Unlocking creativity

I do a lot of teaching about unlocking creativity and came across these quotes which I thought might interest.

Anne Lamott “The first draft is the child’s draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later. You just let this childlike part of you channel whatever voices and visions come through and onto the page. Just get it all down on paper, because there may be something great in those six crazy pages that you would never have gotten to by more rational, grown-up means. There may be something in the very last line of the very last paragraph on page six that you just love, that is so beautiful or wild that you now know what you’re supposed to be writing about, more or less, or in what direction you might go – but there was no way to get to this without first getting through the first five and a half pages.”

Annie Dillard “When you write, you lay out a line of words. The line of words is a miner’s pick, a wood carver’s gouge, a surgeon’s probe. You wield it, and it digs a path you follow. Soon you find yourself deep in new territory. Is it a dead end, or have you located the real subject? You will know tomorrow, or this time next year. A work in progress quickly becomes feral. It reverts to a wild state overnight. . . it is a lion growing in strength. You must visit it every day and reassert your mastery over it.”

William Stafford “Every day I get up and look out the window, and something occurs to me.”

Neal Bowers “ My first creative writing teacher had a colourful metaphor of grabbing the tail of a wild hog as it runs by and letting it drag you through the thicket. Back when I first heard it, that metaphor didn’t help much. These days, though, I often look back at those unplanned and unpredictable trails my writing makes through the brush, with me hanging on, and I think of Malcolm’s wild hog.”

James Patterson “I’m always pretending that I’m sitting across from somebody. I’m telling them a story, and I don’t want them to get up until it’s finished.”

My way of unlocking creativity is to keep asking what if? Follow than down the line and the ideas will pour out.

What works for you? You can offer your suggestions for unlocking creativity via our Facebook page at
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Inscribemedia/183385438479538
 
 
John Dean