BASIC CONCEPTS

— When novelists claim they do not invent it, but hear voices and find stories in their head, they are neither joking nor crazy.

— When characters, narrators, or muses have minds of their own and occasionally take over, they are alternate personalities.

— Alternate personalities and memory gaps, but no significant distress or dysfunction, is a normal version of multiple personality.

— normal Multiple Personality Trait (MPT) (core of Multiple Identity Literary Theory), not clinical Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD)

— The normal version of multiple personality is an asset in fiction writing when some alternate personalities are storytellers.

— Multiple personality originates when imaginative children with normal brains have unassuaged trauma as victim or witness.

— Psychiatrists, whose standard mental status exam fails to ask about memory gaps, think they never see multiple personality.

— They need the clue of memory gaps, because alternate personalities don’t acknowledge their presence until their cover is blown.

— In novels, most multiple personality, per se, is unnoticed, unintentional, and reflects the author’s view of ordinary psychology.

— Multiple personality means one person who has more than one identity and memory bank, not psychosis or possession.

— Euphemisms for alternate personalities include parts, pseudonyms, alter egos, doubles, double consciousness, voice or voices.

— Multiple personality trait: 90% of fiction writers; possibly 30% of public.

— Each time you visit, search "name index" or "subject index," choose another name or subject, and search it.

— If you read only recent posts, you miss most of what this site has to offer.

— Share site with friends.

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

“Inspired: Understanding Creativity” by Matt Richtel: Author was scared of the multitudes within…before finding the voice of his alternate personality muse


“…people get locked into identities, narrowed by fears that…limit our access to our own natural capacities…I know this firsthand, having resisted creative impulses for years, scared of the multitudes within, resistant to them—a defiance that caused me to implode emotionally, before finding my voice” (1, pp. 21-22).


“…I went through significant transformation from ignoring my voice, to hearing and then expressing it” (1, p.71).


“What many creators discover as they emerge—and learn to hear their voices—is to listen to their voices and impulses without judgment or fear…” (1, p. 84).


“…creators emerge and begin to hear the voice, the muse” (1, p. 85).


“I mentioned earlier that I began to hear my own voice after I had a good, old-fashioned emotional collapse in my late twenties” (1, p. 221).


Comment: The author refers to the voice of an alternate personality that is his "muse." "Multitudes within" suggests he has more alternate personalities than just his "muse" alternate personality.

    If you read his book quickly, you may not realize he is talking about an audible, rational voice in his head, which, in a sane, productive person like Matt Richtel is probably the voice of an alternate personality.


1. Matt Richtel. Inspired: Understanding Creativity, a Journey Through Art, Science, and the Soul. Boston, Mariner Books, 2022.

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you for taking the time to comment (whether you agree or disagree) and ask questions (simple or expert). I appreciate your contribution.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)