Pictures in Your Brain

Self Discovery by Meme – Who Knew It Was a Possibility?

I came across this meme today, and it was a real “aha” moment for me. Who knew a meme could offer a teachable moment of self-discovery? Certainly not me.

Yes, I do! I see pictures in my mind. I am a total 1 on this scale.

In fact, when I was in college the first time (when I was of actual college age), I didn't know how to study because high school and elementary school had been so easy that I never needed to study. Enough information would get lodged in my brain just from hearing teacher's talk while I was passing notes with other kids that I could spout it back on a test.

College was harder, so I attended religiously and took very careful notes. The night before a test or exam, I’d read over the notes a couple of times. The next day, I'd read a question on the test and look at the appropriate page of notes in my brain. It wasn't like I was calling up the information. I brought up an image of the notes or a page from the textbook. I realize that to any of you who are a 5, this sounds like total voodoo, and you 4s are saying this is a very unreliable system. But it worked for me.

I never talked about it though. It felt a little like cheating. We weren’t supposed to use our notes or textbook for tests, and I was using both. In my defense, the book and notes were in my head, but still, I thought it best not to talk about it.

I can't do that anymore. I wish I could. It would be a useful trick now that I’m a college student again in my Medicare years. My brain is too old and tired. Or full of useless information.

But even now, when I'm writing a story, I watch it happen in my head like I'm watching a movie. And then write it down. Which could explain why my fiction professor said that I should devote some attention to giving my characters some interiority.

It hurt my feelings when he said it, but I knew he was right. And now I know why.

I'm not going to change the way I conjure up a first draft. But I now know what I need to do for the first revision. Go in with the awareness that I wrote a screenplay, and now I have to turn it into a story.

So, are you a 1 or a 5 or somewhere in between?