We’ve all seen a movie/show, or read a book, and wondered “How do they think up these great ideas?” How do the people who make the Saw films come up with those horrible traps or the great heists in crime films/books? Is it just by reading a lot and brainstorming?
Certainly your source information and interchanging ideas helps a lot.
Most heist movies follow a common template, which isn’t that different from common templates for the majority of movies, or all stories presented in any form. It’s the details that make the difference. In a heist movie the mechanics of robbing a bank and absconding with $millions are usually the least plausible aspect of a heist movie. The characters and the story of their relationship join with focus on tense circumstances during the effort to make a good heist.
So I’ll suggest one way to see if you can be creative in that manner is start by writing a new version of some movie you liked. Change characters in a way you would prefer to see them, or replace them with fictional or real people. Change some of the circumstances, pick a new location for a heist, instead of tunneling under the bank have them land a hot air balloon on the roof and go in through the roof. Just write an outline of a movie changing little bits like that and see how you do.
And more generally, start making something, anything… writing, painting, crafts, doesn’t matter, just make things and change them as you go. If the inspiration is there anywhere you’ll develop it as you do more and original initial concepts will come to you.
That is excellent advice. Thank you!
In an hour and a half my wife and I are going to be running a Zoom write-in for our writing group, which we’ve been doing since Covid. She comes up with a few prompts, and I put people into Zoom rooms where the write for 10 minutes then read to the other people in the group. No criticism allowed. It is great since no one expects to have something polished. If they like it, they can polish it and get it published in the group newsletter.
Prompts are great if you are blocked, and don’t have to be just for writing.
I agree that you should read enough to see the structure of each type of work. When I watched the Inspector Gadget cartoon with my kids, I could see the layout of each episode. Very cookie cutter. Once you understand that, you can either write something to the outline or vary it in some way.
I was browsing for a journal as a gift to the granddaughter when I noticed there were a lot of prompt journals. Amazon has loads of prompt journals; search for writer’s prompt book. However, I like the idea of non-judgmental peer reviewers. Perhaps there are similar classes in your community or library.
Books like Stephen King’s On Writing might also give you some ideas on getting, well, ideas.
Remember, anyone can learn to play basketball like Albert Einstein or do math like Michael Jordan but even with great effort few people can ever play basketball like Michael Jordan or do math like Albert Einstein.
Write what you know. Embellish.
Inspiration is in every thing.
Easy to say. Hard to do.
I respectfully disagree. I think you get to greatness through stubborn, repeated effort. Yes, a person can be naturally good at something but that does not mean that they can’t improve. There are many, many stories of people who are considered luminaries in their fields who were dismissed by their instructors/coaches/etc. on their first attempts.
And many, many stories of people that really and truly tried their hardest and just did not have it.
At the risk of derailing the thread, everyone has a ceiling.
To use an analogy: Some people are like a Ferrari. They are capable of going 200 miles per hour, but they go through life with their gas pedal only halfheartedly pressed, so they never go above 70.
Then some other people are likely an old station wagon. No matter how hard they push their ‘gas pedal,’ they’re never going above 80 or 90. They simply are incapable of going higher.
Sure, but everyone should work hard to find their limits, and not just assume that the first time you hit 30 mph that it’s the fastest you can go.
They told him it could not be done.
He buckled to it.
He tackled the job that could not be done.
And could not do it.
I think that it is good to explore multiple forms of art to see if you have a passion for any of them. Kids especially should be exposed to art, music, dancing, acting, whatever, to see if any of them encourages an interest. And if you do find you have a passion, or at least a strong interest in something, there are ways to develop that. But if you don’t enjoy writing, you aren’t going to become a good writer. If you are tone deaf, you aren’t going to become a good musician. The Stephen King book mentioned above is an excellent book for people who have a passion for writing and want to become better, but it isn’t going to turn someone who doesn’t enjoy writing into an author. Most people are successful because they not only enjoy being creative, but they work very hard at it AND have a passion that drives them.
I’ve heard some creative types say that the way to generate lots of great ideas is by thinking up lots and lots and lots of ideas, and then going back and winnowing out the great ones.
Creativity is ten percent aspiration and ninety percent press persuasion. Or something like that.
Even unmangled, the Edison quote above doesn’t convey reality, where the 10 % of (quality) aspiration / innovation is absolutely essential for success. Working your butt off on a poor idea(s) gets you nowhere, or most likely backwards (financially, missed opportunity-wise etc.).
Having a killer idea and perspiring like a mofo to get it running is the way to go. Most never have one, even if they had a ton of energy.
My first thought is to have your office in a submarine and store jujubes in a teapot.
Harlan Anderson got his ideas from Schenectady.
As they say in the movie about the rat that sits on a man’s head and controls his actions by pulling on his hair, “not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere”.
If I started training from early childhood and kept at it, I still probably could not have been Bobby Fischer or Yo-Yo Ma or Tiger Woods or Mozart. There are many people that try very, very hard at chess or cello or golf or composing and never approach being at the top of their field. Because it doesn’t matter how much time you spend with Yoda if you don’t have the midichlorians.
I was inspired to intentionally modify the quote. But only a tenth of me.