Blogger: Rachel Kent
Traveling abroad has always been portrayed in literature as a way to refinement. When I think of the dream of traveling to foreign lands, I can’t help but think of Jo from Little Women and her wish to travel. I’ve always loved traveling and wish I could do more of it. My best friend just got back from a tour of Israel and it got me thinking about travel. According to the article I found for today, written by Audrey Hamilton from the APA, traveling abroad might actually boost creativity! So if you are considering taking a trip, you might want to go!
The article covers many experiments done by Dr. Adam Galinsky, PhD, and his team, (I encourage you to check out the article to read about the various experiments), but the one I found most relevant to writing is the following:
Two groups of students were told to write an essay as a priming technique for the experiment. One group was instructed to write about their experience traveling abroad; the other group was instructed to write about something mundane, like a trip to the grocery store. After the “priming,” the two groups were asked to perform tasks like drawing an alien or solving word puzzles. The groups were monitored during these experiments, and the research team determined that those who had written about their experience abroad were more creative in their execution of the tasks.
None of the experiments measuring creativity in this study measured creativity specifically in writing, but I would love to see a study where they had a group of students who are currently abroad write an essay on a mundane topic and a group of students at home write about the same topic with impartial graders judging creativity between the two groups. The results would be interesting for sure!
Have you ever spent time abroad? Did you write and/or feel more creative while you were there?
What in your experience might either prove or disprove this experiment’s finding?
I haven’t lived outside the US, but I’ve made my home in different cultures within our borders: low-income rural, inner city, farming community, prosperous suburb, historic village. I’ve spent time in the Mid-West, Plains, South and Northeast.
*I was a bit of a misfit in many of those places: the only kid in my one-room school who had been outside the state, the economic bottom in my wealthy suburban church, the parent of mixed-race children in a town with its roots in prejudice.
*I never thought about how this might affect my creativity, Rachel. But it gives me “been there, done that” insight into attitudes, patterns of speech and life styles. More important, I found friends in all those places.
You’ve lived in a lot of places, Shirlee! My guess is your experiences have really impacted your passionate relationship with God and your depth of understanding about life and people.
I have lived in only two states, both within the same region. It’s sometimes difficult being creative – with stuffs like speech, life styles – when I do not hold much interaction with people. Where I currently reside, there is a breed of every culture available in Nigeria, yet, I know little about my own culture…
*My case is more of the foreigner in other countries, and the prodigal in his own. God help me.
I lived five years in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia and Kuwait), which gave me much opportunity to travel, on trips to and from the States, and sometimes elsewhere on business. That was all years before I ever thought of writing creatively, so I have few notes on the places we went. I don’t know that that has made me more creative, but it has certainly given me opportunities to write about. The camel market scene in my novel “Doctor Luke’s Assistant” came from our visit to the camel market at al Jafra in Kuwait. The itinerary the American couple takes in my novel “Operation Lotus Sunday” is the itinerary we followed in our trip through China. Many other oversees venues are working their way into a short story series I’m writing. Those five years will give me three decades of fodder for my writing.
Interesting topic, Rachel. I have spent time in various places abroad, but the only creativity I really mobilized centered around doing the work I’d been hired to do, and getting home without any extra holes in my skin.
* That being said, I don’t know how travel has affected my creativity, because the bulk of it was over by the time I started writing. The travel ‘experiences’ did not even commend me to keep a journal even if that had been permitted.
* My gut feeling is that there are three C’s that define a creative person; calling, confidence, and curiosity.
– Calling is the ‘itch’ to write (or paint, or sculpt…whatever), the divine mandate to leave a tangible ‘witness to life’ in the object created.
– Confidence is the deep knowing that the work is worthwhile. It’s like the ocean, really…the surface can be roiled by the waves of anxiety (Will I find an agent???), but the depths have their own temperatures and stately currents that do not change.
– Finally curiosity is the sense of wondering what’s over the next hill; for a ‘creative’ it’s the adventure of each paragraph, each brush-stroke, each touch of chisel to marble that reveals what has been hiding within.
* It would seem logical that curiosity walks hand-in-hand with the desire to travel, but creativity itself will remain dormant if calling and confidence don’t come along for the ride.
Interesting thoughts, Andrew. I especially like what you shared about confidence. I never considered confidence in this light before. I love your three C’s!
Andrew, I like your idea of confidence being like the ocean. It’s so easy to picture!
Rachel, I had never thought about travel unlocking craetivitty. I had the opportunity to visit Istanbul in 2001, before 9/11. I journaled about the experience and wrote down as many of the details and dialogues as I could remember. I LOVED being there.
*I also went to th Philippines on a 2 week missions trip. It changed my life and my outlook. I think every person in the US should spend time in a third world culture. It opens your eyes to so much!
*I believe spending time in other countries, in other cultures expands our understanding of people and what cultural elements shape them. How they respond to situations and other people.
And I forgot to add my congratulations to you, Rachel!
I lived in the Middle East for two years and we travelled extensively during that time. Yes, it inspired many stories but so did traveling in the U.S. Many of my books were inspired by vacation trips, including many of my historical romances. My husband and I are selling our home and buying a motorhome to tour the country. I’m looking forward to some great stories!
My father served 30+ years active duty (Navy and Army). My husband also served for 26+ years (Army). I think it’s safe to say I’ve spent time abroad. (I was actually born on the Autobahn.)
*
Have my travels made me feel more creative? I honestly can’t answer that since I’ve known no other life. I will say I’ve been an artist and writer since I could first put marks on paper. I also think everyone should go someplace “foreign” at least once in their life, even if it’s just another part of the country. It only makes sense that doing and seeing new things would spark creativity.
On a trip to Germany, Switzerland and Austria, we stayed in Hoftgarten, a charming town with cobbled streets, a church with twin towers, the tomb of a knighted saint and lovely cottages. That night, unable to sleep, a poem came to be as a clue to a mystery. I’ve written about the experience in several of my many short stories, including the poem as the clue to the mystery. Traveling in other countries is truly eye-opening and stimulates creativity. Sadly with the world as it is today, I wouldn’t leave the USA.
I’ve hardly ever been able to travel much because of allergies and finances, but I’ve always lived in or near places that are great tourist attractions. And just looking at beautiful things like trees against the sky a the sunset over the water helps me be creative.
My husband and I went to Bible college in Canada and I began to write seriously while there. Yes, I think my creativity was heightened. Just from meeting new kinds of people to the ones back home and hearing different opinions given by many different people that I respected. Makes the mind and heart grow wider.
I’ve been blessed enough to travel deep into the Bolivian Andes, 4 times. We went where no Anglos had ever been. For many of those extremely remote and isolated Quechua Indians, I was the one and only redhead they’d ever seen. Ever. Or will ever see. And yes, I got stared at.
Ohhhh, did I get stared at. Let’s not even mention the freckles!!
Being that far from home, up in altitudes of 13,000-15,500 feet, utterly cut off from what we’d consider to be ‘civilization’, I certainly felt closer to God, and felt a re-filling of my creative juices, simply by observing what He made that few had ever seen.
And as for travel? I’ve just spent a week on a cruise ship, enjoying the Alaskan coast. My dad took me, my daughter and my mom on a fabulous adventure. Frankly, since we disembarked on Wednesday?? Making EACH of my own meals has been rough. ROUGH, I tell ya!!