How to Stay Creative

Hello writers!

Sometimes creativity comes easy. Thoughts flood your mind, and the only thing holding you back from completing your novel is your abysmal typing speed (you should really learn to type faster, that would come in handy).

Other times, trying to write feels like trying to wrestle an alligator: sure, someone can do it, but definitely not me right now.

Maybe that’s an awful metaphor, but let’s be real: sometimes awful is the best you can do.

Getting out of writer’s block is a whole article unto itself, but today I want to focus on prep work you can do before writing to help you be more creative and productive during your writing sessions. Let’s get going!

1. Read more. Yes I know, this is super common advice, but there’s a reason so many authors repeat this advice. I often have some of my best ideas when I’m reading someone else’s work, and I think to myself “hmm, that’s interesting, but what if it was different in this way…” For example, I was recently reading a story where two characters really hate each other, and one briefly considered killing the other but didn’t. That made me think, what if he had done it? What would the ramifications be if he just lashed out and did this terrible thing, even though he’s otherwise a pretty decent person? How would it affect the other characters in the story? That sent me down a whole line of thought with tons of interesting ideas, all sparked by something in a book I was reading. Buying a lot of books can get expensive, and I will write an article later about how to get books for free/cheap, but for now I’ll just suggest going to your local library as a great way to check out new books without having to pay full price. Some libraries even lend ebooks online, so you don’t even have to go outside! Win-win.

2. Write badly. A lot of new authors, myself included, tend to self-edit while writing. However, this can crush creativity, as you sit there thinking “oh that’s a terrible idea. What about this? No, that’s no good either…” If you constantly shut yourself down like that, you’re training yourself not to be creative. Instead, it can be a good idea to write down all those “bad ideas” in a separate document or notebook. That way, you get the ideas out so your brain can move on to other things, and those ideas could be better than you think. Jim Butcher, the author of The Dresden Files, once said that a good author can take any two bad ideas and make a good story. When he was challenged to combine Pokémon with the fate of a lost Roman legion, he created the Codex Alera, a six-book fantasy epic that was well received by fans. So that bad idea you just had that you didn’t write down because it sucked? Jim Butcher could have written a series from that. Write it down, and come back to it later. Maybe you’ll find a way to make it work. At the very least, you’re practicing writing and keeping your mind working.

3. Study things that interest you. A classic example of this is J.R.R. Tolkien, who was a linguist and created middle-earth to house his fantasy languages and histories. But you don’t need to go as far as becoming a professor in a field to write. Another good example is Shad Brooks, who is a fantasy author who has a YouTube channel called Shadiversity where he discusses medieval weaponry and fighting. He started his YouTube channel because he wanted to write epic fantasy and was fascinated by medieval warfare, so he started researching that to aid his writing. By researching things that interest you, you can find interesting ideas that you’ll be excited to write because they’re personal to you.

4. Get a creative hobby. Sometimes you just need to take a break. When you’re not writing, what are you doing instead? Are you just watching TV or playing video games? There’s nothing inherently wrong with that; like the earlier advice to read more, you can get ideas from consuming any kind of media. But if you want to be more creative, it can be a good idea to keep your mind working by having a creative hobby. Some obvious ones come to mind, like painting or music, but you can be creative with many hobbies. For example, I enjoy yoyo. It’s fun trying out new tricks and figuring out ways to combine tricks to post a video on Instagram, and being part of the yoyo community has made me some really great friends. Working on learning new tricks keeps my mind active, which in turn helps me come up with ideas when I want to write. I’ve even come up with some interesting ideas while yoyoing and had to set my yoyo down to go write!

5. Make it easy to write all the time. I plan to write a whole article about ways to do this, but the idea is to take away any reasons you can’t write. For example, “I can’t write while I’m driving because it’s illegal and dangerous.” Instead, I keep a voice recorder in my car so I can dictate ideas while I drive and listen back to them later when I’m at home at the computer to type them into my ideas notebook. Keep a notepad beside your bed so you can jot down that cool idea you have at 4am when you wake up because the neighbor’s dog won’t stop barking. When you make it super easy to write at a moment’s notice, it’s easier to capture those ideas when they come, so when you sit down to write you have a place to start rather than staring at a blank page.

These tips have made a huge difference in my own life, and I hope they’re helpful for you as well. Also I know I’m mostly just talking to myself right now since this blog is so new, but just for the record I was on vacation last week which is why my post schedule is irregular. I’m hoping I can get some posts written ahead of time so I have things to post while I’m on vacation or don’t feel like writing, but for now I just have to deal with stuff as it comes. My tentative schedule is twice weekly, one on Monday and one on Friday, but that’s subject to change if I feel like it’s too much. So for now, expect to see a new post on Friday, and follow me on Instagram @michaelwolfeprice to be notified when a new blog post goes live!

Hope you’re having a great day!

- Michael