
occur, to break through this rather intense emotional experience of being blocked psychologically.
It is an extreme experience and only the extreme measures of fueling the imagination through the
works of others, can the writer react mentally and emotionally and then have no choice but to
form an opinion or come up with an original thought. This is the gold treasure for which we
writers strive and it will come if we feed the creative beast that is imagination.
William Blick, when he isn’t thwarting humanity’s demise, tries to be a writer from
the mean streets of Bellerose, New York. He has an M.A in English Literature from Queens College and is pursuing
a master’s degree in Library Science. He has published stories and essays in Everyday Weirdness, Mysterical-e,
Inscribed: A Magazine for Writers, Clockwise Cat, The Pulp Pusher, Underground Voices, Revisions: A Queens
College Zine on Writing, Scribal Tales, Alien Skin, Thrillers, Chillers, N’ Killers, Soul Fountain,
Seven Seas Magazine, Straitjackets Magazine, and Bewildering Stories. He also writes film criticism
and has published work in >Senses of Cinema. He has been invited to present academic papers on film
at the Midwestern Conference for Popular Culture and the Comparative Literature Department at the
University of Georgia on international film and film noir.
Email: William Blick
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