Artistic Inspiration
November 14, 2004 9:41 PM Subscribe
What inspires you to create things? [more, inside]
I'm not a very creative person. Or maybe I'm a creative person lacking the proper motivation.
I tend to find that I'm proficient enough (with a camera, Photoshop, InDesign, Notepad, as a writer) to bring my creative/artistic ideas into reality, once I think of them.
The problem I have is coming up with the ideas. Do 'artistic people' just walk around and have ideas pop into their heads? Where do you get artistic inspiration?
I'm not a very creative person. Or maybe I'm a creative person lacking the proper motivation.
I tend to find that I'm proficient enough (with a camera, Photoshop, InDesign, Notepad, as a writer) to bring my creative/artistic ideas into reality, once I think of them.
The problem I have is coming up with the ideas. Do 'artistic people' just walk around and have ideas pop into their heads? Where do you get artistic inspiration?
Relevence - music is my "art", rather than visual art, writing etc.
I don't know if I'm allowed to say drugs, but I will. Drugs. In a controlled and professional manner, of course.
Also dreams, sometimes, when I can remember them, mainly to capture a mood. And yes, sometimes I do just have ideas pop into my head as I'm walking around - "I wonder what would happen if I plug my guitar through three different delay pedals, then ring-modulate that against a live classical music station in Audiomulch"...which inevitably leads me to rush home and try it. I guess the key to getting those ideas, though, is through experimentation. Try things out and learn how things work - when they work, think about them, and try them in different combinations. Dream it up, and devote time to letting ideas play around in your head.
posted by Jimbob at 10:08 PM on November 14, 2004
I don't know if I'm allowed to say drugs, but I will. Drugs. In a controlled and professional manner, of course.
Also dreams, sometimes, when I can remember them, mainly to capture a mood. And yes, sometimes I do just have ideas pop into my head as I'm walking around - "I wonder what would happen if I plug my guitar through three different delay pedals, then ring-modulate that against a live classical music station in Audiomulch"...which inevitably leads me to rush home and try it. I guess the key to getting those ideas, though, is through experimentation. Try things out and learn how things work - when they work, think about them, and try them in different combinations. Dream it up, and devote time to letting ideas play around in your head.
posted by Jimbob at 10:08 PM on November 14, 2004
I don't know how anyone can possibly answer this question without sounding pretentious, but I'll try. Maybe any drunken late-night spelling errors I make will lessen the prentention.
I write music, play several different musical instruments, paint, draw portraits, draw comics, and have written an (unpublished) young adult novel. I'm pretty good at several of these things, and am generally regarded by my friends as "creative".
I walk around and have ideas pop into my head.
However, this does not happen in a vaccuum. I have lots of different interests, and I think about them and read about them a lot, and I find that cross-referencing between them "causes" ideas to pop into my head.
I also have a constant inner monologue--in words--that continuously runs through my brain: me, talking to myself about the things that I am interested in.
Images and feelings overlay this monologue, and the monologue is altered by them. I talk this out internally, and--sometimes, when I am not thinking about the subject, but am thinking about something else--I'll have the "perfect" idea appear, ready to be used.
Creativity is not supernatural, and it is not passive. Like anything worthwhile, it's something that has to be worked at. I read a lot about the things that interest me. I'll get a vague feeling that I think I might sort of be interested in one subject as it is applied to another subject. So, I'll study it.
I am also by my nature extremely contrary. So, while I can be interested in ghosts on one hand, I do not believe in them. The mental challange here is figuring out how to write something about a ghost while still maintaining the belief that ghosts are bullshit. The reward is coming up with a clever idea about how to destroy ghosts, were ghosts to exist. This is just an example.
Also, what do you do when an idea you think is good pops into your head? With many creative genres available, it's likely--though not definite--that one genre will fulfill the meaning you're trying to express better than another one. This takes a lot of thought, too.
Making things, whether they're music or drawings or something written down, is not something that is relaxing. It's actual work, though it is more rewarding than cleaning a toilet or paying bills. Skills have to be developed to properly get your idea out; this takes a lot of work and practice. There's a reason that the act of making art is sometimes called "execution".
posted by interrobang at 10:09 PM on November 14, 2004 [1 favorite]
I write music, play several different musical instruments, paint, draw portraits, draw comics, and have written an (unpublished) young adult novel. I'm pretty good at several of these things, and am generally regarded by my friends as "creative".
I walk around and have ideas pop into my head.
However, this does not happen in a vaccuum. I have lots of different interests, and I think about them and read about them a lot, and I find that cross-referencing between them "causes" ideas to pop into my head.
I also have a constant inner monologue--in words--that continuously runs through my brain: me, talking to myself about the things that I am interested in.
Images and feelings overlay this monologue, and the monologue is altered by them. I talk this out internally, and--sometimes, when I am not thinking about the subject, but am thinking about something else--I'll have the "perfect" idea appear, ready to be used.
Creativity is not supernatural, and it is not passive. Like anything worthwhile, it's something that has to be worked at. I read a lot about the things that interest me. I'll get a vague feeling that I think I might sort of be interested in one subject as it is applied to another subject. So, I'll study it.
I am also by my nature extremely contrary. So, while I can be interested in ghosts on one hand, I do not believe in them. The mental challange here is figuring out how to write something about a ghost while still maintaining the belief that ghosts are bullshit. The reward is coming up with a clever idea about how to destroy ghosts, were ghosts to exist. This is just an example.
Also, what do you do when an idea you think is good pops into your head? With many creative genres available, it's likely--though not definite--that one genre will fulfill the meaning you're trying to express better than another one. This takes a lot of thought, too.
Making things, whether they're music or drawings or something written down, is not something that is relaxing. It's actual work, though it is more rewarding than cleaning a toilet or paying bills. Skills have to be developed to properly get your idea out; this takes a lot of work and practice. There's a reason that the act of making art is sometimes called "execution".
posted by interrobang at 10:09 PM on November 14, 2004 [1 favorite]
I write. It's relaxing. And frustrating. I have an idea that I express to my friends, thinking it's terribly ordinary, and then I find out it's not.
The key to having good ideas is to have lots of ideas. You play. Imagine. See where it leads. Ask "What if?" alot. Also ask "and then what" alot. Make it up.
Listen to that little distracting voice - he probably has something interesting to say.
Hemingway wrote 2500 words every day and considered most of them worthless.
Don't discount even your ordinary ideas. The idea that one of your ideas is dumb...well, prevents you from trying dumb things. Dumb things sometimes make you go "No, what would be really cool is..."
Pick up a book on creative writing exercises (one of my favorites is "What if?" - I'm on a slow connection, so you'll have to find the author.)
posted by filmgeek at 10:20 PM on November 14, 2004
The key to having good ideas is to have lots of ideas. You play. Imagine. See where it leads. Ask "What if?" alot. Also ask "and then what" alot. Make it up.
Listen to that little distracting voice - he probably has something interesting to say.
Hemingway wrote 2500 words every day and considered most of them worthless.
Don't discount even your ordinary ideas. The idea that one of your ideas is dumb...well, prevents you from trying dumb things. Dumb things sometimes make you go "No, what would be really cool is..."
Pick up a book on creative writing exercises (one of my favorites is "What if?" - I'm on a slow connection, so you'll have to find the author.)
posted by filmgeek at 10:20 PM on November 14, 2004
Where do you get artistic inspiration?
On further reflection, I should have answered this question a little bit more.
I get my artistic inspiration from old yearbooks, autumn, the Cold War, beautiful girls, the desire for sex, birds and bats, banjos (and the history thereof), Jacques Tardi, the fear of death, the desire for approval, old newspaper comics, zeppelins, Daniel Pinkwater, stereoscopic photography, the beauty of the planets Mars and Neptune, 19th century Gravediggers' music, wine, vertical stripes, trilobites, horseshoe crabs, and whatever I'll read about tomorrow at work.
As long as I can make these things work to my advantage.
posted by interrobang at 10:26 PM on November 14, 2004
On further reflection, I should have answered this question a little bit more.
I get my artistic inspiration from old yearbooks, autumn, the Cold War, beautiful girls, the desire for sex, birds and bats, banjos (and the history thereof), Jacques Tardi, the fear of death, the desire for approval, old newspaper comics, zeppelins, Daniel Pinkwater, stereoscopic photography, the beauty of the planets Mars and Neptune, 19th century Gravediggers' music, wine, vertical stripes, trilobites, horseshoe crabs, and whatever I'll read about tomorrow at work.
As long as I can make these things work to my advantage.
posted by interrobang at 10:26 PM on November 14, 2004
Not pretentious at all, interrobang. I agree wholeheartedly.
Another thing is that there's many types of creativity.
Creativity doesn't happen in a vacuum for me, either. Most of my friends think I'm pretty creative, but I have ideas that pop into my head from two sources: frustration and free-association.
Why frustration? It's what gets me to solve problems. If something isn't broken, I usually don't have the time to fix it. It has to really frustrate me. But there's everyday little things where I finally go "ENOUGH!" ... like having to key in the number of hours I spent on something into a project management application ... that prompt me to create a 'better mousetrap' that alleviates that particular frustration ... like a multiuser project management application thrown into the oven with a multiuser task/workflow tracking application and baked to perfection.
Free-association is fun, and it's what people usually think of as spontaneous creativity. It's something I'm not naturally good at. I've learned to think of things in a cyclicar 'cloud' of ideas rather than in a linear flow. I can't really describe it any better than that ... coming up with new stuff is just an initial germ of an idea, and you play with that and worry it and abuse it for a while and keep building into that cloud of ideas until something that looks good pops out, and then you've got to keep working at it to make it perfect.
It's work. To the outside observer, the creative just waves his or her hands magically and "poof" the creation appears.
It takes really hard work over a long period of time to actually be creative -- to actually come up with something new.
I'll agree that most "Creative" people have something that's naturally driving them beyond just love of a particular art form. The boring, self-regulated-to-'normal' people in our society tend to class these as "mental disorders."
posted by SpecialK at 10:39 PM on November 14, 2004
Another thing is that there's many types of creativity.
Creativity doesn't happen in a vacuum for me, either. Most of my friends think I'm pretty creative, but I have ideas that pop into my head from two sources: frustration and free-association.
Why frustration? It's what gets me to solve problems. If something isn't broken, I usually don't have the time to fix it. It has to really frustrate me. But there's everyday little things where I finally go "ENOUGH!" ... like having to key in the number of hours I spent on something into a project management application ... that prompt me to create a 'better mousetrap' that alleviates that particular frustration ... like a multiuser project management application thrown into the oven with a multiuser task/workflow tracking application and baked to perfection.
Free-association is fun, and it's what people usually think of as spontaneous creativity. It's something I'm not naturally good at. I've learned to think of things in a cyclicar 'cloud' of ideas rather than in a linear flow. I can't really describe it any better than that ... coming up with new stuff is just an initial germ of an idea, and you play with that and worry it and abuse it for a while and keep building into that cloud of ideas until something that looks good pops out, and then you've got to keep working at it to make it perfect.
It's work. To the outside observer, the creative just waves his or her hands magically and "poof" the creation appears.
It takes really hard work over a long period of time to actually be creative -- to actually come up with something new.
I'll agree that most "Creative" people have something that's naturally driving them beyond just love of a particular art form. The boring, self-regulated-to-'normal' people in our society tend to class these as "mental disorders."
posted by SpecialK at 10:39 PM on November 14, 2004
I assume that for most people getting ideas is like a "muscle". The more you do it the easier it is to do. This book attempts to turn the usually unconscious process into a conscious one and is a good read.
Many non-creative people (or, more accurately, people who haven't learned how to be creative) who view the outcome of any project often assume that creative people "just do it". They're gifted. It just happens. Etc. I find the exact opposite is the case with creative people I know. They work their ass off daily. There's a quote from Harlan Ellison, I think it is: "I write because I can do no other." That about sums it up for me.
I write because it's the only thing less painful than not writing. Seriously. It's as simple, stupid, and blunt as that. If I don't do it, I can't sleep and I worry myself nonstop ("I'm wasting my life," etc.) and eventually I find myself near-suicidal and have to choose between throwing myself off a bridge and throwing myself into a project. As per the "mental illness" posts above, I've been diagnosed as bipolar. I think it's bullocks as I am perfectly fine if I create. The only time I'm depressed is when I'm not working on something creative.
I find the greatest challange in creating anything is remembering / organizing your ideas. I carry a digital voice recorder everywhere and keep an extra one in my bathroom. Yeah, it's pretentious, but it works. I also find the Mac program Notational Velocity to be a huge helper in the idea organizing area.
Get a voice recorder or if you're not that dedicated yet or finances are tight, be sure to keep a pen and paper on you at all times. Keep a pad in the bathroom and another by your bed. Being prepared to capture an idea makes it a lot easier to find ideas to capture. It's an easy rule to forget, but it's the first rule anyone hoping to create anything should work on.
posted by dobbs at 11:04 PM on November 14, 2004 [1 favorite]
Many non-creative people (or, more accurately, people who haven't learned how to be creative) who view the outcome of any project often assume that creative people "just do it". They're gifted. It just happens. Etc. I find the exact opposite is the case with creative people I know. They work their ass off daily. There's a quote from Harlan Ellison, I think it is: "I write because I can do no other." That about sums it up for me.
I write because it's the only thing less painful than not writing. Seriously. It's as simple, stupid, and blunt as that. If I don't do it, I can't sleep and I worry myself nonstop ("I'm wasting my life," etc.) and eventually I find myself near-suicidal and have to choose between throwing myself off a bridge and throwing myself into a project. As per the "mental illness" posts above, I've been diagnosed as bipolar. I think it's bullocks as I am perfectly fine if I create. The only time I'm depressed is when I'm not working on something creative.
I find the greatest challange in creating anything is remembering / organizing your ideas. I carry a digital voice recorder everywhere and keep an extra one in my bathroom. Yeah, it's pretentious, but it works. I also find the Mac program Notational Velocity to be a huge helper in the idea organizing area.
Get a voice recorder or if you're not that dedicated yet or finances are tight, be sure to keep a pen and paper on you at all times. Keep a pad in the bathroom and another by your bed. Being prepared to capture an idea makes it a lot easier to find ideas to capture. It's an easy rule to forget, but it's the first rule anyone hoping to create anything should work on.
posted by dobbs at 11:04 PM on November 14, 2004 [1 favorite]
I write, play music, and make videos and animation...
I have far more ideas than time to work on them. They just seem to pop into existence.
Probably the best explanation I've ever heard was from Warren Ellis. He said, that as I writer, he fills himself up with information, and at some point that information pours back out as an idea.
So, if you want to come up with ideas, surround yourself with books, music, movies, hot and cold running women, and action figures.
posted by drezdn at 12:46 AM on November 15, 2004 [1 favorite]
I have far more ideas than time to work on them. They just seem to pop into existence.
Probably the best explanation I've ever heard was from Warren Ellis. He said, that as I writer, he fills himself up with information, and at some point that information pours back out as an idea.
So, if you want to come up with ideas, surround yourself with books, music, movies, hot and cold running women, and action figures.
posted by drezdn at 12:46 AM on November 15, 2004 [1 favorite]
My theory about how this works with me, personally, is this: I believe I have a very active but "masked" part of my brain that is constantly formulating ideas, connections, images, solutions, etc. This is not an on-demand area - I cannot simply access this stuff as needed, but if I sit down before any version of a blank canvas, and simply begin somewhere, sooner or later something begins to form there - let's call it the "spine" of the idea, and as long as the spine is strong, fleshing out the concept gathers its own momentum and progresses rather merrily along.
But this is the key: I have to just have faith that something good will begin to fashion itself when I first begin to scribble. The more relaxed and certain I am that this "other" part of my brain will take over, the more quickly and emphatically it does. This is my method, and I use it for writing, design, art, and problem/puzzle solving. I also agree with drezdn, that the more you feed this creative, abstract beast, the more associations and formulations it spits back up.
posted by taz at 1:01 AM on November 15, 2004 [1 favorite]
But this is the key: I have to just have faith that something good will begin to fashion itself when I first begin to scribble. The more relaxed and certain I am that this "other" part of my brain will take over, the more quickly and emphatically it does. This is my method, and I use it for writing, design, art, and problem/puzzle solving. I also agree with drezdn, that the more you feed this creative, abstract beast, the more associations and formulations it spits back up.
posted by taz at 1:01 AM on November 15, 2004 [1 favorite]
In the shower, with water vibrating on my head. This jars loose the neurons and makes my ideas flow freely. I always have good ideas about putting a waterproof notepad in the shower but I forget to do it once the water goes away.
Seriously, I have most of my best ideas in the shower and in dreams. I'm not very impressed with myself as a creative person, though, so perhaps I'm not the best respondent.
posted by ikkyu2 at 1:51 AM on November 15, 2004
Seriously, I have most of my best ideas in the shower and in dreams. I'm not very impressed with myself as a creative person, though, so perhaps I'm not the best respondent.
posted by ikkyu2 at 1:51 AM on November 15, 2004
I think the mystery lies deeper in why we enjoy art. Listening to a song, for example, is not a passive thing. The sounds are played out to memories/imaginings in our head. We create all the time.
Regarding the actual creating of art and why we do it, there's no way for an artist to be humble here (this is just my personal opinion): we strive to create things we love. Fulfillment, a pride in our ability. I write music, and I love listening to music I have made. If I wrote music that I felt was mediocre (and I'm sure in many people's eyes, it is! :-) ), it would be pointless. I know I'm probably stating the bleeding obvious, but for me it's simply about making stuff I love. In order to love it, it must be great in my eyes. In order for it to be great, well....that requires striving for skills where natural talent is lacking, and time and effort!
posted by SpaceCadet at 1:56 AM on November 15, 2004
Regarding the actual creating of art and why we do it, there's no way for an artist to be humble here (this is just my personal opinion): we strive to create things we love. Fulfillment, a pride in our ability. I write music, and I love listening to music I have made. If I wrote music that I felt was mediocre (and I'm sure in many people's eyes, it is! :-) ), it would be pointless. I know I'm probably stating the bleeding obvious, but for me it's simply about making stuff I love. In order to love it, it must be great in my eyes. In order for it to be great, well....that requires striving for skills where natural talent is lacking, and time and effort!
posted by SpaceCadet at 1:56 AM on November 15, 2004
to the extent that i am creative, i think it's largely a subconscious process. by coincidence i've been mulling this over the last few days - how the longer i wait and allow problems to "mull over" in my head, the better the solution i find. to the extent that i'm starting to think the less work i do, the better it seems to be. and this isn't a case of having more time to consciously think, because i generally am thinking about other things (well, recently, for example, i got a shipment of books from amazon, so have been catching up with a year or so of not reading).
ikkyu2 mentions the shower. i think that's where results, from the subsconscious working through the night, are presented to the conscious. my mind is pretty blank in the shower, under the hot water, so it's easy for my subconscious to run through a quick powerpoint presentation of its main conclusions.
all the above assumes that creativity comes through solutions to problems. i think this partly reflects the kind of thing i do - programming. perhaps "artists" don't think in terms of problems. if so, then i'd suggest trying to do so - i don't see why art can't be viewed as solving problems. if you identify what the problems are then you have a target for your subconscious, and creativity should (might?) follow.
posted by andrew cooke at 4:13 AM on November 15, 2004
ikkyu2 mentions the shower. i think that's where results, from the subsconscious working through the night, are presented to the conscious. my mind is pretty blank in the shower, under the hot water, so it's easy for my subconscious to run through a quick powerpoint presentation of its main conclusions.
all the above assumes that creativity comes through solutions to problems. i think this partly reflects the kind of thing i do - programming. perhaps "artists" don't think in terms of problems. if so, then i'd suggest trying to do so - i don't see why art can't be viewed as solving problems. if you identify what the problems are then you have a target for your subconscious, and creativity should (might?) follow.
posted by andrew cooke at 4:13 AM on November 15, 2004
I get ideas everywhere. Everything I read potentially gets related to anything else that was in my mind at any point in my current memory.
And I'm continually spinning narratives and dialog in my head. I've been doing that literally ever since I can remember. The most potent source for inspiration of new mental narratives is song lyrics; visuals don't do much for me, and I think that's probably got something to do with the fact that I really couldn't see much of anything until I was about 5.
That's why I write fiction and poems: To get the damn things out of my head. When I talk to people who go to writing groups or work to publish, they don't understand why I don't -- how I can say that it's not important to me. What's important to me is to create them. I largely don't care whether anyone else ever sees them.
posted by lodurr at 6:35 AM on November 15, 2004
And I'm continually spinning narratives and dialog in my head. I've been doing that literally ever since I can remember. The most potent source for inspiration of new mental narratives is song lyrics; visuals don't do much for me, and I think that's probably got something to do with the fact that I really couldn't see much of anything until I was about 5.
That's why I write fiction and poems: To get the damn things out of my head. When I talk to people who go to writing groups or work to publish, they don't understand why I don't -- how I can say that it's not important to me. What's important to me is to create them. I largely don't care whether anyone else ever sees them.
posted by lodurr at 6:35 AM on November 15, 2004
I usually get my best ideas when I am really stressed out about having to do something on deadline and I want to do anything but that, and so my mind wanders into what else I'd rather do. My creativity often stems from frustration, hunger, lonliness, anxiety and the like. I'm not a lonely, anxious, hungry or frustrated person, but that's because I have good solid outlets for a lot of these feelings [and an ability to feed myself] Alternately, when I've been really stress-free for weeks and weeks and have a lot of free time, sometimes, and not always, I think of really creative things to do with my energy and time. I get the majority of my ideas either while driving to work [a long windy road that goes by a river for about 20 miles], having a cigarette right before bed, or by making a random association with something someone said with something else I saw or dreamt about or heard. I think one of the reasons I like random surfing online is that I can very quickly get a lot of different little data points which sets of a random set of synapses in my head firing and then these new associations get me doing something creative. I split it up in to a few different parts
1. the spark
2. the idea from the spark [i.e. what can I do with this?]
3. the follow through
4. the reset the creative-meter to zero
I find that if I have a bunch of unfinished crap on the back burner, I can't get new things going as readily, so I try to clear my short-term "creative to do" list all the time figuring if something is really worth while I'll get back to it. That said, I sometimes feel that I have very little imagination. I can't write fiction or poetry, I can't draw a realistic picture, I can't play an instrument. On the other hand, I can assemble a lot of bits together into a cohesive unique whole, I can explain things, and I can find things. These don't necessarily seem like creative pursuits, but I've managed to hammer them in to a creative life.
posted by jessamyn at 7:37 AM on November 15, 2004
1. the spark
2. the idea from the spark [i.e. what can I do with this?]
3. the follow through
4. the reset the creative-meter to zero
I find that if I have a bunch of unfinished crap on the back burner, I can't get new things going as readily, so I try to clear my short-term "creative to do" list all the time figuring if something is really worth while I'll get back to it. That said, I sometimes feel that I have very little imagination. I can't write fiction or poetry, I can't draw a realistic picture, I can't play an instrument. On the other hand, I can assemble a lot of bits together into a cohesive unique whole, I can explain things, and I can find things. These don't necessarily seem like creative pursuits, but I've managed to hammer them in to a creative life.
posted by jessamyn at 7:37 AM on November 15, 2004
I have a strong drive to create things in all media. It can be cooking, writing, design of furniture or space, drawing, painting, making lamps, anything. I have no calculated formula for projects I get into. As mentioned, there's no light switch, and ideas come from literally anywhere: billboards, magazines, the web, dreams, movies. So I can't really explain very well the process of how I decide to make something - it just happens, for me. It's something I literally need to do to be happy. If I'm not making something I'm miserable.
What happens with me is usually I have an idea or problem I want to solve or express. For example I had a bunch of old metal scrap pieces that I thought would make a cool lamp. So I made it. Another example would be thinking about costumes for Halloween, and I suddenly decide that Spy vs Spy would be our theme this year. Then I proceeded to assemble the costume parts - some I made, some I bought, and boom I was done.
I don't feel like I'm helping much, but I will say that inner trust (as Taz mentions) in your own ability to execute and focus on the idea is essential. And to be willing to accept that it may not always go the way you think it will in your head.
posted by yoga at 8:11 AM on November 15, 2004
What happens with me is usually I have an idea or problem I want to solve or express. For example I had a bunch of old metal scrap pieces that I thought would make a cool lamp. So I made it. Another example would be thinking about costumes for Halloween, and I suddenly decide that Spy vs Spy would be our theme this year. Then I proceeded to assemble the costume parts - some I made, some I bought, and boom I was done.
I don't feel like I'm helping much, but I will say that inner trust (as Taz mentions) in your own ability to execute and focus on the idea is essential. And to be willing to accept that it may not always go the way you think it will in your head.
posted by yoga at 8:11 AM on November 15, 2004
I find I'm most creative when I actually get off my as and do stuff. I love listening to music and looking at art, so I spend a lot of time doing both. Sometimes I get bummed that I'm not making things, or that I don't have any ideas. But I find that if I just force myself to sit down and start making something - anything really - that something interesting usually comes from it. In the past I've taken to starting 10 or 15 pieces of music, then going back and finishing the more interesting one or two.
posted by soplerfo at 8:15 AM on November 15, 2004
posted by soplerfo at 8:15 AM on November 15, 2004
Sometimes ideas seem to literally come from nowhere. I once came up with an idea for an installation piece I did by leaving my apartment and taking a jarring step at the bottom of a hill. Something popped in my head and suddenly a fully-formed and somewhat complex idea just came to me.
Most of the time I have something to work from and start twisting ideas from there. Right now I promised a friend that I'd design her three different, funny Xmas cards. So basically when I think about it, I start mentally flipping through all the Xmas cliches and try to think of different ways they can be perverted in the name of humour. It's a fairly methodical process. My conscious mind handles and presents the raw data while my subconscious may or may not turn it into something.
Once your subconscious burps out a seed of an idea, you really need to grab hold of it and mangle the hell out that thing, dissect it and analyse it thoroughly before you toss it aside as unworthy of further consideration.
I've found it useful to enter competitions and the like that have you working from a certain theme. Even having a very basic idea as the foundation of something to work from can help get your creative motor chugging into life. Strip Fight is something I've been participating in, and it's helped me crawl out of a creative draught.
posted by picea at 8:26 AM on November 15, 2004
Most of the time I have something to work from and start twisting ideas from there. Right now I promised a friend that I'd design her three different, funny Xmas cards. So basically when I think about it, I start mentally flipping through all the Xmas cliches and try to think of different ways they can be perverted in the name of humour. It's a fairly methodical process. My conscious mind handles and presents the raw data while my subconscious may or may not turn it into something.
Once your subconscious burps out a seed of an idea, you really need to grab hold of it and mangle the hell out that thing, dissect it and analyse it thoroughly before you toss it aside as unworthy of further consideration.
I've found it useful to enter competitions and the like that have you working from a certain theme. Even having a very basic idea as the foundation of something to work from can help get your creative motor chugging into life. Strip Fight is something I've been participating in, and it's helped me crawl out of a creative draught.
posted by picea at 8:26 AM on November 15, 2004
I write because I can't find books that are what I want to read; that is, I don't see "me" reflected in cultural products very often, and words are what I do. Because of that, my ideas are mostly the product of me reading, seeing, hearing something and then thinking, "But that's not the way I see it."
Next, comes the problem of working it out. "How do I render this?" Often, in this step, I end up moving way beyond whatever began it, but I figure that's essential. Just expressing a fully-formed idea seems to make for too-didactic art.
Further, I keep myself going by not expecting too much of myself all at once. I know I'm a good writer, but I also know I won't be good enough for me, so I work towards reminding myself that a body of work has an arc, and I'm young enough that the next piece will be better than the last one--I've hardly peaked.
And of course, the only thing worse than writing is not writing.
As for hunting down ideas if you don't have many, arbitrary excercises can be good for practice, for jumpstarting, but I find most "real works" with those roots have an emptiness at the core. That doesn't matter if you're just working for you, of course, but I've seen too many slush piles to think any of those how-to-write books are doing anything for literature.
posted by dame at 9:10 AM on November 15, 2004 [1 favorite]
Next, comes the problem of working it out. "How do I render this?" Often, in this step, I end up moving way beyond whatever began it, but I figure that's essential. Just expressing a fully-formed idea seems to make for too-didactic art.
Further, I keep myself going by not expecting too much of myself all at once. I know I'm a good writer, but I also know I won't be good enough for me, so I work towards reminding myself that a body of work has an arc, and I'm young enough that the next piece will be better than the last one--I've hardly peaked.
And of course, the only thing worse than writing is not writing.
As for hunting down ideas if you don't have many, arbitrary excercises can be good for practice, for jumpstarting, but I find most "real works" with those roots have an emptiness at the core. That doesn't matter if you're just working for you, of course, but I've seen too many slush piles to think any of those how-to-write books are doing anything for literature.
posted by dame at 9:10 AM on November 15, 2004 [1 favorite]
I don't see "me" reflected in cultural products very often...
This is huge for me as well. I'll often go to the store looking for an item to solve a particular logistical or space problem I'm having and be so annoyed by the paucity of actual choices that I'll go home and make or build what I need to suit my situation. A lot of my creativity goes towards constructive problem solving and making what I can't buy: food, furniture, &c.
posted by jessamyn at 11:37 AM on November 15, 2004 [1 favorite]
This is huge for me as well. I'll often go to the store looking for an item to solve a particular logistical or space problem I'm having and be so annoyed by the paucity of actual choices that I'll go home and make or build what I need to suit my situation. A lot of my creativity goes towards constructive problem solving and making what I can't buy: food, furniture, &c.
posted by jessamyn at 11:37 AM on November 15, 2004 [1 favorite]
Creativity is a skill, like drawing, and like drawing, people who don't try to be creative think it's an innate ability that they were denied, when in reality it's something that you can learn if you try.
Like everything, there are degrees of natural aptitude. Most people will never be the draftsman that Velazquez was, no matter how hard they try. But Velazquez did not leap fully-formed from the womb and begin painting these exquisite beads of condensation that make me thirsty just looking at them. He worked fucking hard, for years.
In fact, every artist I've ever respect -- mostly writers -- say that hard work is the most important part of what people call their "art". Thomas Edison's quote fits here, too. The myth that creativity comes in a flash of epiphantic light is harmful, because it keeps people from even trying to be creative. James Joyce believed in epiphany, but he also worked fucking hard, for years.
When I sit down to write something, the number of times a good product comes from a ray of divine light is squashed by the number of times a good product comes from crawling down a couple dozen dead-end alleys until I find one that goes all the way through.
I am comforted by the knowledge that everyone who isn't full of shit, or lying, suffers through the same process. Upthread, Filmgeek mentioned Hemingway. This is a great example, because Hemingway got up at the same time every day, wrote in the same room, in the same way (standing up, on a clip board), until he reached a set limit, then he stopped. Then, the next day, he did the same thing. He produced some of the finest works of the last century. He worked hard.
Steven King writes something like 11 pages per day, no more, no less. This method has dne all right for him, so far.
What I am trying to get at is that if you wait for something to happen to you, you will never get anything done. If you have discipline, then inspiration can go fuck itself. Inspiration is for people who wear berets. The people who get shit done are the ones who have made a conscious decision to be somewhere at the same time every day, and either make something or stare at the wall all day.
Creativity is like your first job -- you walk in there without any training, and you look like an idiot at first. Then, slowly, you figure out it's not that tough, and they make you assistant manager, and all the trainees think you're an expert. Obviously, this is a bad analogy, because your first job paid better than being creative ever will, but I think it's illustrative on some levels.
posted by Hildago at 12:36 PM on November 15, 2004
Like everything, there are degrees of natural aptitude. Most people will never be the draftsman that Velazquez was, no matter how hard they try. But Velazquez did not leap fully-formed from the womb and begin painting these exquisite beads of condensation that make me thirsty just looking at them. He worked fucking hard, for years.
In fact, every artist I've ever respect -- mostly writers -- say that hard work is the most important part of what people call their "art". Thomas Edison's quote fits here, too. The myth that creativity comes in a flash of epiphantic light is harmful, because it keeps people from even trying to be creative. James Joyce believed in epiphany, but he also worked fucking hard, for years.
When I sit down to write something, the number of times a good product comes from a ray of divine light is squashed by the number of times a good product comes from crawling down a couple dozen dead-end alleys until I find one that goes all the way through.
I am comforted by the knowledge that everyone who isn't full of shit, or lying, suffers through the same process. Upthread, Filmgeek mentioned Hemingway. This is a great example, because Hemingway got up at the same time every day, wrote in the same room, in the same way (standing up, on a clip board), until he reached a set limit, then he stopped. Then, the next day, he did the same thing. He produced some of the finest works of the last century. He worked hard.
Steven King writes something like 11 pages per day, no more, no less. This method has dne all right for him, so far.
What I am trying to get at is that if you wait for something to happen to you, you will never get anything done. If you have discipline, then inspiration can go fuck itself. Inspiration is for people who wear berets. The people who get shit done are the ones who have made a conscious decision to be somewhere at the same time every day, and either make something or stare at the wall all day.
Creativity is like your first job -- you walk in there without any training, and you look like an idiot at first. Then, slowly, you figure out it's not that tough, and they make you assistant manager, and all the trainees think you're an expert. Obviously, this is a bad analogy, because your first job paid better than being creative ever will, but I think it's illustrative on some levels.
posted by Hildago at 12:36 PM on November 15, 2004
This thread is closed to new comments.
It's on my reading list, this book aims to demonstrate that most artistic geniuses were manic-depressive. There was also a science-news article I read a few months back, about a study which found similarities in certain brain structures among "creative-types" and schizophrenics.
My general answer would be that creative-types are inundated with more free-flow yet structured network of associations. There are many crackpot and not-so-crackpot schemes out there to improve 'creativity'. One that sticks out in my mind, for some reason, is Win Wenger's stuff (I haven't attempted it.).
In terms of the essence of creativity, here's my FPP on a theory by two cognitive scientists, called conceptual blending.
posted by Gyan at 10:06 PM on November 14, 2004