Where Do Writer's Ideas Come From?
To those who are not writers, artists, or composers the
creative process seems an allusive mystical gift bestowed upon a
fortunate few who are held in awe by the general population.
When asked "where do you get your ideas" or "how do you do it",
many cannot answer the question because the creative process is
often not understood even by those who create. Writers sometimes
remark about "inspiration" which does nothing to explain the
creative process, but don't be hard on them. When writers block
hits it's very easy to imagine creativity to be a gift of
inspiration -- and who but an inspired person will sit for
hours, days, and months pounding the keyboard into pulp, right?
One day in college I was walking with a friend after spending
hours trying to come up with a suitable idea for a writing
assignment. She asked me how I come up with my ideas. Astounded,
I turned to her and replied, "if I knew that, I'd be sitting at
my typewriter instead of walking around out here in the rain
like a moron." That was when it struck me that I was approaching
writing from the wrong angle. I was already able to get my ideas
down on paper in a semi-cohesive manner. The problem was to get
the ideas to put on paper at all. That day I decided to turn my
attention to learning everything I could learn about the
creative process. What I found was that creativity is easily
obtainable, works according to certain principles, and can be
called upon whenever the urge or need arises, and - here's a
bonus. It gets easier with practice. If you write every day you
probably observe many of the steps I have outlined below without
even realizing it. If you have not used these methods, you are
in for pleasantly surprising experimentation. The first step may
seem silly but should be taken seriously. The first thing you
have to do is decide whether you are a writer or you are not.
Writing is a glamourous occupation and draws the attention of
many who are interested in that glamour but not in the actual
work. Writing is work. If you are suited for it, it's
entertaining work, but work none the less. Just as there are
people who are meant to be doctors, lawyers, and accountants,
there are people who are meant to be writers. If it drives you
crazy to filter through piles of literature for facts and ideas,
or to sit at a keyboard for hours at a time and every day of
your life, you are not a writer. If you are slammed into inertia
by rejection, you are not a writer. If your grammar skills are
lacking you may be a writer, but you need to learn the language
you intend to wield in your craft before you inflict poorly
executed manuscripts on the rest of the world. If you don't love
it enough to spend quantities of time on it, find another field
more suitable for you.
Now, if you've decided you are, in fact, a writer at heart, the
second step is to find out what kind of writer you naturally
seem to be. Are you journalistic? Are you a story teller? Are
you good at persuasion, advertisement writing? The easiest start
for any writer is to develop the area of writing that comes most
naturally to you first, then branch out from there. For years I
have written letters for people with deep feelings and no idea
of how to express them. I write the most tear jerking apology
and love letters you've ever read. From there I branched into
life biographies for people who wanted to leave more to their
grandchildren than a bare branched, factual family tree. Then I
moved on to other areas from there. It is only recently that I
have moved into other realms and I am now enjoying writing
styles that previously would have been frustrating for me. I
experience none of the writer's block that I experienced as a
college student and that I hear others complain so bitterly
about. Developing your writing skills in a way natural to you
will aide your creative development, but is not a guaranteed
freedom from writer's block or lack of subject ideas. The rest
of the steps are those taken to keep the ideas flowing freely no
matter what area of writing you have decided to devote your
attention to. This is the last thing many of you are going to
want to hear, but it is much easier to deal with than it sounds.
The number one cause of writer's block is poor physical
condition. Dieters often waste money for the "quick fix" instead
of applying themselves to a healthy lifestyle. These people wind
up in an endless quest for the right pill, and an endless
struggle with weight, never finding success Sorry, there is no
effective quick fix for the writer, either. It was no accident
that Plato, the walking philosopher, developed his most profound
ideas, and did most of his teaching, on foot. The body must be
operating well and blood must be pumping oxygen and nutrients to
the brain for it to function well. The best way to avoid
writer's block is to eat healthy foods and to live an active
lifestyle. Take note, I did not say get an exercise program.
People quit programs. People put off programs. Programs are a
miserable form of work. You need to adopt an active lifestyle.
This doesn't mean sit ups in the living room.
My lifestyle includes walking my dog everyday and going rock
hunting as often as possible, so I am in the mountains, streams,
and canyons, walking, climbing, breathing fresh air. Besides
clearing my head and keeping my body in shape, this also gives
my mind plenty of time to wander and play. It burns out all the
stress that cuts off the free flow of ideas. Rarely, if ever, do
I come home from a day of hiking without new ideas that were not
worked at, but came to me naturally and on their own. So find
your own nitch. Roller skate, walk, run, bike, climb, dance. Do
what ever comes most naturally and is most fun for you. The more
fun and interesting exercise is, the easier it is to keep it in
your lifestyle. The less it feels like work that has to be done
the better. If you're skeptical, get up and take a mile walk
today, right now, then again each day for a couple of days. You
will be amazed at the difference in your thought processes just
a few days of exercise will make. You will soon find the
exercise is something you actually look forward to.
Now that you've put your mind in shape it's time to train it to
be creative. Thinking and creating are simply a matter of
focusing energy. You have all heard spiritual leaders, healers,
and the like attesting to focusing energy. They can all describe
how they do this. Writers focus energy, too, but for some reason
are speechless when asked how they do this, even though you
probably experience it everyday. The key word is ritual. Ritual
is well known throughout the spiritual kingdom.
The practice of donning specific clothing, chanting specific
phrases, and using specific props and specific action sequences
are all recognizable forms of ritual. Those preforming the
rituals know that the ritual itself works no mystical wonders.
The ritual is merely a procedure that, step by step, prepares
the mind to call upon and focus it's energy on spirituality and
enlightenment. Ritual also prepares the mind to focus on being
creative. Of course, not many of us will go through rituals
resembling a spiritual gathering when we prepare to write, but
if you stop and think about what you do before you write
successfully, you will probably notice that you do, in fact,
preform specific procedures before you sit down at the computer.
My rituals are very specific. Before sitting down to write I do
an hour or so of housework (I find it difficult to concentrate
with clutter around me), then I do a few minutes of stretching,
fix a pot of coffee, put on a white collared shirt and jeans,
then I sit down to write. My mind knows when I preform these
procedures that I am getting ready to create. By the time I
change my clothes and sit down to write I am completely focused
on the task at hand. My mind has been cued and given time to
finish what it's doing and focus it's energy to creating writing
for me. Writing rituals are a personal matter and what works for
one person won't have any effect on another. Perhaps you need to
heat a potpourri (aroma does trigger some people). Maybe you
need a certain beverage, or like particular clothing. Maybe you
need to organize your papers and desk in a certain fashion.
Whatever you notice a preference for doing while getting ready
to write, you can incorporate into a before writing ritual. The
trick is to use whatever works for you each time you intend to
sit down to write. You will be amazed at how well this works.
Soon you will never be at a loss to answer any question about
how you do it.
Practice is the next key to creativity. If you are going to play
piano, you know it takes plenty of practice to do so fluently.
Just so, if you are going to write well and fluently, you need
to practice every day, without fail. Keeping a daily journal is
a good way to keep in practice. Daily entries not only keep your
skills in practice, but also provide you a sounding board from
which you can pull ideas for future articles and stories. I
recommend keeping a journal even if you're job already entails
daily writing. The journal will let you explore subjects and
alternative forms of writing that you are not involved with on a
daily basis.
So what happens if you have followed every step here and still
experience a bout of writer's block? Learn to talk through it.
Writing is not an innate ability. Many societies have functioned
quite nicely with no written language. Verbal communication,
however, is instinctual and any time two humans are raised
together they will develop a means to communicate verbally. I
could not have made a living writing letters if everyone who had
feelings they could express to me verbally were also able to get
those down into written form. So talk it out. Listen to your
conversations when you talk with others. A normal conversation
will jump from subject to subject via free association, that is,
one subject will bring attention to the next much like a keyword
in a computer will bring up lists of url's of related
information. Somewhere in all those key subjects covered within
your conversations with others may lie your next writing topic,
so listen carefully. Perhaps you are wanting to write something
fictional about a topic that you have discussed with someone.
For instance, say you were talking to a friend about a woman you
saw on television who was talking about how to keep your spouse
faithful. You are wondering how to turn it into a fictional
piece. Start asking yourself questions out loud (your answers
will come quicker) about what you heard. Ask yourself things
such as, "what would happen if they found out this woman's
husband, or she herself was having a affair" or "what if she was
asking women to write to her for information so she could send
information privately about a brainwashing technique". The more
"what ifs" you can think of, the more subjects you have for your
story.
After you find your subject, if you are a little stuck on which
way to go with it or where to start, do some more talking. Bring
the subject up purposely in conversation and see what others
have to say. What do they already know or think about it? What
questions and opinions do they have or wonder about? There is
your starting point. You already have an audience viewpoint. If
one person is wondering about something or holds a particular
opinion, it's a safe bet others have the same questions or point
of view.
Vocalizing also works well while you are actually writing and
get blocked about what to say or how to word something. Just
start talking out loud to yourself. Start with a line or two
that you have just written and start talking. Just pretend you
are talking to another person. Talk to your pet, they love the
attention. Talk to your computer, the walls. If sitting and
talking isn't helping, take a walk and talk out loud to yourself
as you walk. You will appear mad as a hatter to anyone who sees
you but your ideas will be flowing freely in no time. If you
have tried everything and still have had no success at
retrieving an idea or two you can still do two more things to
help the situation out. The first is to do some more research on
the topic. As you go over material that is already available you
can find areas that could use more information or a different
point of view. The more you know about a subject, the easier it
is to write about.
The second means is to just leave it all alone for a while. Once
you have chosen a topic to write about your mind will keep
working on the topic even after you quit paying attention to it.
This can also sometimes result in having an idea come to you at
some inconvenient time such as the middle of the night when you
are sleeping nice and comfy, but at least it will come to you.
It's no wonder that creativity seems like it just descends upon
us from the heavens sometimes.
Now that you know how to trigger the free flow of ideas,
creativity will no longer seem like the allusive gift bestowed
upon the few and fortunate. Don't let that bring you down,
though. You are still in an elite class, because, as mentioned
before, writing just isn't for everyone. Besides, most other
people will still regard creativity as a gift to the few - and
there's no reason you have to tell them any different!