 This week, I had a conversation at work about what it means to be an adult. An intern I work with observed that adults just seem to fumble through life - basically the only thing that changes as you grow up is that you get better at faking it. I told her she was absolutely correct; that's the biggest secret of "adulting". None of us know what we're doing, we just sort of keep going forward until someone tells us we're doing it wrong. Then we course correct, and start the cycle all over again.
According to psychologists, imposter syndrome is characterized by a deep-seated fear that you have only succeeded due to luck, rather than talent, qualifications, or hard work. It's a very familiar phenomena to many - it's estimated today that up to 70% of people experience this feeling of being an imposter at least once in their lives, regardless of gender, profession, or socioeconomic status.  Note: Realistic characters are not always the best choice depending on your story and creative medium. I personally rely on relatable characters to drive my plot forward and engage my audience, but if you don't, that's okay! Below are some of my lessons learned on the best way to create characters that feel authentic, but I definitely do not have all the answers.
 When I was in college I wrote a paper about the concept of pain. Pain is a personal experience for everyone; we all have pain in our lives, whether physical or emotional. What interested me was the process of communicating pain.
We've all been at a doctor's appointment with an unexplained ache or pain. Usually, the doctor will examine you, then as you to rate, on a scale of 1 - 10, how bad your pain is. This always struck me as problematic, because we experience the world - and pain - from our own unique perspective. What feels, to me, like the worst pain I've ever experienced may be a 3 or 4 to someone else. In an area as objective and scientifically rigorous as medicine, I wanted to examine why this subjectivity exists. One of the major themes of Summer Twilight is exploring the labels we give ourselves, and how they affect the way we view the world, and the way the world sees us in turn. Throughout this journey, I will share some of my own labels, and the journey they have taken me on. We are all #morethanourlabels
I've never really thought of myself as creative until recently. A big part of the reason is because both my mom and my little brother are artists, so growing up my definition of creative meant you had to draw, paint, or sculpt. My drawing abilities begin and end with stick figures; I can color inside the lines in coloring books, but I do better with color-by-number because I'm never sure what goes together. |
