Keeping the Magic: On Idea Generation

How to make the most of those first creative sparks

What are the most important mental tools for writers? If you answered “words”, you’re on the right track. But before the words, comes the idea. That first, all-important, precious idea. Without which, we’re staring at a blank page, out the window, or into the inner void, berating our Muses for deserting us and wondering if we’re in the wrong business.

Without ideas, we soon descend into a dreaded variant of Writer’s Block. Then depression. Then madness.

Okay — maybe I’m getting a little dramatic.

Writers need ideas like fish need water, or sunflowers need sunshine. Without them, we’re floundering and flapping in non-productive procrastination. Without ideas to get the writing flowing, even the most loquacious writer will be wilting from wordlessness.

But, here’s the paradox. What do we often do when those initial sparks of ideas arrive? We ignore them. Question them. Swat them away as if they were annoying flies. We tell them later and go on browsing social media, reading, or wondering when we’ll get a really good idea.

Where do ideas come from?

Ideas arise in response to events, emotions, our environment, or something we read or watch. Idea generation is both a reactionary and interactive process. Even when they emerge from “our unconscious” it’s a response of our present self to memory or dream or an indefinable fusion of various phenomena.

To be an artist is to cultivate qualities of attentiveness and responsiveness — to our inner and outer worlds, but also to the ideas and images that arise.

To distinguish these initial ideas from more fully-formed ideas, let’s call them “idea-sparks” or fledgling ideas. Idea-sparks are the ink that ignites the pages of our imagination into the flame of creation.

I can’t help using metaphors associated with pen and paper, because I’m a big believer in keeping notebooks for idea generation and handwriting first drafts. Personally, I feel like my brain delivers more detail on an idea when I handwrite — and readers often comment on the freshness and depth of my metaphors and imagery. Certain studies suggest we have better access to creativity, memory, and emotion through the act of handwriting. Margaret E. Atwood handwrites her first drafts, as does American Poet Laureate Billy Collins.

But whether you handwrite, draft on your phone, or record ideas via voice notes — get it down.

Lessons learned from my younger creative self

I haven’t always treated my ideas as valuable gifts. As a younger, inexperienced writer, I struggled with getting initial ideas and bringing them to fruition. On social media and other writer’s blogs, if something inspired an idea-spark, I’d enthusiastically type out my “premise” in long-winded comments that probably made experienced bloggers groan inwardly and think: just go write the thing already, would you?

I remember the sensation of heat and trembling excitement in my belly and head. I’d tell myself an idea that generated so much energy couldn’t just disappear — even if I got around to paying more attention to it later — could it?

More often than not, I failed to head straight to my notepad and flesh out the idea further. More often than not, I’d never succeed in connecting to that energy, that spark, again.

As a creator of poetry and prose poem prompts, I sometimes see writers sketching out amazing “first ideas” in the comments section of prompts. I watch, feeling the scenario’s familiarity, wishing I could intervene. I encourage them in a comment to go flesh it out tout de suite. Sure enough, it’s often those writers that don’t end up submitting a prompt response. Meanwhile, the writers who say little about what they’re “going to write” submit completed pieces.

It seems some writers intuitively understand how to keep the magic of an idea until it can be fully developed, yet for others (like me) it has to be learned. The good news is you can develop better strategies to capture those ideas, once you recognize the destructive behaviors.

Sure-fire ways to snuff out idea-sparks

These are mistakes we make, often unaware that we’re letting our idea-sparks blow away, never to be seen again.

1. Don’t ignore or dismiss the idea

You notice you just wanted to write something, or you see images in your head, but go right ahead with watching the fifth re-run of X-Files or plucking your eyebrows, as you tell yourself it probably wasn’t a great idea anyway.

2. Don’t question or distrust the idea

You intimidate, interrogate and torture the idea — to ensure it never surfaces again.

3. Don’t talk up or talk around the idea

When those initial idea-sparks arise, you may feel tempted to talk with your writer-friend/hairdresser/goldfish about what you want to write — without writing a word. You go into lots of detail — but you don’t write anything down. And each time you do it, those ideas will seem less convincing and feel less and less exciting.

Or, you may do lots of talking around the idea. You expend a lot of huff and bluff, saying things like:

I had this idea for a story where a guy goes mountain-climbing and then a huge storm comes and …

I’ve always meant to write a story about my grandparent’s migration.

This story reminds me of one I should write about rock collecting.

When you talk around the idea, you keep it vague. You keep it at arm’s length from your passion — and your pen. Watch out for future conditional tenses like “should”. Or sorta kinda intentional phrases like “always meant”. You’ve probably said the same thing dozens of times before — which means the idea-spark is now the ghost of itself, haunting you.

(That said, once you’re progressing with drafting, discussing aspects you’re snagged on with your writer-friend/hairdresser/goldfish can be helpful!)

4. Don’t bookmark the idea — then let weeks, months, or years pass without developing it

If you’re one of those writers who has “hundreds” of ideas in your draft folders, here’s a question for you — how often do you return and manage to complete something you started ages ago?

If brief bookmark notes are all you have time for at the moment — that’s fine. Try to revise and develop the ideas over the next few days.

5. Don’t tell yourself you’ll only write when you get a really good idea

Although I’ve always loved writing, perfectionism kept my output at a trickle for the first two decades of my adult life. In some ways, I’m a late-blooming writer.

Don’t be me — not writing, while I waited for the perfect idea. Not improving or growing, because I refused to fail in the first place.

Keeping the magic: how to nurture our idea-sparks

Idea-sparks are fragile — prone to being blown out by the gusty winds of procrastination, easily extinguished by the waters of indecision, or the dampeners of second-guessing. Our unconscious, monkey-minds find every reason not to record the idea-spark. But with practice and awareness, we can develop more productive ways to protect and capture their light.

1. Learn to notice the sensory/physiological signs

Recently, I was standing at the kitchen bench writing a grocery list, when my head suddenly felt like it caught fire, and I knew a poem was coming. Often there’ll be a sensation of heat. My heart starts racing. My eyeline will drift upwards and if I’m doing a non-creative task, I’ll suddenly have trouble focusing on it. I’ll start to “hear” phrases or see images in my head.

I flipped my grocery list over and wrote the first draft on the back, still standing up. Within fifteen minutes, I had a solid first draft.

Notice what happens in your body when you’re getting ideas. This helps you to be more available to the idea-sparks trying to get your conscious attention.

2. Trust the idea-spark

Picture the nascent idea as a tiny, newly-hatched bird. The fledgling idea doesn’t emerge brilliantly feathered — it may be bare, scrawny, or wobbly on its legs. In fact, your idea might seem so unfamiliar and weird, you may worry you’ve hatched a cuckoo.

Stop. This is your inner critic speaking its deadly idea-destroying diatribe.

Your productivity and output will improve when you stop second-guessing or criticizing the idea. Learn to trust it — just get down what it gives you right now.

It’s the task of other parts of your brain and creative process to develop it into a fully-fledged creation — so it can spread its wings and fly into the world.

3. Talk less — Write More

Don’t dissipate the energy talking too much about — or around — those fledgling ideas. Capture them as soon as practically possible.

Write, write, write.

Revise and develop as much as possible while the idea-spark has heat and intensity for you. Keep the magic. In this way, we help, rather than hinder our creative process.

4. Capturing the Idea-Spark: Find Your Method

Whether it’s a quick notebook-jot over coffee, a voice note while driving, or ideas straight into a draft file via your laptop, find the methods that work best for you — and get it down.

Idea-sparks dislike being neglected — so keep returning. As writers, we know this process. We know it in our bones. It’s called doing the work.

Yes, the idea generation process is challenging, but it’s also incredibly energizing and exciting — and damn, it feels good to arrive at the other side.

Idea-sparks: Imagination’s gift to the artist

Whether we envision these sparks of ideas as inspiration, offerings from the Muse, or simply our imagination doing its job, idea-sparks are fragile and ephemeral; often present in our consciousness for only the briefest of moments.

However we imagine them, idea-sparks are truly a precious gift — to be treated with gratitude and curiosity. A gift that will appear more frequently, as we become more open to receiving.

If we cup them carefully in our mind’s eye, blow a little focus their way, and add generous amounts of persistence and patience— they’ll ignite into the blazing creations our creative souls long for.

Wait and see …

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