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.

Saturday, June 15, 2024

Novelist R. O. Kwon Tells New York Times Book Review that she asks her Characters about Their Sexual Desires


N.Y. Times: “What makes a good sex scene?

R.O. Kwon: “Since the house of fiction is large, holding infinite rooms, I suppose there must be at least as many varieties of well-imagined sex scenes. But when I’m writing one, I ask my characters what they want, what else they want, and what else on top of that. I want so much, all the time, and my characters usually do, too” (1).

Comment: Many novelists are able to consult their characters, because they experiences their characters as having minds of their own, which is the essence of alternate personalities in multiple personality.

Many novelists, probably 90%, have a creative, high-functioning version of multiple personality, which I call “multiple personality trait” (as opposed to multiple personality disorder).

The New York Times Book Review probably thinks novelists are either joking or crazy when make this “joke,” time and again. However, as I argue in this blog: all these novelists are neither joking nor crazy.

Added same day: However, I see in a past post, that I gave up on this author's previous book. I plan to try the new one. 

1. N.Y. Times Interview. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/13/books/review/ro-kwon-interview-by-the-book-exhibit.html 

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)