Author tips

Want to Write More? Narrow Down Your Ideas

A psychology-based strategy for creatives

There’s a curious thing about creativity.

On the one hand, it involves some form of blank canvas, and the opportunity to make something entirely new. Something different.

But on the other, creative work tends to involve at least some constraints. For example:

• A musician knows the limits of their instrument.
• An architect understands the purpose of the buildings they design.
• An author has an idea of who they are writing for.

Rather than making creativity harder, I think that constraints often make the outcomes easier… and more original.

They limit what psychologists call the ‘problem space’.

The thing is, if you have a truly blank canvas, then any choice you make could lead to an infinite number of further alternatives. You can be overwhelmed by choice.

Having certain limits (or more defined targets) allows you to reject some of those options quickly and easily, so you can focus more mental effort on those that actually make sense for the task at hand.

Then, the creative process begins to look more like bridging a gap. You know where you are, and you know where you need to go. It’s just a matter of figuring out how to get from A to B.

I honestly think that’s a major reason why the genre authors I know produce multiple novels per year, while some of those who work on literary fiction seem to take many years to craft even a single novel. And it’s why a 10-line poem can take as long as a 3000-word chapter.

It has less to do with the skills or talents of those writers, and more to do with limiting the choices in that problem space.

Because literary writing could be about absolutely anything.

A genre novel, in contrast, has a more constrained form. The author knows from the outset what the readers are looking for. And the more they stick to those genre norms, the more successful they are likely to be.

Once you narrow down the problem, there are a set of tools that can be used to make it easier to come up with and develop creative ideas.

Anyone can do it.

The broader take-home message from this article is that for your own creative work, you want to find ways to cut down the options. To limit the creative process — however counterintuitive that may seem.

By doing so, you are no longer faced with a blank canvas or blank page, with no idea how to progress. Instead, creativity becomes more of a problem-solving process. It’s about coming up with ideas to bridge that gap.

And that ability to generate ideas is something that we all innately possess — and which only develops the more we practice.

Writing for and with others is one way to fruitfully constrain your creative process. With that in mind, this is a shoutout to the publication Reciprocal, and to these Reciprocal writers:

• Kamil for raising great questions about balance in the writing life,
• Light Hearted Vision for clarifying the benefits of supporting fellow bloggers,
• Freda Savahl for some great animal-focused stories that are fascinating for a writer like me,
• Yana Bostongirl for a great tip about making more of your Medium comments section,
• Neera Handa Dr for beautiful reflections on supporting each other,
• Colleen Millsteed for poetry and kindness,
• Sahil Patel for supporting us all.

I am sure there will be more next time as I read further!

p.s. did you enjoy my reflections on creativity? You can get my posts direct to your inbox here!