Boost Your Creativity: Create Starters

View-from-the-starting-line-at-Indianapolis-motor-speedway-1985 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

       I'd like to go back to the quotation by Lyn Hejinian that started this arc of blogs. I, for one, feel the double pull of conciseness and expansiveness. But they do not need to be at odds with one another. In fact, your personal balance of the two influences your style.

        When I started using starters, my writing became concise to the point of being limited in scope and voice. It took some time to realize the problem was not with me but with the type of starter I was using. Most starters use contemporary scenarios. I write medieval fantasy. So I started written starters that played to my strengths. Once I started writing my own starters, I saw several possibilities for self-made starters.

       Relevance. Not everyone writes contemporary prose or poetry. And most starters out there have contemporary set-ups. And you may have trouble finding starters that fit your needs. A few examples of this are characters, setting, and theme.

       Scene seeds. A natural next step is to use starters as scene prompts. If you are having trouble getting a creative start, I suggest brainstorming several starters. then experiment with merging several into a more complex starter. And/or try triangulation (explained in an earlier blog in this series).

       Outlining for pansters. Not being a pantser myself, I am on shaky ground here. But I think that when inspiration disappears, pansters are even more stuck than plotsters. Creating your own starters might circumvent this by providing a starting point for a scene. And the next.

        Once you get used to making your own starters, I think you will find them far more helpful than the ready-made ones. If you like, make one now and share it here.

Boost Your Creativity: Use Starters

Mascot Character of KUT (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Starters are writing prompts. A starter can be a set of rules, a pool of words, a scenario, a quotation, a picture, or any combination of these. When placed in your fiction world, starters can help you explore characters, setting, and craft.

       Character. Starters help you learn about your view-point character by placing him/her in a variety of situations. An part of character development is learning how characters behave in public, in private, and under stress. To make these behaviors logical, you will need to figure out your character's motives and back story. When writing off a starter, try to draw on your character's powerful motives rather than the more shallow driving factors. Hint: try to incorporate inner conflicts.

       Setting. Starters help you develop your world by forcing you to think about your setting. The most obvious level of your world is the current physical setting. Your character needs a place to stand, after all, and the setting you choose will affect the action. People often act differently in private or semi-private settings as opposed to public settings,  feel more confident on their own turf as opposed to standing in the enemy stronghold. How your character is dressed can affect him -- especially if the opposing character is dressed differently (ghetto versus business suit, for example). Is there a physical barrier that a threatened character can move behind? Is the threatened character sitting while the opposing character looms over her?

       Craft. Like flash-fiction, starters are a great way to hone your craft. Their short length makes them easy to finish and revise. They also contain all the elements of a scene or short story. their short length also makes it easier to identify your strengths and weaknesses -- especially if you ask other people to read your revised product.

       When using starters, don't take the easy way out. Try to be every bit as creative with your responses to the prompts as you are when writing in earnest. There are a lot of ready-made starters out there and I've listed a few sources at the bottom of the article. But if you find them limiting, uninspiring, or irrelevant then the next post -- Create Starters -- was written with you in mind.

http://www.writersdigest.com/prompts
http://www.writing.com/main/writing_prompts
http://www.thewriteprompts.com/
http://quote-prompts.livejournal.com/
http://poewar.com/poetry-prompts/
https://www.facebook.com/PoetryDailyPrompts
https://www.facebook.com/DailyWritingPrompts
http://pinterest.com/

Boost Your Creativity: Scheme

think stencil art & graffiti cat (Photo credit: urbanartcore.eu)

Sometimes creativity needs a little prompting. It is useful to have several plans of action in place for when inspiration refuses to strike. Maybe it just isn't angry enough. Brainstorming and experimenting offer a fallback plan. They also offer a way to enhance those inspired ideas. They are ways to be more creative but I also think of them as being very structured ways. Then again, I'm a very structured and analytical person (in case my writing voice doesn't give that away). I come up with plans. I scheme. What do you do when feeling uninspired? What are some less structured options?
      
        But "scheme" has other definitions that fit brainstorming and experimenting. A scheme is also a group of related ideas. When you brainstorm with a purpose, the ideas are usually linked somehow. Because they are linked (by a common character, cause, or cliché), they can be combined to make that kernel thought more unique, complex, and surprising -- more creative.

       I even think the notion of a "scheme" being something crafty comes into play. Or your scheme may be simply clever instead of crafty. You still want to surprise your reader. Looking at the bigger picture, you might want to lead your reader's thinking in one direction and then effect a dramatic reversal. This is especially true in mystery plots and subplots. Brainstorming and experimentation still help you anticipate the reader's thinking and assumptions. Brainstorming and experimentation help you circumvent the obvious and overused while still letting you get to where you want to go.

Boost Your Creativity: Experiment

idea (Photo credit: Tony Dowler)

     Creativity is about more than ideas -- it is also about the consequences those ideas have for your story. I chose the word "experiment" in the title of this blog because experiments focus on finding or exploring cause-and-effect relationships. I realize that a consequence is a kind of idea but thinking about an idea's consequences also can trigger more ideas.
      Ask questions about the idea to expand on it. How can you justify it (motives and backstory)? How can you tweak it to have more impact on your character? How can you make it more original? What effect will it have down road on the main character, other characters, or on setting?
Mix-and-mismatch. Yes, mismatch. Many people's early brainstorm lists will have simple ideas. Combine items from your list to make the idea more multi-dimensional. Give special attention to items that seem contradictory or unrelated (like that "octopus apple"). Come up with one or more ways to combine them -- the more interesting the better! Sounds a lot like brainstorming, doesn't it?
      Triangulate.  An example of this is if you have been brainstorming conflicts for a chapter. Divide your chapter into a beginning, middle, and end. This gives you three key conflict points. Choose conflicts from lower down on your list (after the clichés have run out). They don't have to appear to be related on the surface. If the three crises do not appear related, so much the better -- you are more likely to surprise the reader. Just be sure to link them in a logical manner! With triangulation, the first two crises can seem unrelated (as long as they intensify) but they need to join forces to cause the third crisis. Remember, it is context and character reactions that decides the intensity of each crisis.
       After you brainstorm, you can take one or more ideas and use that as a seed for more ideas by looking at effects on character, conflict, or setting (or some other element like theme). You also can combine ideas to create a new product. And you can take existing ideas to see how they relate. All this is really just a more advanced form of the basic brainstorm. What are some strategies you use to increase your creativity off of a basic brainstorm session?

Boost Your Creativity: Brainstorm

_brainstorm_01 (Photo credit: faroekat)

       By studying your real and fantasy worlds, you gained a better grounding in facts, rules, opinions, and possibilities. Some of what you learn will probably trigger spontaneous ideas. But what can you do when the words just won't come? You scheme -- come up with a plan of action. The first step is usually brainstorming. The second step is experimentation (which we'll see tomorrow). Brainstorming is coming up with ideas that share underlying assumptions. These assumption may be about the starting point, ending point, and included characteristics.

       Lists are the most common starting-point for brainstorming. What comes out first will be the most obvious ideas but if you keep brainstorming, you will be forced to come up with more creative ideas. But if you simply can't seem to think of any new ideas, here are a few tips.

        Try index cards. I do this when first coming up with characters. Each card has a trait, conflict, or habit. By using cards that don't repeat, I can create characters that don't repeat or overlap too much. I can also more easily make heroes and heroines who complement one another. I doubt I could make complete characters from this strategy but it is a useful starting point if you are stuck. And over time your pool of cards will become more diverse.
 
      If you like lists, set a ridiculously high (but still doable) minimum for the number of ideas you will generate. The thoughts that appear at the top of the list are what occur to you first. Your reader is probably expecting to see some of these ideas so avoid them. the ideas in the middle of the list probably feel like your best ideas but don't ignore the ones at the bottom! these were the ones you struggled to create and most may seem pretty impossible. But that means the reader is not expecting them. Look for ways to combine ideas from the bottom with ideas from the middle to surprise your readers.
 
      While brainstorming, do not forget to draw on ideas that interest you from the real world. I find salamanders fascinating. I hate racism. So in my fantasy novel I create an enslaved race of modified salamanders left over from a mage war. The heroine must recognize them as intelligent and of intrinsic worth before she decides to free them from their enslaver. This is just a subplot in the book (I don't believe in hitting people over the head with my personal beliefs) but is an example of how personal interests can generate ideas. Many writers keep a file of articles, pictures, and quotations that catch their eyes. This gives them somewhere to go for ideas while brainstorming.

       But what do you do with your ideas once you have them? You experiment. That will be covered tomorrow.

Related articles

• The Art of Creative Brainstorming : Top 10 Tips. (glasshousecreative.wordpress.com)
• Creative brainstorming techniques (dailyinspirationboard.com)
• Screenwriting Tip: Index Cards (gointothestory.blcklst.com)

Boost Your Creativity: Study Your Readers

reading (Photo credit: rachel sian)

       Readers are a finicky bunch. They pick up your book with certain expectations in mind. They want their expectations to be met, but they also want to be surprised. To keep them turning the page, you need to know how your readers think.
       Reader expectations are partly drawn from genre and category. Genre expectations can affect plots, characters, and settings. Category expectations can affect voice, point-of-view, and taboos. Romance is the biggest market right now and I just got back from a romance writers' convention, so let's look at an example using Romance as the genre and Young Adult as a category. The main plot would be a romance plot where two people are attracted to one another but something keeps them apart. They overcome obstacles (usually growing ass people in the process). And they live happily ever after (depending somewhat on the category). Readers also have expectations based on category. Young Adult is typically written in a very deep point-of view. Characters deal with growing-up issues as well as the standard inner and outer conflicts. Young Adult main characters fall within a specific age range (I think it is 12-16) even though readers of Young Adult are often older than this. Readers expect school-aged characters to attend school so this expectation also affects setting. You can imagine the taboos associated with Young Adult books since they are often censored. The point is: the reader has expectations and if you don't meet these expectations, the reader is unhappy and probably won't read your next book (or poem). If the first few pages (some readers are more lenient) look like it isn't the book they are expecting, they might even stop reading right there.
       Reader expectations are partly drawn from what they have read in the past. This is why clichés and stereotypes are bad. Romance readers expect the plot described above -- they even know when picking up the book that the two characters will live happily ever after -- but they still want to be surprised, scared, and delighted. Readers of paranormal still like vampires but only if it is a vampire they haven't met before. Maybe a mobster or a cowboy. Experienced readers think they know every trick, every twist -- and like to guess what is coming next. But like even more to be surprised. The point is: read, read, and read so you can anticipate, misdirect, and surprise your readers.
       Readers also have unconscious expectations for story structure. It's true! Many a beta reader has read a book with poorly planned plot points and been disappointed. Adjust the spacing of the plot points, or the type of plot point, and the beta reader goes away happy. So many writers have told me this story! Nearly every book follows a common plot structure. Several workshop speakers told me that the most common reason for a sagging middle (or beginning or end) in a story is one or more delayed plot points. A story that feels rushed and unsatisfying for a reader probably has one or more major plot point that happens too soon. So study plot structure. If nothing else, it will help with pacing. We'll look later at how plot points can help you be more creative even if you don't like or use outlines.
       Studying reader expectations forces you to be more creative. There are expectations to meet and expectations to avoid. You navigate a land-mine field with a particular destination in mind. To do this successfully, you have to use your head. You have to scheme. And that is where we will be for the next three days.

Boost Your Creativity: Study Your Real World

A globe (Globus) (Photo credit: Wikipedia

       Your world is full of facts, rules, opinions, and possibilities. Notice that I said your world. Your world is different but similar to my world. Your world is full of facts and rules, opinions and possibilities. I think most people take this part of their worlds for granted. But a writer who is aware of them can enhance their creativity.
       We defined creativity as "the use of logic in unexpected ways". Study your world to uncover facts and rules -- facts and rules that will not only enrich your world but also will give you a sense of what combinations of ideas readers will expect, reject, or be surprised by. Study your world to identify opinions and possibilities -- possibilities and opinions that not only point the way to areas of exploration and conflict but also give you a sense of where facts and rules are murky and can be bent. (This assumes you write contemporary, historical, or nonfiction, but also works for fantasy and science fiction!)
       If you want to be more creative, study academics. Every academic field is full of facts, rules, opinions, and possibilities. History looks at real-life plots and characters, insight into how groups of people interact, the difference a single person can make. Historians take facts and look for rules, create theories about why something happened (opinion), and research the grey areas of history (possibilities). Meteorology looks at land and weather -- essential elements of setting. Lean the facts and rules, then you can be creative within those bounds (especially if you do extensive world-building). Study the English language to get creative with your voice. Expand your vocabulary (facts), learn your grammar (rules) so you can convey your ideas more clearly to your reader. Find variations and exceptions (possibilities and opinions). Readers unconsciously look for variety in sentence length and word choice.
       If you want to be more creative, study the people who inhabit your real world. While you and I probably have the same academic sources available to us, we probably have different people available for study. For instance, I am around few children and lots of farmers, engineers, writers, and martial artists. Your world is probably different. Despite the axiom that "people are people the world over", what you learn will probably be slightly different from what I learn. When you study people -- how they talk, act, and interact -- you will start to notice patterns and norms (rules) and exceptions (possibilities). You will develop explanations (opinion) based on your observations (fact). You can combine logic and the unexpected to create surprising (but believable) characters, dialogue, and groups. You can supplement your observations with articles, books, workshops, or classes in psychology, sociology, and/or communication. These academic fields will put words to what you have already noticed on your own and also introduce many new facts, rules, opinions, and possibilities.
       If you are looking for truly one-of-a-kind source of creativity, study the area that makes your real world completely one-of-a-kind, study the area that no other writer can fully draw on for inspiration, study yourself. Explore your background (facts), your motivations (possibility), your views on how the world works (rules), your attitude toward people and concepts and things (opinion). Because you are a multi-faceted individual, some of these will probably be unstable, situational, changeable, while others are stable. But all this "stuff" integrates logically into a single person -- you. Every area of your work (characters, plot, setting, voice) that comes alive draws on you. "Writing what you know" starts with you. Your interests sometimes become your theme and decide your genre. Experience (what you've lived or heard or read) shapes characters' motives and actions. The way you think shapes your writing voice.
       Studying your real world introduces you to facts that can add realism, variety, or precision to your work. It shows you rules that shape reader expectations, rules that can and can't be broken. It reveals theories and opinions that can be explored as conflict or "what if" questions. By supplying all of the above, studying the world around you opens your eyes to possibilities, as well as to ways to surprise and delight your reader in unexpected ways while keeping them immersed in your world (which will not happen if you are illogical). And if you can do that, you are being creative.

Boost Your Creativity: Introdution

 

      So how do I see creativity? What do I think is creativity? And how can the answers to this help you become more creative?
       Creativity isn't really making something out of nothing. It has a foundation of known subjects. "I ate the purple apple" is a creative idea but I didn't create either the idea of "purple" or "apple", only combined them unexpectedly. And it works because you already know that "purple" is a color and that an "apple" has a color -- you just didn't expect that color to be purple!  I think that when people say "how creative!" what they are really saying is "how unexpected!"
       But wait! Suppose I instead wrote "I ate the octopus apple". This sentence doesn't make sense because even though the idea is creative, it lacks logic. It is creative nonsense -- fun, but probably useless without a lot of backstory, world-building, or some other type of explanation.
This is why I think creativity is "the use of logic in unexpected ways". This principle can be expanded to characters and settings, but also (maybe especially) to plot points.
       How can you use this definition to increase your creativity? Let's look at just three ways: studying, scheming, and using starters (prompts). There is a lot to each of these so I will take three days to cover each with you. The first day offers you some basic techniques. The second day helps you apply what you have learned to the larger scope of your work in progress. The third day is for random thoughts and examples. But feel free to leave comments and questions along the way! Okay, here's the line-up:

- study your real world
-  study your fiction world
- studying to improve creativity (reflections)

- brainstorm ideas
- experiment with ideas
- scheming to improve creativity (reflections)

- use starters
- create starters
- using starters to improve creativity (reflections)