Creative Creativity: Inspiration and Tools for Creativity

Songwriting Ideas From Wikipedia - Black Francis Interview

Black Francis, lead singer of the Pixies and incredibly prolific solo artist as Frank Black, gave the Village Voice an interview on his creative process. A lot of it is specific to songwriting, but I thought this snipped was universally valuable. Beware, if you this your creativity is a fragile flower, his method might seem a little mechanical. All I can say is that I have used this exact method before and it works.

 

In the case of Svn Fngrs I had no idea what I was going to write about, but I was really up to the gut to try to go above and beyond the call of duty. And so I was under the gun and I was like, 'Okay, what the hell am I going to write about here? What am I going to write about?' And I literally just started doing the random article search function on Wikipedia. And I did this for quite a long time late one evening in a very tired state, and somehow I stumbled upon the article for demigods. And I was like, 'Oh, demigods.' And then, of course, 'Okay, well what is a demigod? And who was a demigod? What do they mean by demigod?' And, of course, on something like Wikipedia one article has other links in it and suddenly you’re off, you know. So the Internet has become a really great resource for me because I’m not a deep researcher. I just want to have an impression. I just need to find out some facts. I’ve already got my little concept going. My little concept is already in place, but I just need some facts so when I rhyme “phone” with “zone” my couplet - well, hopefully it has some artistic merit on its own, regardless of what it’s about or if it’s about anything - but if it happens to be about something, it’d be nice if it was sort of backing up some cool fact about the subject. It’s satisfying, I think, for the listener and it’s satisfying for me.

Douglas Adams On Creativity and Inspiration

Douglas Adams is one of the great comedic writers of the last 100 years. He wrote for Monty Python and created the enduring Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy series. He was also a great thinker. I have collected a few quotes of his that relate to creativity. My favorite quote is the one about beliefs: "If you don't change your beliefs, your life will be like this forever. Is that good news?" An excellent question. 

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

Having been an English literary graduate, I've been trying to avoid the idea of doing art ever since. I think the idea of art kills creativity.

The world is a thing of utter inordinate complexity and richness and strangeness that is absolutely awesome. I mean the idea that such complexity can arise not only out of such simplicity, but probably absolutely out of nothing, is the most fabulous extraordinary idea. And once you get some kind of inkling of how that might have happened, it's just wonderful. And . . . the opportunity to spend 70 or 80 years of your life in such a universe is time well spent as far as I am concerned.

Writing is easy. You only need to stare at a piece of blank paper until a drop of blood forms on your forehead.

A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher... or, as his wife would have it, an idiot.

It is a rare mind indeed that can render the hitherto non-existent blindingly obvious. The cry 'I could have thought of that' is a very popular and misleading one, for the fact is that they didn't, and a very significant and revealing fact it is too.

Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable. Let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all.

See first, think later, then test. But always see first. Otherwise you will only see what you were expecting. Most scientists forget that.

If you don't change your beliefs, your life will be like this forever. Is that good news?

You live and learn. At any rate, you live.

Ignorance can be Creative

It's always good to work at the top of your intelligence and do research when you need to, but doesn't ignorance spur creativity?

Doesn't some of your best stuff come from trying to figure things out?
Explore what you don't know, what you don't understand and don't be afraid to make things up.
Emotional complexity is interesting. Not knowing how you feel about something before you start is riskier, but also potentially richer.
At its best, creative stuff creates a map to uncharted territory - an attempt to describe ignorance. Whether its finding a new solution to a problem at work or painting a masterpiece, it's at once totally new but it also makes complete sense.
Most people are scared of ignorance. Think about old maps, whenever there was an unexplored area of the map it would be labelled "here be dragons." They just projected all the fear and anger and everything terrifying projected onto the unknown. That's how people treat the unexplored territories in their own heads. Dragons are lurking around every corner.
It's the artists job to brave the dragons and try and describe what is actually there. Instead of fearing your own ignorance, get excited every time you find one of these areas. Move boldly into it and explore.
That doesn't mean what you'll produce is scary, a comic strip like Calvin and Hobbes and Peanuts (at its height) faced the unknown as squarely as Death of a Salesman or Hamlet.
Ignorance may be bliss to some, but to us, it's just potential genius!

Love Your Ideas

Do you love your ideas?

Sure, you love your good ideas and the ideas that make you money and the ideas that make you laugh, but do you love all your ideas?

Whatever that mysterious force inside us is that lets us connect things together in a way they never have been before, well, that force doesn't know if an idea is good or not. It just pumps out idea after idea, spraying them all over the place in an endless geyser.

The only way to stop this force is to tell it it's doing a bad job. To tell it that it's not making sense and couldn't it come up with something more useful?

It doesn't even have to be you saying it, someone else telling you that your idea is stupid can do it. In fact, hearing someone else being told their idea is stupid can shut it off if you aren't careful.

When that happens the geyser dries up and we find ourselves begging it to start back up again. We just need an idea, any idea, but all we get is a bunch of dust and nothing.

Here's a way to get around that.

Love every idea you have for just a moment. No matter how silly, stupid or how many copyrights it breaks, just smile and enjoy your idea before you let it go.

I'm not saying that you have to pretend it's a good idea, just that you enjoy it. Smile it at it. If it's good, write it down or say it out loud. If it's bad, just enjoy it like you would a bad movie or a child's joke.

Every idea thinks it deserves to be enjoyed and loved.

In fact, why not go one step further than just enjoying the idea and actually add to the bad idea. If it occurs to you that the mechanical horses in front of grocery stores should be transformed into highway-ready ecologically friendly vehicles, don't toss it aside as unworkable. Instead, start designing a way to hold all the rolls of quarters you're going to need to get to work and back.

Let your ideas start to get connected, then you won't have to release them. They become part of a web to build a better idea. Instead of throwing things away, you're using them as a foundation for something else.

Appreciate, smile, enjoy and cherish every single idea you have. Just don't act on all of them.

Do this and they'll keep coming.

In fact, you'll have so many ideas they might start to get irritating.

Not to you, but to all the jealous people around you who struggle to have any idea, even a bad one.

Get More Creativity By Making Fewer Choices

Some people that want to be considered creative spend a lot of time focussed on making every single aspect of their life reflect their creativity. It's not enough that they are a brilliant painter, they also have to wear crazy outfits and drive around in a car with jewels and feathers hot glued to the outside. Here's a thought, have you ever tried being completely uncreative in parts of your life that don't impact your work?

Lots of artists talk about the importance of routine and discipline for their work, but there is also power in making a choice once and sticking with it.
I was reminded of this when I read an article about Devo asking to meet David Lynch. Lynch agreed, but the meeting had to be at Bob's Big Boy. You see, Lynch ate lunch there every day. This is how Lynch describes it:

 

I like things to be orderly. For seven years I ate at Bob's Big Boy. I would go at 2:30, after the lunch rush. I ate a chocolate shake and four, five, six, seven cups of coffee--with lots of sugar. And there's lots of sugar in that chocolate shake. It's a thick shake. In a silver goblet. I would get a rush from all this sugar, and I would get so many ideas! I would write them on these napkins. It was like I had a desk with paper. All I had to do was remember to bring my pen, but a waitress would give me one if I remembered to return it at the end of my stay. I got a lot of ideas at Bob's.

Charles Schulz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip had the same breakfast, english muffin with grape jelly, and lunch, tuna salad, every day at a diner he built for himself.
Einstein famously didn't like to think about his clothes and wore the same outfit every day. He said, "I like neither new clothes nor new kinds of food."

Obviously this doesn't work for everyone, most people find their creative lives enriched by new experiences. However, spend a few minutes looking at your own life. Is there a decision you dread? A process that takes up too much of your life? Try simplifying it.

Eat the same lunch every day, get your hair cut on the same day every month or stop worrying about the color of your socks. Whatever weighs on you, take control of it!
You just might find that spending less time on the trivial gives your more time for the amazing!

(Ready more about David Lynch's creative life in Catching the Big Fish, his book on meditation and creativity. It's on sale for $5.99 on Amazon and it's a bargain.)

Stealing Creativity Strategies From Businesses

Inc. Magazine has an interesting article on developing and maintaining corporate creativity. It's worth reading and there are a couple of interesting points that I thought applied to individuals as well.

Provide Lots of Free Time to Think 

BrightHouse's 18 staff members get five Your Days, in which they are encouraged to visit a spot conducive to reflection and let their neurons rip. No mandate to solve a particular problem. Just blue-sky thinking -- often under actual blue skies. Reiman believes this unstructured cogitation is just as important to a project's success as time spent hunkered down in client meetings. Or as he puts it: "I think; terefore, I am valuable."

Do you give yourself time to think? It's one thing to blame your work or depend on your work for thinking time, but you aren't going to get it at most jobs. If time to think doesn't seem to occur naturally, you are going to have to schedule it.

Bring in Outsiders

Many top innovation firms tap the perspectives of outside experts -- be they physicists, poets, actors, archaeologists, theologians, or astronauts. At BrightHouse, such distinguished professionals, otherwise known as "luminaries," are constantly cycling through the office.

Is your creativity insular? Do you look for help when you need it? Do you guess at things instead of asking? Learn to use other people for your own creative purposes. It's not at all selfish, most people can't wait for a chance to share what they know and will eagerly supply with everything you need. Find someone with information relevant to your current project and use them!

Do it for Free

Creative folks enjoy applying their talents to noble causes -- and, increasingly, their employers keep them happy by providing opportunities to do so. At BrightHouse, employees with great ideas for improving public life receive a $1,000 bonus on the spot.

So many people complain that they aren't paid for their creativity. Have you looked for a way to benefit others for free? This is a great way to get exposure and increase your skills while improving the world. Don't wait for a paycheck to do the things you love, find an outlet that appreciates what you have to offer. The money will come eventually.

Read the article here.

Link via Dose of Creativity