I like to think of myself as a ‘creative’ because I’d rather do something fun. However, throw me in a group with a pen and paper and tell me to write a few pithy character descriptions in 15 minutes – which is what happened when I joined a writing workshop last week – and my mind draws a blank. ‘What is the reason for writing about a random person,’ was my initial thought; quickly followed by, ‘how do I edit this without a delete key’; and finally, ‘I can’t actually write, let alone read aloud my undecipherable scribble.’
Author Zadie Smith has previously admitted an aversion to writing groups, believing that most moonlight as therapy sessions. She probably has a valid point: the only real training you can get is from reading other people’s writing.
So when author and artist David. B. Goldstein told The Huffington Post, ‘There’s more than one way to be creative… Everyone is creative and can be creative in their own way,’ it was probably because we just need the right environment, a bit of practice and to tweak other people’s ideas…
Here are my/others’ top five tips for exercising creativity:
- Be curious. Florist Orlando Hamilton recommended this. I also like a (typically blunt) Dutch saying, which Hot Danish translated for me as, ‘It is better to rip off and improve someone else’s idea than execute your own poorly.’
- Keep moving. Your brain is subconsciously still at work when you exercise – a perfect time to speed up that ‘aha!’ moment.
- Take off. ‘To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world,’ as travel writer Freya Stark said. And you can’t beat fresh hotel linen.
- Stay still. Warning: daydreaming only works if you’ve already invested plenty of effort into a project, though.
- Embrace the absurd. Although this one might be edging towards embracing your inner tortured intellectual…
