Author tips
That’s When the Magic Happens
Tapping into hidden creativity to craft your articles.
Okay, I know… everyone is different. And that means that our minds, and our creative processes, are all different from each other.
At least to an extent.
All the same, there is a science to creativity. In my own writing, I have tried to put some of this to work, and I wanted to share with you one of the most useful and surprising ideas that I have come across.
It is all about where new ideas come from. And this is of vital importance to the author, whether you are writing non-fiction articles or creative stories.
Where does the next idea come from?
Sometimes, a good idea might spring into your head, almost fully formed. All you need to do is write it down.
But more often — at least in my experience — we have what can more be described as half-ideas. I would prefer to call this a “seed idea”. It is something that with a bit of workshopping could turn into a good article. But it isn’t there yet.
It needs to grow.
And that growing will require the right conditions.
That’s the point at which we need to make use of our creative thinking. In other words, we need to use creativity as a tool, looking at the seed idea as a problem, and finding a way to solve that problem.
Here is the process that I use for doing so:
- Incubation. There is a long-established idea in psychology that ideas benefit from ‘incubating’ at the back of your mind. That is to say, they aren’t quite ready at the outside, so you should put them aside for a few days. It’s like a bird needing to sit on its egg, or, perhaps, like a fine wine needing to age. In practice, this might mean creating a document where you only write down a simple one-sentence summary of the seed idea, and making a note-to-self to return to it.
- Brainstorming. People often think of brainstorming as coming up with entirely new ideas. I suggest brainstorming on your seed idea(s), trying to extend each one and flesh it out. After a few days, look back a the page where you have written that one-sentence summary, and take a good 5–10 minutes to note down further points — ways that you could potentially develop it. Note down anything that comes to mind, and don’t worry about whether will eventually prove useful or not.
- Looking for connections. Ultimately, most of what we create isn’t actually new. We aren’t coming up with new images or words that have never been used before. What we are actually doing is connecting one thing to another. So now that you have brainstormed some developments of your seed idea, try making links. You could literally draw lines between thing that appear to connect, or categorise ideas together, forming what will later become sections of an article. At this point, you might decide that the ideas could actually turn into more than one article!
- Seeing things from a different point of view. As you continue to work on the piece, it can help to get a different perspective (this might be one of the reasons that incubation is helpful). Try taking a walk, printing out the piece and jotting down some notes with a pen, listening to different music, or even just going to a different room and lying down. Any of these things can help your brain to activate different memories, boosting your ability to further grow your seed idea. Did you know that Charles Dickens used to stride around the streets of London at night as he pondered over his latest novel?
- Reviewing. A lot of my best creativity doesn’t happen with the first draft. Instead, it’s the editing process where things start to shine. This is very like the incubation process again, but instead of setting aside a one-sentence idea, you are leaving a nearly complete article in your drafts folder. Then, after another delay, you will come back to it refreshed, and in a subtly different state of mind. And that’s when the magic happens.
Do you use any of these strategies to get the most out of your creative process? I’d love to hear about it — please do leave a comment!
A shoutout to Andy Spears’s article, “Is Simily Slowing Down?”. I’m also on Simily, and I’m interested to see how the platform develops (here’s my own most-read story on the site: “Adventure Awaits”).
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