Ten Tips on Creativity - Writers Forum

emilyhanlon · 03-02-2006, 09:16 PM

by Emily Hanlon

1.Don’t think. Creating a story or book has little to do with the intellect or language when we first begin. Our best ideas will emerge as a spark or image. Like dreams, they will make little sense. Followed, they will hold the key to the creative unconscious.

2. Creativity is cyclical. You cannot and will not be creative all the time. What is full must empty and what is empty will fill. Creativity has its own internal rhythms. Learn to listen to yours.

3. Nothing kills creativity faster than criticism. Don’t share your work-in-progress with people who are critical or those whose opinions leave you vulnerable, no matter how much you love them. Good critiquing should leave you inspired, not deflated.

4. Spend time listening to your inner critic. He or she is not comfortable with the risks demanded by a creative endeavor. By becoming aware of the foul jabber of your inner critic, you can see how your own mind puts up roadblocks to your creativity.

5. Being a creator is risky business. Don’t underestimate the tremendous emotional and psychic risks the journey demands. Learn to push ahead even when you are afraid. Learn to love the risk.

6. Don’t be afraid to fail. Every successful creator has failed hundreds of times. Failure is an integral part of creativity. It doesn’t mean you’re wrong or stupid. It only means you’ve uncovered a path or technique that does not work.

7. Don’t be afraid to write garbage. Every successful writer writes mounds of garbage. Give your work time to percolate. Play the What If game. For example, if you’re writing fiction and a characters is sweet and loving and you’re stuck, have the character mean and hateful. In the world of the imagination, anything can happen.

8. Nurture your creativity. It is as fragile as a budding flower. Open to the dance. Listen to music that makes you feel like flying. Go for a walk. Laugh with a friend, child or lover. Creativity is about feeling.

9. Be passionate.Creativity is passionate. Passion is always creative.

10. Learn your craft. And write, write, write! The more you write, the better you will get. Discipline yourself. Successful writers are disciplined writers.

©Ten Tips on Creativity, Emily Hanlon 1995-2006.

Ten Tips on Creativitysm may be be copied and used on other websites so long as you include a link back to Emily's website: www.thefictionwritersjourney.com

Emily Hanlon is the author of seven works of fiction and a book on writing. She is a writing and creativity coach and holds private coaching sessions on the telephone as well as leading workshops and a weeklong retreat for women called Writing, Creativity and Ritual. This year the retreat goes to Costa Rica in September (2006). You can explore the retreat at www.awritersretreat.com
emily@emilyhanlon.com

Starfire · 03-03-2006, 12:53 AM

Great post, hmmm I think I'll even re-read it. I'm finding that I write best if I don't worry too much about word choice or sentence structure. If I deliberately try to write better, I actually end up writing worse, not to mention I don't get much work done that way.

I also suggest using a notebook, where you scatter all thoughts and ideas.

woodcut.evolution · 03-03-2006, 10:08 AM

All good, except maybe number three. I can't speak for other people here, but I expect nothing less than blatant unadulterated honesty from the people reading my work. If they don't like it I want to know why. If they have to tear my work a new one to tell me, then so be it. It only inspires me to make it better and show them up, as it were.

Straylight · 03-03-2006, 10:34 AM

Quote:

All good, except maybe number three. I can't speak for other people here, but I expect nothing less than blatant unadulterated honesty from the people reading my work. If they don't like it I want to know why. If they have to tear my work a new one to tell me, then so be it. It only inspires me to make it better and show them up, as it were.

To a point, but I tend to think she was talking about first drafts. You want a highly critical eye during revision, but during that first charge through the narrative, nothing kills the flow faster than someone picking it apart. Of course it sucks! It's a first draft.

Thanks for sharing Emily. Good tips for all.

~SL

ravravrav · 03-04-2006, 04:11 PM

great post - its on my site www.filmfiler.com

woodcut.evolution · 03-04-2006, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Straylight

To a point, but I tend to think she was talking about first drafts. You want a highly critical eye during revision, but during that first charge through the narrative, nothing kills the flow faster than someone picking it apart. Of course it sucks! It's a first draft.

Well yeah... for a first draft...
Of course I'm a bit masochistic when it comes to reviews, so I still may like it if someone tore into my first draft.

character1_Caitlin · 03-04-2006, 10:17 PM

What an excellent post, someone should bump it at least once a week. Very inspiring.
Thanks.

AshBeanNun · 03-04-2006, 10:24 PM

One tip I can give people, if it suits them, is talking about your work with others. I often find that by getting feedback when I'm stuck or looking for fresh ideas, the creativity will quickly start flowing again.

Phouka · 03-06-2006, 02:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emilyhanlon

7. Don’t be afraid to write garbage. Every successful writer writes mounds of garbage. Give your work time to percolate. Play the What If game. For example, if you’re writing fiction and a characters is sweet and loving and you’re stuck, have the character mean and hateful. In the world of the imagination, anything can happen.

I love this suggestion. I think too many people think they have to be focused on writing great work every time they sit down to write. That they can't just write drivel for an hour and see what happens. There is almost always something useful in the exercise, and it can be fun to just throw away all the rules and see what you end up with. For example, write a scene of dialog using all the florid, overdone, grandious dialog tags you can find -- think of William Shatner delivering the lines and make it as bad as you can. It always jolts me out of my rut and lets me go back to better writing with a clear conscience and renewed energy.

Leaf · 03-06-2006, 01:50 PM

I do not want to be too negative, as I really like surfing the net and reading the ‘ten tips for writers’, ‘five golden rules of writing’ and their many, many siblings, but I personally think this one is a little too thin. Sounds to me a little too romantic :S

And is it just me or does 2 and 10 contradict one another? 2 tells you to follow you creativity’s ‘own internal rhythms’ while 10 tells you to ‘discipline yourself’ (write also when you are not in the mood, no?). Hmm…

Anyway, just wanted to share my opinion. Maybe I am too negative.

Kimahri · 03-06-2006, 03:17 PM

Very good post. After thinking back, I actually followed most of those when I started writing.

kimahri

beautifulempress · 03-06-2006, 04:22 PM

This is an awesome post. I like the suggestion of it being okay to write garbage. I was stuck at one stage with the story I'm currently writing, and one day just allowed myself to start writing off the top of my head, not caring whether it made sense or that it was crap. Then, when I started going back to my story, the "crap" stuff I wrote seemed better than what I had originally planned to write! It's great!

New Moon · 03-14-2006, 07:00 PM

I liked these tips, thanks for posting them emilyhanlon.
I like the one about writing garbage too, I have a hard time remembering that it's okay if what I write the first time around isn't perfect. I tend to obsess over my writing being perfect lol.