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.</p><p id="5ba0">Your images don’t have to be inspired by reality at all; they can be totally off the wall and creative. In fact, they probably should be, since that will help you come up with more interesting stuff for your piece.</p><h1 id="2d47">Creative exploration</h1><p id="d1dc">You may want to use this tool when you’re staring down a blank page and feeling stuck. Creative exploration is similar to fantasy visualization, except it involves imagining different scenes and elements instead of just the characters going through a door.</p><h2 id="c3f1">Example:</h2><p id="1296">One idea could be that your protagonist is in a grocery store. Maybe she’s buying milk and eggs for dinner, and she sees really amazing-looking lettuce. Then, she suddenly notices a recipe for a salad on the front page of the food magazine in aisle three. So she decides to buy that lettuce leaves for dinner!</p><p id="aac6">Or maybe she is in the kitchen, cooking noodles when one of her flatmates walks in with a tasty dessert.</p><h2 id="b3e2">Look for details</h2><p id="41b9">You can also use creative visualization and exploration, but with a slight twist, to come up with specific details.</p><p id="384b">For instance, let’s say your character is feeling really excited about an art show and she’s been invited to showing her paintings. Maybe she’s even nervous because it could be her big break. So when you get to a point where you need some inspiration, you have to ask yourself what this art show will look like.</p><p id="d0e9">Then all those wonderful visual details start flooding into your mind. There are paintings on every wall. There are weird abstract shapes and large splotches of paint. It looks like a big mess and is one of the most creative displays your character has ever seen, which fills her with a sense of pride and excitement as she looks at her artwork along with all the other artists’ pieces.</p><p id="3af3">That’s how inspiration could work for you when you’re writing: simply asking yourself what something will look like and then imagining those details without having to force yourself to do it. The more you practice this approach, the easier it will be to come up with ideas when they’re needed during your writing session.</p><h1 id="e043">One last thing</h1><p id="cb61">There are a couple of things you want to make sure of when using creative visualization for inspiring your writing.</p><p id="b9a2">First, you don’t want to choose a scene that has already happened in your story. If you try to think up something that has already happened, then your character, neither your reader, won’t have any new reactions or emotions toward those events. In order for the scene to be interesting and exciting, it needs to be something new and unexpected.</p><p id="945b">Another thing you want to make sure of is whether some details are needed. For instance, if your character is on his way home from work and the bookstore in his way, then that’s probably not essential to mention. You don’t want to waste time writing something that doesn’t matter to your plot because you may ge

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t stuck when you get to the next chapter.</p><h1 id="e888">Final thought</h1><p id="5b9d">Visualization and exploration are tools for getting prepared in advance so that when it’s time to sit down and write, it’s easier for you to come up with words on paper. But these tools are not the only ones you can use.</p><p id="0f76">Make sure you read and watch well-selected material and take good notes now and then, to boost the flood of ideas in your imagination session because there are so many interesting things going on all around us every single day.</p><p id="c407">The biggest part of being a writer is being an observer of life.</p><p id="3b99">If you want to try creative visualization, then here is as <a href="https://writershelpingwriters.net/2016/11/5-visualization-techniques-help-writing-craft/">advice from Nina Amir</a>, author of “<a href="https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/1440347182?ie=UTF8&tag=webenius-21&camp=1638&linkCode=xm2&creativeASIN=1440347182">Creative Visualization for Writers</a>”, to help you to do it:</p><blockquote id="dc05"><p>“Sit back in your chair, put your hands in your lap and close your eyes or stare out the window. Don’t think about your book. Don’t think about anything in particular. Remember daydreaming in class when you were still in school? That’s the state you want to enter. As your mind wanders, your subconscious mind begins to call up new ideas. If you struggle with this approach, do something mindless — vacuum, fold laundry, mow the lawn, or take a shower.”</p></blockquote><p id="1b62">🧠💡 I write about engineering, technology, and leadership for a community of smart, curious people. <a href="https://rakiabensassi.substack.com/"><b>Join my free email newsletter for exclusive access</b></a><b> </b>or sign up for Medium <a href="https://rakiabensassi.medium.com/membership">here</a>.</p><div id="bd51" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/5-rules-for-thought-provoking-content-e79b3a8f6517"> <div> <div> <h2>5 Rules for Thought-Provoking Content</h2> <div><h3>How to make your audience think deeply</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*Sz0evbQT1OZgzVzx_E4Tig.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="89e5" class="link-block"> <a href="https://bettermarketing.pub/applying-psychology-principles-to-writing-cf3d5fbb30e"> <div> <div> <h2>How To Apply Psychology Principles to Writing</h2> <div><h3>The art of influencing emotions and behaviors</h3></div> <div><p>bettermarketing.pub</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*zajQ30Fiy77UAJOWMpcTug.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

Writing & Content Creation

How to Use Creative Visualization as a Writer

A guide to foster your creativity and visualize your story unfolding

Just like any job, there are a few skills that writers need in order to do their jobs well. And contrary to what you might think, one of those skills is not coming up with words on paper.

Before anything can be written down, it needs a good home in your brain. If you don’t have that place prepared beforehand and stocked with the right tools, then all you’re doing when you start writing might be plagiarizing yourself or regurgitating unexciting stuff you’ve seen elsewhere.

To improve your ability to come up with original thoughts, here are some toolsets, that athletes, actors, entrepreneurs, and of course writers use: creative visualization and creative exploration. Each of these tools has different uses in the process of coming up with ideas. Let’s break them down a little and talk about each one.

Creative visualization

Creative visualization is the ability to form images in your mind, and then use those images as a blueprint for how your story will develop on paper. It’s basically painting a picture in your mind before you begin to transform it into words.

For some people, especially those who are used to literally daydreaming, this is really easy to do. If you’re one of these people, then visualizing your story can be a powerful tool in your writing arsenal.

There are two types of creative visualization: real-life visualization and fantasy visualization.

Real-life visualization

It involves using your five senses to re-imagine things you’ve actually seen or experienced. For instance, if you have a character who is going to go through a doorway in your story, you would use a real-life simulation to determine what that doorway looks like and how it feels to pass through it.

If your character is going to a restaurant, a park, or a library, then you could bring back your memories about such scenes and create images in your mind of how these places look and feel.

Fantasy visualization

Fantasy visualization involves creating pictures in your mind based on nothing but ideas and imagination. For instance, you might think of a giant round doorknob or two dragon claws reaching out to grab the character’s hands as he is going to go through the doorway.

Your images don’t have to be inspired by reality at all; they can be totally off the wall and creative. In fact, they probably should be, since that will help you come up with more interesting stuff for your piece.

Creative exploration

You may want to use this tool when you’re staring down a blank page and feeling stuck. Creative exploration is similar to fantasy visualization, except it involves imagining different scenes and elements instead of just the characters going through a door.

Example:

One idea could be that your protagonist is in a grocery store. Maybe she’s buying milk and eggs for dinner, and she sees really amazing-looking lettuce. Then, she suddenly notices a recipe for a salad on the front page of the food magazine in aisle three. So she decides to buy that lettuce leaves for dinner!

Or maybe she is in the kitchen, cooking noodles when one of her flatmates walks in with a tasty dessert.

Look for details

You can also use creative visualization and exploration, but with a slight twist, to come up with specific details.

For instance, let’s say your character is feeling really excited about an art show and she’s been invited to showing her paintings. Maybe she’s even nervous because it could be her big break. So when you get to a point where you need some inspiration, you have to ask yourself what this art show will look like.

Then all those wonderful visual details start flooding into your mind. There are paintings on every wall. There are weird abstract shapes and large splotches of paint. It looks like a big mess and is one of the most creative displays your character has ever seen, which fills her with a sense of pride and excitement as she looks at her artwork along with all the other artists’ pieces.

That’s how inspiration could work for you when you’re writing: simply asking yourself what something will look like and then imagining those details without having to force yourself to do it. The more you practice this approach, the easier it will be to come up with ideas when they’re needed during your writing session.

One last thing

There are a couple of things you want to make sure of when using creative visualization for inspiring your writing.

First, you don’t want to choose a scene that has already happened in your story. If you try to think up something that has already happened, then your character, neither your reader, won’t have any new reactions or emotions toward those events. In order for the scene to be interesting and exciting, it needs to be something new and unexpected.

Another thing you want to make sure of is whether some details are needed. For instance, if your character is on his way home from work and the bookstore in his way, then that’s probably not essential to mention. You don’t want to waste time writing something that doesn’t matter to your plot because you may get stuck when you get to the next chapter.

Final thought

Visualization and exploration are tools for getting prepared in advance so that when it’s time to sit down and write, it’s easier for you to come up with words on paper. But these tools are not the only ones you can use.

Make sure you read and watch well-selected material and take good notes now and then, to boost the flood of ideas in your imagination session because there are so many interesting things going on all around us every single day.

The biggest part of being a writer is being an observer of life.

If you want to try creative visualization, then here is as advice from Nina Amir, author of “Creative Visualization for Writers”, to help you to do it:

“Sit back in your chair, put your hands in your lap and close your eyes or stare out the window. Don’t think about your book. Don’t think about anything in particular. Remember daydreaming in class when you were still in school? That’s the state you want to enter. As your mind wanders, your subconscious mind begins to call up new ideas. If you struggle with this approach, do something mindless — vacuum, fold laundry, mow the lawn, or take a shower.”

🧠💡 I write about engineering, technology, and leadership for a community of smart, curious people. Join my free email newsletter for exclusive access or sign up for Medium here.