The
author of numerous successful young adult novels (although she would consider
that label “bullshit”), Maggie Stiefvater has created worlds through her words.
She’s the author of The Raven Cycle and Shiver
series, along with the fantasy novel The
Scorpio Races. Growing up, she was homeschooled from sixth grade on. Stiefvater
was a prolific reader, and her parents encouraged this. Many elements of her
novels can be seen in the books she read growing up – for example, the Welsh
mythology in the Dark is Rising trilogy
heavily influenced the world she builds in The
Raven Cycle. Her writing process is very similar. When drawing inspiration
for a novel, Stiefvater says she begins with music. “I usually have a song that I listen
to over and over at the beginning of a novel, something that encompasses that
mood. And when I feel I’ve wandered too far from my original purpose, I will
play it again.” She also draws inspiration for her characters from the people
around her; Stiefvater says that her best characters are the ones that she’d “stolen
from life”. As a former portrait artist, she follows the same process when
building a character: she begins with a model, and then pulls it apart and puts
it back together to make them her own. Yet above all, Stiefvater is
intrinsically motivated to write what she loves. This shines through in her
novels; she pulls from her passions and the people she cares about and combines
them to build something wholly unique. Stiefvater loves to write, and to share
what she loves with the world.
http://www.vulture.com/2016/04/maggie-stiefvater-says-ya-is-a-bullshit-label.html
http://www.yalsa.ala.org%2Fthehub%2F2014%2F01%2F09%2Fone-thing-leads-to-another-an-interview-with-maggie-stiefvater%2F&usg=AOvVaw2XzwYVjJwskC9-FYDexGtN
Do you think this cross over of creative outlets helps build a ultimately more creative product in the end? I think this goes past just creativity. Like athletes that play a multitude of sports are better off in their craft than others.
ReplyDeleteSo many of the creatives we have examined from this class pull from other domains to inspire or strengthen their work. However, it is interesting that Stiefvater had not just borrowed from others in those fields-she adopts them herself in order to synthesize them with writing. Perhaps that says something about an intrinsic motivation to be accomplished in more than one field.
ReplyDeleteI remember in an interview of pop-stars from the group Haim insisted that artists must always maintain activity outside their "primary" outlet. Stiefvater seems to exemplify this concept well. To be creative is not enough- one must be able to synthesize the experience one has in one's life into a creative form. Remaining active in fields outside of one's art certainly helps!
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