Friday, December 7, 2007

Hunting creativity in the wild

Creativity is an elusive thing. It can hit you during your commute like the untended backpack of that guy standing in front of you. It can subtly slip ideas into your consciousness until they reach some kind of critical mass and explode... ideally someplace where you've got a pen and paper nearby.

And you can't force it, either. It's like a snow leopard--wait, hear me out. You kind of have to be patient and wait for it to come to you, and then you get the best footage in the world.

OK, so maybe that wasn't the greatest metaphor. I should have tried to be more creative.

Anyway, with "From the Depths," it was one blinding thermonuclear explosion of creativity followed by shorter microbursts, each feeding on the one before it. I tried to write every day... not just to ensure that I made progress, but because the act of writing itself seemed to let my brain cells free-associate until they came up with some good ideas.

Then they sat down, talked about it over beers, took some notes and delivered the conclusion to me.

Who then bumbled his way through putting it on the page.

One of my reporting professors in college swore that writing was best accomplished after one beer. I can buy that. Anyone else have suggestions for making the words come out prettier?

1 comment:

M. Gants v4.0 said...

Hmm, I don't know if a mind map will make words "come out prettier", but I find it does help to organize thoughts...especially when a pen and paper isn't within reach.

I like this one ('cause it's free).