Saturday, May 16, 2009

CREATIVITY - WHERE IS IT COMING FROM?

Welcome, dear Friend,

When do authors of books, short stories and poems get their best ideas?Is there a technique that turns on this tap of creativity?

These are often asked questions and the answer is not an easy one. In the absence of any rules and regulations, I can only speak about my own situation and hope that the following may be applicable to anybody who is creative.

Ideas and sentiments cannot be turned on and off at will, but we are able to condition ourselves to recognise this creative moment when it presents itself. To be ready for this, it is always advisable to have a notice book handy, a clip board or a voice recording device to give permanency to these fleeting thoughts.

Sometimes, it is a vivid dream I wake up with and, recognising it as a good story, I note it down, still in a drowsy state of twilight. This is important because once awake sets in, it is obliterated from consciousness. Sometimes I am able to return to my twilight state and retrieve some more details, noting them down carefully, for proper grammar and wording to be worked on later!

This way, I am able to achieve wonderful poetry, stories with a twist I would have never thought of during the day, or even an interesting idea for another book may present itself. It is wonderful to harness this world of sub-consciousness as it is inexhaustible and everlasting.

Another source of lyrical expression is derived from a state of depression. Deeply depressed people are able to compose poetry or other literary works with remarkable depth and feeling which they are normally not capable of. The danger here is that whilst writing down their feelings, they may be emotionally in a downwards spiral, a very dangerous situation!

During the day, really creative people are able to sit relaxed and shut themselves off from their surroundings and sink in a kind of trance. With pen and paper ready, thoughts are recorded in no particular order and will be worked later into a piece of literature.

These principles, of course, would also apply to cartoonists, comedians, speechwriters, in other words, anybody who needs originality and creativity.

In addition to this, there are other helpful tools to assist a writer. For example, learning new words is a daily must as it increases expression and descriptiveness.

Reading other peoples works is important for mind expansion and increased comprehension. They may be masterpieces or from unknown authors, we will constantly learn and absorb in an ongoing process.

Of great assistance is to have one’s outpouring edited by another, qualified, person to ensure universal acceptance of one’s train of thoughts.

There are of course many more sources of inspirations and I shall mention them in later publications. My book ‘Life on the Road’, for example, is a hilarious recording of real life situations, some are too crazy to be invented,

and I have written them down with an alert ear and eager pen!

Peter Frederick

http://www.peterfrederick.org

http://www.life-on-the-road.com

peter-frederick@life-on-the-road.com


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