Here is the article I discussed in class about the creative process and I wanted to know your thoughts on some things discussed in this article.
Do you think it is a good idea to step away from your work when you are stuck on a problem or have writers block? Personally I think it helps me. I don't know the reason, but when I don't focus on the problem at hand the answer sort of comes to me out of nowhere and at the weirdest times. Another thing I wanted to ask is if you guys had "sudden illumination"? And what do you think about caffeine stimulating the "unconscious ideation"? Some say that caffeine stops the creativity by making you too focused. What do you think?
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/08/15/henri-poincare-on-how-creativity-works/
I think that inspiration comes from a lot of little things, rather than one big angels-singing-Hallelujah moment. We might meet someone or overhear a conversation that gets us thinking. On the same day, I think writers can have multiple ideas for stories, and not touch any of them for years. I think Neil Gaiman's short story "Smoke and Mirrors" does a good job of describing this, because it details the life of an author who gets inspiration for about five different stories while working on another.
ReplyDeleteThe only time I've ever gotten the "sudden inspiration" is when I'm working on a project that's been bugging for a long time and I'm talking it out with a friend. For some reason, it boosts my brain activity enough to say, "Hey, THAT'S who the murderer is, and here's how she did it!"
How do other people feel inspiration?
I feel that when I have a serious case of writers block the worst thing for me to do is slam my head against it. If I keep up with butting my head with my writing I end up sounding choppy or unsure of myself. So when I lack all inspiration I tend to put my work down for a while and to get back to it later. I might do something like take a walk or read a book.
ReplyDeleteSometimes during these breaks inspiration will come to me, I will be thinking about life or something of the sort and I will suddenly know what I am going to say or write. But even at those times I don't exactly know how to phrase it so I take note of it somewhere in any sort of sense so i can get back to it and complete what I had thought of when I am ready.
Most of my inspiration comes from the people I know. Close friends, family, teachers, or strangers. Some of the biggest inspirations are books. A few of which are "Catcher in the Rye" , "The Great Gatsby" "Perks of Being a Wallflower" or "Paper Towns." If you haven't read these books I highly suggest all of them.
As for caffeine my body has bad reactions to coffee in particular. I tend more towards tea, iced or not. I feel that a light caffeine can give my body a boost. I don't usually drink a lot of caffeine while writing creatively because I like my mind to be wandering free while caffeine indeed makes me more focused on the task at hand. While writing something like a research paper that is helpful but when writing a story I don't always want that focus. I wouldn't go as far as to say it stops creativity but maybe it holds it back to a certain extent.
How about everybody else? :) Is there any specific routine you have to solving writer's block? Or finding inspiration?
I guess putting my work aside can sometimes help me have a moment of "sudden illumination". I think it's important to note that when I put anything aside, it's still in the back of my mind. Otherwise, I don't think I would be coming up with any ideas for it at all.
ReplyDeleteI think working on other writing projects helps. I get so many ideas while I'm writing. So, if I can't think of what to write...I write. That might sound impossible, but it's not. It can be something not very serious like fan fiction or just a scene for something else, and once I start writing it I get more, and usually better, ideas.