1. They are emotional (or, more fittingly, they feel a lot.) They do not like admitting it but they have a very wide emotional range, which fuels their artistry. How else can they write about a funeral if they did not know grief, or write about a recovery if they did not know hopefulness?
2. They love, which disgusts them to a horrifying degree. No intellectual likes the idea of being as human as everyone else, experiencing the same emotions that will lead him or her to anywhere other than the top of the academic ladder (love being one of them, apparently.) Being in love, however, introduces them to the possibility of achieving happiness; they are afraid of but long for that. Consequently, they are subjected to a state of confusion that they would want to analyze and write about.
More importantly, the presence of a "romantic partner" causes the emergence of a muse. Having someone to love means having someone to write for and about.
3. They are self-conscious. They have the constant need to retire from the commotion of the world and to confine themselves so they could think. They are narcissistic people (they value themselves too much) and are very in touch with their emotions and judgment, which gives them this inherent understanding of people.
4. They are observant. They are always asking questions so they use the world as an avenue to understand life. That man is carrying three large bags (because he must have come home from serving in war.) I heard a gunshot earlier today (because, perhaps, my Chinese neighbor found out about his wife's infidelity.) The birds are silent (because mating season is over.) From these observations, they try to produce an infinite number of stories. Anything can happen, anything can happen.
5. They like words. They are obsessed with them. They cannot help repeating
It stuck in a barb wire snare.
Ich, ich, ich, ich,
I could hardly speak.
from Plath's Daddy, and they like to believe that someday they could achieve that same beautiful threading of words.
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