Painting With Light

“Creativity” – Photo Courtesy Pexels.com

I found September and October this year to be a whirlwind. There were readings and book-signings, followed by writers’ group meetings, then a writing conference, capped just last weekend by another day-long book-signing. All while working on yet another novel.

It’s been enough to strain anyone’s creativity.

But I can almost hear you say, “Wait a second … you’re a writer. Aren’t you supposed to be creative all the time?” It’s a refrain often heard by folks in the writing community.

One great irony about our collective obsession with creativity is that we tend to frame it in uncreative ways. A friend, and fellow writer, told me recently he wasn’t working on anything at the moment, because he was “waiting for a flash of inspiration.”

Many authors marry creativity to their concept of self, but the key to unlocking real creative potential may be to defy the advice that urges you to believe in yourself.

I say that because I believe creativity is not merely an individual trait, but a malleable product of context and perspective.

Everyone has potential, but you can’t sit around thinking someone’s going to sprinkle fairy dust on you so wonderful things will happen.

So what do you do?

Role Play
It’s often as simple as imagining you are someone else. Actors often employ this technique to get into character for a performance but, the truth is, anyone can use it.

Don’t believe it? Think about some of the kids who came to your door yesterday on Halloween.

Some obviously knew they were dressed up, but I’m willing to bet you could pick out the few who were absolutely convinced they were really the character of their disguise.

I find myself using the same acting technique as I try to develop three new novels, all at the same time. They’re a handful, each with a different story-line, but it isn’t as difficult as it sounds.

I spend a lot of time in thought, but when I actually sit down to write, I’m merely getting into character, and it’s just like little Timmy down the street putting on his skeleton costume. I become the character, and let them tell me what they want to do.

When I’m not focused on a specific writing task my actions may be quiet, but my mind is hardly idle. It still spends all day rummaging through old thoughts, assorted memories and current information, putting them all together as new ideas.

We all do it, all the time.

Unfortunately, we allow ourselves to believe such unfocused effort is somehow unsuccessful. We berate ourselves, when the truth is most people spend a lot of their time in this state of “unfocus.”

Humans daydream a lot.

It doesn’t make us slackers; it makes us human.

Harness Your Daydreams
What if we stopped judging ourselves for our mental downtime and, instead, started harnessing it? By giving yourself permission to do something you usually feel guilty about, you may actually be making your fiction more creative.

Try it the next time you sit down to write. Don’t stop daydreaming; become the character. I’m fairly certain you’ll surprise yourself, and finding yourself in an entirely new identity will feel so productive.

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My novel “Blood Lake” was a Readers’ Favorite Bronze Medal Winner and a ForeWord Indie Finalist. It was just named a 2018 Book-of-the-Year Finalist by TopShelf Magazine.

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Gentle Readers, my books have all garnered some terrific reviews. You can see all of them by using the Amazon link below. Check them out. Better yet, buy one and read it. You just might like it.

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You’re invited to visit my author’s website, BROKEN GLASS to hear the remarkable radio interview about my novel “Blood Lake” on The Authors Show. You can also like my Book of Face page, find me on Goodreads, or follow my shorter ramblings on The Twitter.

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Tags: award-winning author, award-winning writing, self-publishing, storytelling

This entry was posted on November 1, 2018 at 9:16 am and is filed under Award-Winning Fiction, Storytelling, Writers Block. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.