Blogocentric Formulations

Input & Long Stories

PROMPT: When making decisions in life, do you listen to your head or heart more? Are you more of a logical or emotional thinker?

I'm definitely more of a logical thinker. I rarely go into a situation without considering a variety of outcomes, and I rarely make a plan without at least considering several different alternatives. About a year ago, I took the StrengthsFinder   test, which is one of those "let's categorize your abilities into a handy list" type of tests. Apparently there are 34 different talents you can have, including things like connectedness, discipline, empathy, strategic, etc. and the test will provide you with the top five talents you exhibit based on your answers to their scenarios and questions. My top five talents were (in order):

          Input - likes to collect and archive information
          Responsibility - takes ownership of what they do, values loyalty
          Adaptability - likes to "go with the flow" and adjust to changing circumstances
          Intellection - introspective and likes intellectually-stimulating discussion/activities
          Arranger - organized, can figure out how different pieces can be efficiently utilized

With the exception of Responsibility (since I suppose logical and emotional people can both have a strong or weak sense of personal responsibility), the other four of my five top talents are all related to some kind of data processing. My wife, who is definitely an emotional decision maker, has talents like Harmony (seeking areas of agreement and avoiding conflict) and Empathy (sensing and understanding the feelings of other people), but mine all involve some kind of collation of data. Input and Intellection are all about the acquisition and discussion of data, and Adaptability and Arranger are all about taking data and shaping it (or myself) as needed.

It's not that I don't feel emotional about decisions I have to make, though. I definitely feel strongly about some decisions and I'm definitely not the guy who's going to boot up a spreadsheet so I can run a statistical analysis on whether it's a good idea to get married, have a baby, send a loved one to an assisted living facility, etc. But I'm also definitely not the one who's going to make a snap decision and say, "Well this is how I'm feeling so let's do it!" I like to use the emotion I feel to guide my general feeling or initial opinion on a course of action... then I like to do my research and make sure I can justify the decision I'm feeling like I should make.

I know I always can sometimes drive my wife crazy whenever we have a serious life decision. I'm the guy who will read every word of the information packets on the health benefits provided by each of our employers and then mock up a few situations so I can do the math and figure out which plan is a better fit for our needs. I'm the guy who will look at 200 reviews of ten different models of toaster before I buy one. And I'm the guy who will research and test drive twenty different vehicles before settling on the new car I want to buy. And don't even get me started on electronics. Since I have a passion for technology, it's even worse when we're buying a TV or a new computer.

But all of that tedious work (well, my wife thinks it's tedious; I think it's fun ) does come with the added upside that buyer's remorse is almost never an issue for me. Once I finally make a decision to buy something, I tend to enjoy the hell out of it and keep it around until it's on its last legs.

All things considered, I'm really lucky that I married my wife, because our approaches to decision-making really complement one another. She's the one who reels me in and says, "This is one of those times when you should go with your gut" or, "Is a new set of spatulas really worth researching for a week?" And I'm the one that says, "Maybe we should weigh our options before we pick our health insurance. I know it seems like a no-brainer on the page, but what happens if one of us gets really sick, or into an accident?" Between the two of us, we're usually able to make pretty good decisions, but that's because she offsets my natural inclination to be logical about everything and consider every option before committing to a course of action.

PROMPT: "Everything with you is a long story." Does this apply to you, people you know or characters in your stories?


I don't think I'm usually prone to telling long stories, although I'm sure I've done it on more than one occasion, but the real reason this prompt inspired me is because I have a friend for whom everything is most definitely a long story. He's one of those guys who will start with, "Did I tell you what happened at work today?" And if he gets going will immediately backtrack and say, "Well, first I need to give you a little backstory. So three weeks ago my boss said... and then last week Francine mentioned... and by the way, I forgot to mention that [whatever] is kind of an inside joke between everyone at the office..." and after about twenty minutes of context, additional explanation, asides, and sidetracked anecdotes, we'll finally get to "what happened at work" that day.

On the one hand, I think it's a pretty remarkable thing to be able to lose yourself so entirely in a story and all of its nuances that you don't even notice that your audience is losing interest or falling asleep. There's something impressive about a person's ability to so engross themselves in a story that the length of time it takes to tell is irrelevant to them. Then again, the storyteller in me (and especially the inner editor) wants to scream, "I don't need to know all that! Get to the meat of the story!"

I suppose that reaction shouldn't be too surprising, since it's how I approach reading too. I get burned out by writers with a longwinded approach to description and detail. I rarely pick up a book that's over 500 pages because - unless I have it on good authority that it's because the book is crammed full of action - it's usually an indicator to me that a book is too overwritten for my tastes. I like things simple and straightforward and don't have as much appreciation for the nuances and little details as perhaps others do. So while I definitely don't think I'm particularly longwinded myself, there are definitely quite a few people out there (especially my friend mentioned above) for whom I feel everything with them is a "long story."