How To Improve My Creativity

[BunnyJen90]

Growing up I use to be very creative. I kind of remember while most 5 year old had imaginary friends I had a whole imaginary world. I didnt think much about it back then it was a way to cope with loneliness if I remember right also I was just a kid and didnt know about world building. As I got older I got into acting and wanted to make my own movies. My dad was supportive of this while I remember at that age my mom was rather critical. By middle school I began writing. My stories back then were rather weird and didnt make sense I was only about 11 anyway. As I got older and graduated from high school I seemed to begin to lose some of my creativity. Maybe it didnt help that I lost interest in TV which I use to watch a lot of As a kid back when they had some good shows on TV. Im trying to find stuff that inspires me Andaman trying to get back into writing and drawing but my imagination doesnt seem to be there like it use to. What can I do to get my creativity back.

 

[pmmg]

Creativity is not my issue, but it has shifted greatly over the years. I play several musical instruments, won awards for Acting and Artwork (Way back when), ran a game world for years, made board games, and somewhere along the way, decided to dump my energy into writing (the slowest and least rewarding. What was I thinking?). It not creativity that gets me, its the work involved when often I just dont feel like it.

I would suggest that creativity wanders and does not always stay on one place. Most recently I learned to play the guitar, another creative outlet (I started with Piano). I might suggest, trying something else in the creative realm, and see if that takes off. Writing is just one form among many. Heck, I knew one person who left writing to bake cakes, and found that much more rewarding.

The thing that drives me in writing is having something to say, and wanting to say it...though, now it just I want to get to the end. The creative part was settled a long time ago.

 

[Prince of Spires]

In my experience, creativity feeds on itself. So just start writing stories (in this case). They don't have to be grand or special. Just find a writing prompt that speaks to you and set out to write a short story about it. If you throw "writing prompt" into google (perhaps including a genre if you want), then you can get a few thousand at your fingertips. One of them is bound to trigger a story for you. Take it from there. Write that story, and if you get an idea for a new story while writing, note that idea down and write that next. Or when you finish, just find a new prompt.

Just accept that writing can feel like work. As in, the actual putting words on the page. If you sit down every day to write, then some days it will feel harder than others. Accept that and don't wait for inspiration since it won't come. Inspiration comes best when it finds you working.

It helps if you know why you want to write. It can be something grand and noble, like pmmg having something to say, but it doesn't have to be. I just like telling stories and want people to read them.

I see stories everywhere, and don't have enough time to tell all of them. Most of them are just small ideas. Just an image that hints at a story. Or maybe something for a short story. Some are larger and lead to novels.

As an example of a small story spark. A while ago, as I was driving down the highway late evening, I saw a man standing at a trainstation in the distance. Just a dark silhouette really. Long trenchcoat, hat. The station itself was otherwise abandoned, wrapped in the dark shadows of the oncoming twilight as a slight drizzle fell. For me there's a tale in there somewhere. It's not big enough for a novel (at the moment at least), and it's not even the seed of a story. But it's an idea that can be the basis for a short story. Who was this figure and why was he standing at that abandoned trainstation?

My wife sitting next to me thought nothing of it and when I told her she just smiled at me and told me that's the reason I was the one writing novels. To her it was just a guy at a trainstation. But be curious about things you see. Keep a notebook at hand, and when you have an idea just write it down. Anything that makes you go, huh, that's interesting.

 

[Mad Swede]

I think I'd first ask you what you mean by creativity?

Generally, creativity is (in western countries) taken to mean the ability to come up with an idea or concept and then turn it into something, be that a story, a drawing, some music etc.

And based on that I'd then ask you if you're having trouble coming up with ideas or if you're struggling to sit down and write or draw?

 

[xena]

I think the best way is expanding outside of your norm. I noticed with myself whenever I tried something new, a new hobby for example, a new skill or even changed scenery, I would always come away with something new.