Friday, May 19, 2017
4 Tips For Writers On How To Create Some Creativity
By Donovan Baldwin
Many people watching a writer at work probably wouldn't even realize that he or she was actually working. While the physical act of putting words on paper or into a computer is easy to recognize as "work" one of the hardest parts of any writer's task is not always coming up with the words to express an idea. For many of us, the most difficult part is coming up with an idea to write about!
While creativity is generally believed to be something that someone is born with, and maybe it is, everybody has some sort of creative streak within...no matter how well hidden. The trick is to find ways to tickle that creativity so that it produces at least the germ of an idea. Once many writers, and other artists, have that germ of an idea, the article, or statue, or poem, or painting will almost produce itself.
Below are 4 tips on how to wake up the sleeping giant of creativity within and put it to work.
1. Yoga and Meditation - Alternative Routes to Creativity
Most people want to attack a problem head on. For the artist or writer, however, that approach often just creates another problem. Do the words, "writer's block" mean anything to you? Hmmm? It seems that the harder we try to attack the creativity problem the harder and thicker the wall becomes between the conscious mind and the ideas that may be lurking just on the other side.
Yoga, meditation, long walks and other such physically relaxing and sometimes demanding activities actually tend to dissolve the barriers and allow us to access the ideas that have been hiding behind them. To express it another way, think of ideas becoming frightened and curling up like porcupines when they know we are looking for them. When we appear to be ignoring them, they uncurl and expose themselves to our subconscious which in turn puts them on a fast elevator up to the conscious mind where they seem to appear out of nowhere.
2. Creativity Is Your Job - So Show Up For Work
Back in school, we were given study tips that often included this one; study at the same time and in the same place. That sounds a little like "showing up for work". Freelance writers in particular often fall prey to not having a place to go to and a time to be there. Obviously, if the idea comes at half past midnight, in the middle of your morning shower, or while having sex, that's when you should get it down. Okay, delay that last one a little bit.
On the whole, however, to produce a somewhat steady stream of creativity, not to mention the output which should result there from, it is important to prepare an "office", even if it is a table on your patio. That's where you show up and expect your creative muse to meet you. Dock its pay if it is late.
3. Ideas Are Everywhere - Be Prepared For Them
In this crazy business of writing, or painting, or sculpting, ideas are all around. The trick is to catch them and keep them. The chance comment of a friend, a sound bite on a TV news show, an obituary, the neighbor's new car, the local high school football team, your spouse's opinion on the TV sound bite, a paragraph in a chapter in a second hand book you bought for $2.99. These can all hold the germ of the idea that later becomes the article, the poem, the short story, or the book.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that once you catch on to this, you will find yourself with more ideas than you can remember or develop at any given moment. That's why you want to have a notebook, diary, or journal to jot down the basic idea and a quick development if that's available. You might also want to invest in a small recorder so that you can dictate ideas while driving or at other times that writing might be difficult. This is a great suggestion if you have ever awoken with a great idea in the middle of the night and found that you have completely forgotten it when you wake up in the morning.
4. Your Brain Is Already Full Of Ideas - Put Your Built-In Search Engine To Work
Your subconscious is a brown-noser. It just can't wait to show you what it's done for you while you were sleeping or busy with another problem. As you lay in bed at night waiting to fall asleep, tell it forcefully and directly to come up with some ideas while you're asleep. This is not 100% perfect, but it will produce fruit from time to time. Unfortunately, the ideas often appear in the middle of the night (see tip #3) although you will often awaken with a great idea.
By the way. Have you ever heard about great discoveries being made while people sleep? Many of these stories are true.
It often happens that concentrating on a problem and then letting go of it to work on other things often produces the same effect as "sleeping on it". More than one cognitive flash has come about after the thinker let go of the problem. During sleep, your brain is at work replenishing neurotransmitters that organize neural networks essential to remembering, learning, performance and problem solving, and this activity includes tracking down and organizing seemingly random pieces of data into ideas!
There you are! Four tips just like I promised.
Oh! Where did I get the idea for this article?
Well, I was reading some notes I had made about a year ago, and....
Donovan Baldwin is a Texas writer and a University of West Florida alumnus. He is a member of Mensa and is retired from the U. S. Army after 21 years of service. In his career, he has held many managerial and supervisory positions. However, his main pleasures have long been writing, nature, and fitness. In the last few years, he has been able to combine these pleasures by writing poetry and articles on subjects such as yoga, writing, nature, animals, the environment, global warming, happiness, self improvement, health, fitness, and weight loss. He has collected several of his articles on health and weight loss at http://nodiet4me.com/articledirectory.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?4-Tips-For-Writers-On-How-To-Create-Some-Creativity&id=520028
While creativity is generally believed to be something that someone is born with, and maybe it is, everybody has some sort of creative streak within...no matter how well hidden. The trick is to find ways to tickle that creativity so that it produces at least the germ of an idea. Once many writers, and other artists, have that germ of an idea, the article, or statue, or poem, or painting will almost produce itself.
Below are 4 tips on how to wake up the sleeping giant of creativity within and put it to work.
1. Yoga and Meditation - Alternative Routes to Creativity
Most people want to attack a problem head on. For the artist or writer, however, that approach often just creates another problem. Do the words, "writer's block" mean anything to you? Hmmm? It seems that the harder we try to attack the creativity problem the harder and thicker the wall becomes between the conscious mind and the ideas that may be lurking just on the other side.
Yoga, meditation, long walks and other such physically relaxing and sometimes demanding activities actually tend to dissolve the barriers and allow us to access the ideas that have been hiding behind them. To express it another way, think of ideas becoming frightened and curling up like porcupines when they know we are looking for them. When we appear to be ignoring them, they uncurl and expose themselves to our subconscious which in turn puts them on a fast elevator up to the conscious mind where they seem to appear out of nowhere.
2. Creativity Is Your Job - So Show Up For Work
Back in school, we were given study tips that often included this one; study at the same time and in the same place. That sounds a little like "showing up for work". Freelance writers in particular often fall prey to not having a place to go to and a time to be there. Obviously, if the idea comes at half past midnight, in the middle of your morning shower, or while having sex, that's when you should get it down. Okay, delay that last one a little bit.
On the whole, however, to produce a somewhat steady stream of creativity, not to mention the output which should result there from, it is important to prepare an "office", even if it is a table on your patio. That's where you show up and expect your creative muse to meet you. Dock its pay if it is late.
3. Ideas Are Everywhere - Be Prepared For Them
In this crazy business of writing, or painting, or sculpting, ideas are all around. The trick is to catch them and keep them. The chance comment of a friend, a sound bite on a TV news show, an obituary, the neighbor's new car, the local high school football team, your spouse's opinion on the TV sound bite, a paragraph in a chapter in a second hand book you bought for $2.99. These can all hold the germ of the idea that later becomes the article, the poem, the short story, or the book.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that once you catch on to this, you will find yourself with more ideas than you can remember or develop at any given moment. That's why you want to have a notebook, diary, or journal to jot down the basic idea and a quick development if that's available. You might also want to invest in a small recorder so that you can dictate ideas while driving or at other times that writing might be difficult. This is a great suggestion if you have ever awoken with a great idea in the middle of the night and found that you have completely forgotten it when you wake up in the morning.
4. Your Brain Is Already Full Of Ideas - Put Your Built-In Search Engine To Work
Your subconscious is a brown-noser. It just can't wait to show you what it's done for you while you were sleeping or busy with another problem. As you lay in bed at night waiting to fall asleep, tell it forcefully and directly to come up with some ideas while you're asleep. This is not 100% perfect, but it will produce fruit from time to time. Unfortunately, the ideas often appear in the middle of the night (see tip #3) although you will often awaken with a great idea.
By the way. Have you ever heard about great discoveries being made while people sleep? Many of these stories are true.
It often happens that concentrating on a problem and then letting go of it to work on other things often produces the same effect as "sleeping on it". More than one cognitive flash has come about after the thinker let go of the problem. During sleep, your brain is at work replenishing neurotransmitters that organize neural networks essential to remembering, learning, performance and problem solving, and this activity includes tracking down and organizing seemingly random pieces of data into ideas!
There you are! Four tips just like I promised.
Oh! Where did I get the idea for this article?
Well, I was reading some notes I had made about a year ago, and....
Donovan Baldwin is a Texas writer and a University of West Florida alumnus. He is a member of Mensa and is retired from the U. S. Army after 21 years of service. In his career, he has held many managerial and supervisory positions. However, his main pleasures have long been writing, nature, and fitness. In the last few years, he has been able to combine these pleasures by writing poetry and articles on subjects such as yoga, writing, nature, animals, the environment, global warming, happiness, self improvement, health, fitness, and weight loss. He has collected several of his articles on health and weight loss at http://nodiet4me.com/articledirectory.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?4-Tips-For-Writers-On-How-To-Create-Some-Creativity&id=520028
Labels: article by Donovan Baldwin, article ideas, articles, creativity, donovan baldwin, get ideas, internet articles, writing, writing articles
Friday, December 29, 2006
What Does A Writer Do To Find Ideas?
Any writer, or would-be writer knows the feeling. It's called, prepare yourself for the terror, blank.....totally blank! A clean screen or sheet of paper lies before us and we are totally devoid of ideas. Hell, we can't even remember who we are! Okay, maybe not that bad. Here's a few tips for that defining moment of non-greatness.
Writing: Generating Ideas For Articles
By Donovan Baldwin
A couple of points before we get to the meat of this article:
1. I write informational articles, and I focus on that. That having been said, some of the techniques here could kick start the blocked brain of any writer; fiction, non-fiction, essay, poetry, advertising copy, and just about any other field you might think of.
2. Ideas come at strange times and from weird sources, so you need to be prepared. The idea that pops into your head at a party while chatting up a possible future ex-something can go away before you get home, sleep three hours, and take the morning alka-seltzer. Therefore:
Now let's talk about generating ideas.
As mentioned above, ideas can come at weird times and from some off-the-wall sources. My wife and I often preface a remark with the phrase, "rabbit trail". That lets the other know that the next remark will not seem to have anything to do with the previous conversation. The human mind is like that, especially the creative mind. A stop sign can make me think of a big German policeman with a machine gun, which leads me to think about the times I got to fire the LAW (Light Anti-Tank Weapon) in the Army, which makes me think of Clint Eastwood's slip in one of the Dirty Harry movies, which makes me think of California...you get the idea.
Somewhere in all of that is an idea. Be prepared to pounce on it and make it into something.
Whatever technique you are using, get it down on paper. You may look back at notes you made last night or two years ago and have a story or article idea staring you in the face. Even if you start and it peters out, you might come back to it again and make it into something. Be flexible here. Just because you began the story in Antarctica doesn't mean you can't transplant the whole thing to Wisconsin if that makes better sense.
Places I get (or have gotten) ideas:
You probably can, you know. Why don't you go and write something right now?
Donovan Baldwin is a Dallas area writer and network marketing professional. A University Of West Florida alumnus (1973) with a BA in accounting, he is a member of Mensa and has held several managerial positions. After retiring from the U. S. Army in 1995, he became interested in internet marketing and developed various online businesses. He has been writing poetry, articles, and essays for over 40 years, and now frequently publishes articles on his own websites and for use by other webmasters. He posts many of his articles on health at http://nodiet4me.blogspot.com/ and many business related articles at http://www.donovanbaldwin.blogspot.com
. He is the owner of TexasPrepaidCellular.com.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Donovan_Baldwin
Writing: Generating Ideas For Articles
By Donovan Baldwin
A couple of points before we get to the meat of this article:
1. I write informational articles, and I focus on that. That having been said, some of the techniques here could kick start the blocked brain of any writer; fiction, non-fiction, essay, poetry, advertising copy, and just about any other field you might think of.
2. Ideas come at strange times and from weird sources, so you need to be prepared. The idea that pops into your head at a party while chatting up a possible future ex-something can go away before you get home, sleep three hours, and take the morning alka-seltzer. Therefore:
- Always have something to write on and with, and don't hesitate to use them. Hey, you're a writer! That's part of the mystique, right? okay, just think of it as a socially acceptable way to snub someone. If they are that big a fool, they will probably make a good character in a story, or case study. By the way, ever wake up at 3AM with a great idea, go back to sleep, and wake up again at 6 AM and not be able to remember anything about the world's greatest idea? Write it down!
- Take a look at mini-recorders. It took me a while to remember that I had one with me, and even longer to find the button, but once I got that down I was capturing several ideas a day. Don't try to outline the entire plot and cast of characters, just get the idea down.
- Always be on the alert for ideas. They won't always come to you. You will probably have to go looking for them, and you may need to move some shrubbery to see them. They are elusive little buggers, but they are everywhere. Track 'em down!
Now let's talk about generating ideas.
As mentioned above, ideas can come at weird times and from some off-the-wall sources. My wife and I often preface a remark with the phrase, "rabbit trail". That lets the other know that the next remark will not seem to have anything to do with the previous conversation. The human mind is like that, especially the creative mind. A stop sign can make me think of a big German policeman with a machine gun, which leads me to think about the times I got to fire the LAW (Light Anti-Tank Weapon) in the Army, which makes me think of Clint Eastwood's slip in one of the Dirty Harry movies, which makes me think of California...you get the idea.
Somewhere in all of that is an idea. Be prepared to pounce on it and make it into something.
Whatever technique you are using, get it down on paper. You may look back at notes you made last night or two years ago and have a story or article idea staring you in the face. Even if you start and it peters out, you might come back to it again and make it into something. Be flexible here. Just because you began the story in Antarctica doesn't mean you can't transplant the whole thing to Wisconsin if that makes better sense.
Places I get (or have gotten) ideas:
- Road Signs: I'm not just talking about speed limit signs. There are hundreds of billboards with mini-stories along the highways. People put up odd or interesting signs on their business. Remember those rabbit trails? As an aside; years ago my wife and I traveled extensively all over the U. S. I always loved a certain part of California Highway 99, because there is a road sign for "Seventh Standard" road. I don't know about you, but I can just see Grisham or Ludlum (were he still alive), launching an entire thriller with those two words.
- Conversations: Again, as mentioned, a conversation can have an idea embedded. Of course you are looking for ideas in conversations, but do you ever bother to start any? Turn on CNN and listen to some interviews. If you have convictions about, or interest in, any of the topics, you will probably generate an idea or two.
- Dictionaries and Encyclopedias: I don't know about you, but often, one word is all it takes to trigger an idea. Many times I have generated entire articles and poems just by reading the dictionary.
- Books: It doesn't matter what book, who wrote it, or what it is about. If you are out of ideas, pick any book, magazine, or twenty-cent-off coupon you have nearby and start reading. It doesn't matter where you start. One good thing about this random approach is that it takes you away from clues, hints, preconceived notions, and trails with which the author has been constructing his or her version of whatever the subject may be. This allows you to take the material from the second sentence of the third paragraph on page 97 and see it with your eyes and begin to draw your conclusions and construct your own reality about it. By the way, I love wandering through used book stores, especially in the cheap book aisles. Sometimes just the topic and titles suggest ideas to me.
- Reminisce: Pull out the photographs. Think about the old times. Don't just stick with the good times. Think about sad times as well. Believe it or not, I got an idea for an article on social injustice while writing the previous two sentences. As an adolescent, I buried my first dog, Mike, in the woods near my house when he died. Later the local Catholic church, which bought the land, erected a convent over the spot. I buried him on a trail through the woods. The trail was used by local poor people to cut through a neighborhood that would have eyed them with suspicion. Like I said, "Rabbit Trail"! It's an idea. Who knows what I will do with it later?
- Quotations: This is my all-time favorite, but that's me. I react favorably to capsules of wisdom or wit, and reading through a series of them will almost always trigger an idea or two. Recently, a couple of quotes caught my eye, and I have already written five articles on the area of "success" and have ideas for four more. The five I have written so far have been well received. This may work better for me than for a novelist, but who knows?
- Write: Just put pen to paper every day and write something. Even if it doesn't come to anything itself, it may trigger an idea. If you simply cannot come up with a single coherent thought on any subject at all, get one of those books I mentioned earlier, and just start copying. Remember what I said about wandering around the used book store? I love to pick up those one and two dollar specials on the bargain tables. You would be surprised at the fresh outlook you often get from the authors nobody ever heard of. Oh, yeah! It's also good for your self-esteem. You can sometimes honestly say, "I can write better than this guy!"
You probably can, you know. Why don't you go and write something right now?
Donovan Baldwin is a Dallas area writer and network marketing professional. A University Of West Florida alumnus (1973) with a BA in accounting, he is a member of Mensa and has held several managerial positions. After retiring from the U. S. Army in 1995, he became interested in internet marketing and developed various online businesses. He has been writing poetry, articles, and essays for over 40 years, and now frequently publishes articles on his own websites and for use by other webmasters. He posts many of his articles on health at http://nodiet4me.blogspot.com/ and many business related articles at http://www.donovanbaldwin.blogspot.com
. He is the owner of TexasPrepaidCellular.com.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Donovan_Baldwin
Labels: article ideas, articles, get ideas, how to get ideas, internet articles, writing, writing articles
