The Midnight Disease.... don't want a cure

[annaswirls]

The Midnight Disease
by Alice Weaver Flaherty


About the Book

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Why is it that some writers struggle for months to come up with the perfect sentence or phrase, while others, hunched over a notepad or keyboard deep into the night, seem unable to stop writing? In The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer's Block, and the Creative Brain (Houghton Mifflin, January), neurologist Alice W. Flaherty explores the hows and whys of writing, revealing the science behind hypergraphia — the overwhelming urge to write — and its dreaded opposite, writer's block. The result is an innovative contribution to our understanding of creative drive, one that throws new light on the work of some of our greatest writers.

A neurologist whose work puts her at the forefront of brain science, Flaherty herself suffered from hypergraphia after the loss of her prematurely born twins. Her unique perspective as both doctor and patient helps her make important connections between pain and the drive to communicate and between mood disorders and the creative muse.

Deftly guiding readers through the inner workings of the human brain, Flaherty sheds new light on popular notions of the origins of creativity, giving us a new understanding of the role of the temporal lobes and the limbic system. She challenges the standard idea that one side of the brain controls creative function, and explains the biology behind a visit from the muse.

Flaherty writes compellingly of her bout with manic hypergraphia, when "the sight of a computer keyboard or a blank page gave me the same rush that drug addicts get from seeing their freebasing paraphernalia." Dissecting the role of emotion in writing and the ways in which brain-body and mood disorders can lead to prodigious — or meager — creative output, Flaherty uses examples from her own life and the lives of writers from Kafka to Anne Lamott, from Sylvia Plath to Stephen King.....




A Conversation with Alice Flaherty About The Midnight Disease

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Q) Writer's block is something we hear about a lot, but I wasn't familiar with hypergraphia until reading your book. What is it, and why did you choose to write about it?

A) Well, hypergraphia is essentially the opposite of writer's block. It's driven, compulsive writing — keeping huge journals, writing letters to the editor at the drop of a hat, that sort of thing. Some people will write on toilet paper if nothing else is available. One of the things that makes hypergraphia interesting is that known brain conditions can trigger it, and they all seem to heavily involve the temporal lobes, parts of the brain that are right behind the ears. The other interesting point is that hypergraphia seems to reflect a component of literary creativity, namely creative drive. And there is fairly solid evidence that drive, and emotional involvement in your work, is even more important than talent in creating something new.

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come on....go read more, this is fucking fascinating!

I think we have a few cases of this lurking about.... come on confess!

Say it loud!
hypergraphic and proud!

 

[Maria2394]

ah HA!!!!!

Dea Anna banana sweetie pie--

I brought this subject up almost a year ago and no one responded, I shoulda started a thread!! this is absoluetly a fascinating "affliction" and while I dont get all upset if I am not physically writing, or typing, I find myself always, and always writing in my head. I have started several stories, a screen play, a while back, and I have the outline in print, but the scenes, and chapters I revise in my head.

With poetry, I come up with an idea, an inspiration, or sometimes just a word, and it goes through its process inside me, I think its odd, it is hypergraphia without the actual writing, does that count? I often have dreams, where in my dream I am working on a poem, or a story, and in my dream, me, my "other" self, some person that feels like me, helps me with my rough draft, or offers suggestions, I cannot get away from myself it seems

oh, Froggie pajamas, well it turned itself into a story...I cant wait till its dome so you can read it, you inspiration you

 

[foehn]

Fascinating

What a humorous poll! In keeping with the tone, I clicked my flippant vote...

The book sounds very interesting; I'd like more insight into what goes on in my own writing processes.

I think it's a subject that probably interests most people who have ever identified themselves as "writers," especially creative writers. Journalists may be a different breed. Does the author go into that?

I know there have been times when I have felt as though I were on fire, and could not stop the flow of words. And when the fit was over, I'd go over and over and over whatever had been produced, editing and re-working obsessively.

I remember a time in my early thirties when I had a somewhat boring job, and I would write poems in my head all day long, sometimes remembering a few of the good lines, and recording them and adding to them at night.

Then too, I have gone long periods -- years -- writing practically nothing. I usually considered these periods to indicate lack of interest, dedication or discipline.

I'd like to read the book, but suspect it will be some time before I look for it. Other projects and concerns are eating my time up right now.

 

[Angeline]

so there's a name for this syndrome. i'll add it to my growing list of ailments.

 

[Maria2394]

so there's a name for this syndrome. i'll add it to my growing list of ailments.

dayum sis, you have a list!!!??? so do I..its in my head, along with the contents of said list...

where doth my affictions lie? look in my I, look in my eye...