The Introverted Detective

How much of the population can multitask? Let's get into that and find out.  Courtesy of bsoinvest.com Apparently, we can't multitask. What? Yeah, we task-switch. You do multiple tasks off and on and apparently, it isn't good, according to Psychology Today. It takes a few minutes each time to adjust. You take longer to finish stuff, in reality. You may even miss key details. Sometimes we can get away with doing two things because one of the tasks doesn't take as much attention to detail.  The problem? We have constant interruption and constantly do two (or more) things at once. Even now, I'm writing while listening to Youtube. While also conversing with my husband at different moments. So, yeah, we all do it. Our world of cellphones, laptops with multiple tabs, phone calls, texts, and general disruption make doing tasks one at a time impossible. In fact, service industries know this all too well as everyone demands your energy all at once. Yep, service workers get i...

Culture gives us lots of relationship examples, but these are the ones you shouldn't be following. May you never be in these situations and if you are get out now. If you are stuck somewhere in the DC universe, the Twilight universe, or a fanfiction go find Dr. Strange and he might be able to help. Abuse can be verbal, physical, psychological, and financial. Basically, anytime you try to control someone's behavior, harm someone in any way, or mentally mess someone up on purpose. There are subtypes, but that is the basic definition of abuse. The dictionary definitions are to misuse, treat someone cruelly repeatedly, and speak and insult someone or about someone. That is what I'm running with for this blog.  Fiction can sometimes show abusive relationships to be romantic. They are not. It is not healthy. Today I'm going to highlight some relationships that have been romanticized by fiction but are really abusive. We'll start with the most known ones and go from there....

It's terrifying, but what is it? If you've experienced sleep paralysis you know how bad it is. Is it a brain glitch? Is it a spiritual attack? Let's find out. Courtesy of Pinterest Sleep paralysis is the feeling of being paralyzed while dreaming. For instance, if you are unable to move or speak while in a dream. It occurs as your brain is transitioning into or out of sleep. In this case, your mind is moving faster than your body and it is out of synch. Commonly, people with irregular sleep schedules get hit by this. It is related to being sleep-deprived and can happen to anyone. There is no cure. Basically, just sleep on a steady schedule and you can generally avoid it.  It is more than just feeling paralyzed, however, and comes with intense fears, feeling of choking, or hallucinations (possibly like shadow people). It happens often when someone has narcolepsy. It is more frequent between ages 20-30. The intense dreams go in three categories; intruder in the room, someone o...

 There is a fine line between horror and suspense. Some books straddle that line. Others are one or the other. Some forms of media make you question which genre they fit into and might be both. Let's take a look at the differences.  Photo courtesy of Illustratedfiction.com Three sub-genres/genres that are hard to separate are mystery, thriller, and horror. The trouble is, what are the differences between these subgenres? Today we use Jurassic Park to illustrate this conundrum. While labeled a thriller and technically science fiction, it can fit into either horror or thriller (in my view). There is one more category called suspense that gets thrown in with thrillers. Today we'll find out if they are the same thing.  General Guidelines A mystery has a clear puzzle or crime involved. In suspense, the main character is in danger from the start. A thriller is all about action and danger, which overlaps right into suspense territory. Horror focuses on scares and is generally mo...

 What do this movie and graphic novel series have to do with emotional abuse? A lot! Take one look at Ramona running from Gideon and tell me what you see. Today I'm going to talk about why this series and movie do an excellent job of illustrating emotional abuse in a unique way I've never seen before. Photo by Pinterest The plot of Scott Pilgrim Vs The World is not all about Ramona because it focuses on Scott defeating her seven evil exes, yet the whole situation is clearly all about Ramona's love life and past. Gideon makes it impossible for her to easily move on with life after their break-up by contacting six of her exes (not ex-boyfriends, exes) to create a league. This league then has to be defeated by anyone who wishes to date Ramona (counting Gideon as the seventh ex).  This is what Scott runs right into when he meets Ramona and is enthralled by her. She has already run away from New York to Canada to avoid Gideon and her past. Still, we see it catch up with her all ...

 Just how much of our world do we pay attention to? Do we truly notice everything we should? Let's find out. Below is my research on this topic and how it impacts us.  Photo by Pinterest While technology does not help the lack of observation some humans show, it is not all to blame. Our psychological mind has to filter out what it deems unimportant or we'd be insane by now. You have to train yourself to remember observations like Shawn Spencer. It isn't all our devices' fault. Schools also don't put this at the top of the list sometimes, because even logical deduction is sometimes low on the list and the two do connect. To put it simply, our brains can't focus on everything at once. We filter out what is unimportant and prioritize even within our own minds. Sherlock is not neurotypical. If you wish to get some of his skills you have to learn logical deduction. He can pay attention to so much because he is not quite normal (making him a bit quirky). Most people c...

Researching characters using real people you know is a fine line and involves a lot of playing dumb, as well as making sure you don't smash that like button. Writers, we've all done it. Even people who aren't writers do this out of boredom. Let's look at where the fine line is - you know, the one you cross and people start suddenly screaming.  Photo by  Social Media Marketing - RG Pacific Stalking is defined as: 1. to pursue or approach stealthily (hunting and animals,  so unrelated to us) 2. harass and persecute someone with unwanted and obsessive attention 3. stride somewhere with a proud, stiff, angry manner ("she stalked off into the room.") Only one of those definitions should be avoided by researching writers. The online definition of this is getting hazy due to social media. You can now look months back into someone's profile in a mere click or two. Technically, it is public information if posted on a public profile. You don't need much more tha...