Where Do I Get My Ideas?

Where do I get my ideas?

The same place everybody else gets their ideas.

Ideas come from your interests and experiences, refracted through your own actively cultivated creativity.  What I mean by this is that we all take in the world around us from our own unique perspective.  We stockpile the things that most affect us.  And then, if so inclined, express these things back in a distinctive and ideally fascinating approach that develops through practice.

People consume media of all types for a lot of reasons, but ultimately it is to experience someone else’s perspective on our existence.  We read the newspapers to learn what is going on in the world and what others think about it.  We watch old 70s police procedural TV shows to experience an exciting story and to let our mind play along with solving the big mystery.  We listen to music for the emotion and poetry to be delighted by wordplay while getting insight into how another sees things.

The trick isn’t getting ideas, it is developing the instincts and practice to collect them well, evaluate them, and nurture the best into fully realized pieces.  For a lot of people that comes with the requirement to take a lot of notes.  Ideas, even bad ones – which will be most, are like quicksilver dodging and reversing through the mind until dissipating away.  The practice is to capture a lot of ideas before they spirit themselves away.  As you do this more and more, you’ll find most aren’t worth developing but try not to evaluate them at conception.  The emotional rush, and then withdrawal, get in the way.  Just capture it on paper, a computer file, or a voice recording.  Judge its value later.

Thanks to smartphones, it has never been easier to jot down thoughts, grab images, or make voice notes.  Whether it is an iPhone or Android device, your phone comes with the hardware and software to be a note-taking machine right out of the box.  You just have to learn to use it and incorporate it into your routine.

Collecting ideas and the crazy, random thoughts inside your head habitually get you a stockpile of material to work through.  Don’t throw out the bad ideas, just let them settle at the bottom of the heap.  You’ll find that today’s stupid thought might lead to tomorrow’s next inspiration.

Tabula Rasa Periods

We’ve all been there, right?  That place where your writing hits a stalled point in its ascent and you’re just hanging there in midair holding their breath, wondering when gravity will take effect and earth-fall is in your future.  But you’ve piloted this particular bird before, and you know that the turbines will eventually kick in to save the day.  Still, you’re just hanging, man.

It has been days since I’ve produced much of anything.  I’ve noddle around the edges of things, but mostly the pages remain all but blank.  It is very irritating.  It is also very natural and common.

This isn’t some great crisis, and shouldn’t be treated as such.  If you write regularly, these tabula rasa periods happen.  You learn to roll with it.  You learn that this is how it is sometimes.  Every word written sucks.  Every idea you think is lame.  Sometimes your instincts are right, and sometimes your mood is messing with you.

No matter how much you understand this, you usually can’t think your way out of it.  You just have to work through it.  It will be terrible, and it could be infuriating.  But the only to get to the other side of it is to travel through the desert.  Bring some water.  Push back against that inertial drag.

When it is over, it will be over.Until the next time.

Austin Kleon's Show Your Work!

I've also started reading Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon.  As with his previous offerings, this is a slim volume but has already proven very interesting.  I'm a big fan of Austin's e-mail newsletter and just started reading his blog as well.  I trust that it will make an enjoyable afternoon or weekend read, but offer insights and ideas that will take root.

I think letting more people into one's creative process is both healthy for the person and healthy for the culture.  There is a vital place for commerce in art and creativity, but too often that aspect overshadows the entire process.  We are too focused on the result's possible value, and shut ourselves off from the personal cathartic value of the process itself and, when brave enough to share, the cultural significance.  One person's stumble often moves things forward for themselves or others.  We are all collaborators in a world that increasingly seems to need our attention.

Telling It Slant

"Telling it slant" works much better than overt moralizing.  No matter how humble the spirit it's offered in, a sermon is an act of aggression.

I have more trust in my Inner Teacher. She is subtle and humble because she hopes to be understood. She contains contradictory opinions without getting indigestion.

                            -- Ursla K Le Guin, "Words Are My Matter"