Since I’ve been a published writer for 22 years, when my daughter
Writer, Barb Kent
recentlybecame a writer and her younger son suddenly announced he’d like to write a book, I started wondering if this trait is genetic. Thus began my personal research into the subject.
Frankly, I think I’ve opened a real can of worms and have learned far more than I wanted to know. To whittle it down, there appears to be a hereditary factor in those of us who are writers/musicians/artists. It involves a lot of components such as serantonin, the channel between the two sides of the brain and other complicated physiological matters, coupled with our environment and personal experiences. That’s the good news.
In addition, there is also a fine line between our creativity and mental problems like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, which is the expected bad news that always follows the good. Lord Byron is quoted as saying, “We of the craft are all crazy.” Even though Beethoven, Churchill, Ernest Hemingway and Van Gogh are said to have had some degree of one of these problems, did I really want to know this? Nah!
It has also been determined that anyone can learn to become creative. Ernest Hemingway’s thoughts on that matter were, “It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way.”
My deceased grandson, Pete, about whom I wrote my book WE ARE 
DIFFERENT NOW, was multi-talented. He excelled as a writer, musician and artist all rolled into one person. He is my daughter’s oldest son and all three of those arts are absolutely in his lineage.
Up until now, I believed it to be a gift from God and think I’ll still go with that since DNA is handed down from one generation to the next, as is the capacity to learn. What do you think – gift or DNA?
Author Jackie Taylor Zortman
Jackie's Mountain Memos 
YES!! I have also noted that creative people suffer from emotional issues but I believe that great artists are emotional, they have to be to be able to put feelings into art. Being highly emotional is a gift, unfortunately our society doesn’t appreciate it so it’s labeled as “crazy”
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You are absolutely right. That’s where the environment and personal experience elements of it all come into play. The percentage of us who struggle with mental illness is not very high, (some say 1%, others more like 20%) but it keeps us interesting. 🙂 Now, what I want to know is who before us gave us this particular DNA. Some people have told me to look at those who told great stories many years ago, but didn’t necessarily write them down. I’ve done genealogy on all our lines and have yet to discover an actual writer, though many kept journals or wrote beautiful letters on a regular basis.
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you can learn english, but how to weave the words is the individual’s. if it was easy, everyone would do it
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you can learn english, but how to weave the words are the individual’s. if it was easy, everyone would do it
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That’s right, Ralph. The odds of being artistically creative and also mentally ill are very small, but researchers seem to think it is worth mentioning. That backs up the “suffering artist” concept. I found the information both interesting and amusing.
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Ralph – I got this on here twice, but didn’t notice it until today. Thanks for taking the time and caring enough to let me know you commented. I appreciate your support.
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I think the gene runs wild in your family.
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That made me laugh, John. But is that a good thing or a bad thing? 🙂
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I had to laugh at that, John. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
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