All writing, no matter how dry or dreary, involves some form of creative input. Style is an element or feature of a writer’s unique voice practised within a genre. Even formulaic genres such as bodice-rippers allow for individual flair.
Creative writers such as novelists and short-story writers focus on the inspiration, the story they have dreamed to life with keyboard rattle and sanguine perspiration. Writers need a muse, human or otherwise, to stir the emotions that inspire subtle contact within the mysterious realm of the collective unconsciousness. Then the unexpected personas of characters may emerge, blinking before an archetype’s summonsing, and hesitantly express their desire to foretell a legend from their creator, the sun-god writer.
In the above sentence, imagery and metaphor have been employed to create a word picture of the concept of characters coming alive and wishing to tell their story within the confines of an author’s plot and structure. How better to make a protagonist seem real to the reader than to encourage manifestation of the character’s character?
As Shakespeare wrote in Henry V― “Oh, for a muse of fire that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention …”
Creativity, what is it exactly? Is it the potential to create, the urge to create or the physical manifestation of such factors? Is it the opinion of others or is it subjective? Studies have indicated that in order for creativity to be present, individuals must invariably believe themselves to be creative. This may seem obvious but people who believe they are not creative do not consciously create ― even though they may have the inherent potential.
So self-belief is the vital component of creativity, functioning in much the same way as positive thinking and visualisation philosophies do, from prosperity theology to super-salesmanship strategies.
Writing is a creative outlet. However, in order for the results to be entertaining or interesting, technique, a set of skills acquired through learning and practice, also needs to be present. (I refer to technique as the entire gamut of basic writing skills and knowledge, from plotting and structure through to grammar and style ― and this may be extended to specialisation in a particular field of writing.)
An instant analogy is to think of technique as a car and creativity as petrol. Without petrol the car won’t do anything even though a skilled driver is behind the wheel. Without the knowledge to operate the vehicle the presence of petrol won’t help. One could pour petrol over the car in frustration and ignite it but the result will be neither attractive nor functional.
So, you have creativity and technique. You have the desire, the discipline, the time and a writing instrument. What now?
Help! I have blank-page-itis.
In order to catalyse the writing process, imagination-based inspiration is required. This is a complex process, unique to each individual but nevertheless bundled within the collective paradigm of creative expression. In an open system, where the writer receives cues from his or her environment, inspiration may be stimulated by a positive feedback loop that grows exponentially with writing development and progress.
Expressed differently, applause and encouragement nourish the writer’s delicate ego and the confident ego expands to greater challenges of creative expression. (For the record, in psychological terms it is actually the superego but the point is made.)
A practical method is to draw upon the mix of personal knowledge and experience. Allow something to come to mind, anything; a piece of history, a childhood experience, a current event, an urban legend, a joke, a family anecdote, a technological or societal trend, a friend’s tale of woe, something that happened to the guy down the road… you get the idea.
Embellish the item of focus; make it more interesting, ironic, adventurous, funny, dramatic, outrageous or tragic by smoothing the rough edges of reality and idealising the situation. Test it for logic. Then ask how the situation occurred, what preceded it, where does the story of the situation actually begin? Why? How? Establish the back-story and how much of it is relevant.
Then ask what happens next. Is this midway or the denouement? As a story teller, what ending can you provide that will satisfy the audience? What is the moral, the leitmotif? Who is the audience? What voice will you use to tell the story?
Run the story over and over like the film editor of a mind-movie. Give the characters names, allow them to speak and form nascent personalities. Create life.
If the story is worth telling, then apply your writing techniques and create, noting how the writing process itself further changes the story.
This is only a suggested method for overcoming a stubbornly blank page, which is actually a blank mind. General Patton (of WW II fame) once stated that a bad plan today is better than a good plan tomorrow.
A final comment on creativity is that it should not be limited to a single field of expression.