What is it about inspiration? Why does it hide from you when you're desperately trying to be creative, or hit you when you're busy and involved with something important? Is it the creative person's curse to wrestle with inspiration in order to produce art or literature? Must it be a constant battle?
Simple answer. Yes. If being creative were easy, everyone would be a successful author, rock star or artist. If we were all creative on the same level, we'd be unable to grow. In order to be creative we have to think outside the box. We have to stretch the limits of imagination and push against the confines of our own minds.
I'm appalled at the lack of creativity I see around me. Most ideas these days are simply not original anymore. Too many work off of someone else's idea(s), brainstorming only to make money, and quite often it's an epic fail. Take Hollywood for example. Why the heck would anyone choose to remake a great movie? There will only ever be one excellent version of Psycho, Evil Dead, or Godzilla. Don't mess with a good thing! And WHY must every genre be overdone? Come on people! Vampires and zombies are awesome imaginative creations, but if I read another vampire romance that glorifies the monster to be sexy, I will spit tacks. Anne Rice and Stephanie Meyer hit big. Now everyone else move on and think of something new please.
So how do we manage an original creative idea? Many of us wait for inspiration, but as an artist and an author, I can not simply wait for inspiration to hit me or I'd never get a thing done. I have to build up my moments, capture them in whatever way I can, and save them for future use. My creative juices flow at the weirdest times, forcing me to have invested in several notebooks to scribble ideas in (one in the car, one in my purse, and one on the side table next to my bed). Inspiration hits me while driving, grocery shopping, and often right before I fall asleep. Terribly annoying. But when I have inspiration, I write it down in order to not lose it.
And when I've exhausted all my creative ideas or I can't use an idea with what I'm currently working on...What then? How do we encourage inspiration to strike us when we need an idea? How do we push past being stuck in a rut or with a bad case of writer's block? I look to encourage emotion. I believe emotion, especially a strong emotion, produces the best creativity because it is the most genuine and therefore, better received by your audience. Here are some of my strategies.
- People Watching - People are interesting. People are all colors, shapes, ages and come from countless backgrounds. I like to sit down quietly on a bench in a crowded place and watch them all walk by. Looking for a story idea? Looking for a that next scene to your novel that just won't come? WATCH. Ask yourself questions about people. Why is that woman shouting at that other woman? Why is that child crying? Does that guy know he dropped something? What are those people talking about over there? What the hell is that lady wearing? This is my favorite strategy because it's the most entertaining. Observing others can help you understand how it is other people tick and make the decisions that they do, which is great for character development.
- Taking a Walk - Rain or shine, taking a walk can immediatly alter a person's mood depending on what stimuli we're exposed to. If it's raining, maybe we're hit by a wave of depressed feelings. If it's sunny, maybe we feel new life breathed into us. Perhaps we meet someone noteworthy on the sidewalk who offers a tidbit into their own day that gives birth to a new idea.
- Eat - I know... the last thing anyone wants to do while procrastinating is to pack on the pounds, but hear me out! Preparing a meal takes time and follows certain routine. You have to butter the bread before you fry it for a grilled cheese. You have to get the plate out of the cupboard before you can put something on it. Routine, at least for me, allows us to step back from our task of trying so damn hard. Stopping yourself from becoming frustrated before you're frustrated can be helpful to digging your way out of a rut. Food and cooking can be as just as creative as coming up with a useful idea. Colors, flavors and shapes, as well as emotion, are all tied to food. Think about how chocolate makes a chocolate lover feel, and try to use those emotions as a trigger.
- Images - All good ideas come from somewhere. Don't copy, but look for things that you feel connected to. Look through magazines, old postcards and photo albums. Take some photos yourself. Find something huge and find the smallest detail inside it, reaching into the structure that it has and determining how it affects the space around it.
- Sleep - Now again, this must sound like I'm a lazy person, but it helps. You can't be creative when you're tired, and you can't expect inspiration to hit you when you're dragging your feet. Sometimes a nap is a great tool, not only because we feel refreshed afterward, but because we dream. I can't tell you how many countless story or visual artwork ideas have come from dreams. I once had a dream in neon color. I once had a dream in 8-bit Nintendo world style. I even once had a dream that I died. Needless to say, for someone who is a very visual person, all these dreams were extremely helpful in inspiring great scenes for my work.
So what's it come down to? Be patient, observe the world and trigger emotion to find inspiration and produce a creative idea.
