Unlocking Your Creativity

Many writers are naturally creative people, but for some, keeping up that creativity can be a challenge. If you’re in that group, you may want to look beyond your writing to the rest of your life.

Whether it applies to writing or something else, creativity is a combination of new thoughts. Sometimes it’s needed when solutions to problems don’t work—when you don’t have the right tool but substitute another instead. Or sometimes it’s necessary when solutions to the problem at hand don’t exist. And sometimes, you creativity sparks when you’re dissatisfied with the way your life is going.

But no matter what sparks your creativity, it’s more than just using your imagination. It’s a focused thought process based on your current knowledge and situation. So just as you set out to solve everyday problems, so you should apply that same procedure to solving your writing problems.

Is there a solution that’s similar that you can adapt to your needs? Is your idea the opposite of what’s out there? Is your idea one that’s associated with another?

When you were in school, teachers only stressed original thought. But that’s not how the world works. Most great ideas are not totally original but adapted from ones in existence. Take designing a Web site for yourself. Instead of wracking your brain to come with a totally new idea, why not study sites of other writers to get some idea of where to start. Other sites will also spark variations on what you want to include in your site. In the end, your site will be so different from those from which it grew that no one will know that’s where your ideas originated. Film and television writers and producers do this all the time. While sometimes a standard plot is obvious, most of the time, you’ll have to study the film or T.V. show to uncover it.

However, don’t ignore your imagination. You need that to get started when trying to think of a creative idea. It’s something your mind does deliberately. Unfortunately, many people put their imagination on hold as they get older instead of letting it shine.

Many writers sit around waiting to be inspired. Unlike the imaginative process, this one is more accidental. You have to be in the right place at the right time for things to happen. But if you prepare your mind, things will happen. Going to work in a cabin in the woods won’t make you a better writer. It most likely will make you a lonely one.

But when the light bulb goes on, that’s when everything comes together. This is called illumination. It can happen while driving to work or in the shower or while washing dishes. But it doesn’t happen all by itself. It needs imagination and inspiration to flourish. When the light bulb goes on, it’s all systems go for your idea.

Creativity is a five-step process. First, you need to prepare by studying the problem and doing research to find out if anyone else has come up with a solution. The more you know, the better off you’ll be. Second, you need to concentrate on the problem and possible solutions, looking at all the angles. Third, you need to take a break from the problem—let it incubate. This could be for a few hours, a few days, a few weeks, or several months. After letting your subconscious work on the problem, the moment of insight—the “Ah Ha” Moment—will emerge. That’s when the light bulb will go on in your mind. Finally, you must adapt the insight to the problem and solve it.

How does this apply to writing? The preparatory step is obvious. You need to do lots of research to find out what’s been done before and how your idea fits. Then you concentrate on your idea, weighing in the research to firm it up. At this point, you work on another project, taking your mind off the new one. At some point, the solution will hit you and almost knock you over. That’s when you know you’re ready to begin writing.

Next Week: Ways to Develop Your Creativity

So You Want to Write a Column

A regular option open to you as a freelance writer is to write a column. Though it sounds simple enough a column requires discipline, creativity, and most of all ideas—lots of them.

For many, writing one article is hard enough , but imagine having to come up with 52 of them—one each week—or at least 12 if you’re doing one monthly.

As you read this blog, you may ask yourself, “Isn’t this like a column?” Sort of, but not exactly.  A column is generally a short article on a theme that gets published regularly—weekly or monthly as a regular feature of a newspaper or magazine. A blog, on the other hand, may be posted regularly, but usually that’s up to the blogger. And while a blog may follow a general theme, it may stick to it loosely for a short time. A column, on the other hand, may go on for years.  The most important distinction is that a writer does the former for free and the latter for pay.

Over the years, the market for columns has changed dramatically. But one thing hasn’t: Publishers are still looking for new columnists. Generally, a column offers an insider’s view of a subject, of which the writer is an expert. It’s also a regular feature of a publication, either in print or online, and is personality-driven by the writer. It also contains an opinion or a point of view

A blog, on the other hand, provides for an interactive discussion with its readers. The blog writer  posts the blog, which the site displays in reverse chronological order—the most recent post appears first). Blogs can be the work of a single person or several persons, and often cover a single subject. And while a blog can be written by anyone, columnists are usually professional writers.

To be a successful columnist, you need to find a specific niche, but not so specific as to narrow your potential audience and topics of your column. You’ll have to find out whether other columnists are writing on the same subject and study their work to see how it differs from yours.

After you’ve done that , you’ll need to outline some topic ideas and write several sample columns to show to editors. It’s important to stay ahead of the game. You should continually update and add to your topic list so that you’re never at a want for ideas.

Because columns are short and published regularly, they don’t usually pay as much as even shorter regular articles. An advantage to writing a column is that you can publish it in several noncompeting market at the same time, thus increasing the amount you earn per column. 

In order to have a successful column, you need to come up with a unique angle or approach. You may wish to take the outspoken approach. Perhaps you’ll deal with controversial topics within you column’s subject area. If you feel knowledgeable about a subject, then a column may be just for you. You’ll need a substantial amount of knowledge and understanding about a subject to come up with topics week after week or month after month.

Next Week:  More on writing columns.

Betting on a Hunch

What do horseracing and freelance writing have in common? Actually, quite a bit. Before someone places a bet on a horse, he or she has to study the racing sheet—the lineup for the race. Based on the knowledge they glean from constantly studying these sheets, they pick a horse that they hope will be a winner and place their bet. But sometimes they play a hunch.

Hunches, intuition, and instinct can play a major role in freelance writing. A writer bases all of them on prior knowledge and experience and draws conclusions from what has been learned in similar situations.

Before the days of the automobile, people lost in blizzards or too drunk to drive let go of the reins and counted on the instincts of the horse to get them home. They took a calculated risk, knowing from past experience that their horse would probably make it home. Developing your understanding of your instincts, hunches, and intuitions coming from your subconscious to a fine point so that you’re in a position to take the necessary calculated risks is something you’ll need to work on.

You’ll have to rely on them many times for guidance in the management of your career as well as the shaping of your imaginative work. The trick is to induce your subconscious to work smoothly with the rest of your mind.

Unfortunately, all three of these are notoriously hard to schedule exactly. In spite of your encouraging them, they often doze in some dark corner of your subconscious. Perhaps the best way of luring them out is to lay out a rational game plan. By having such a plan you can lure your hunches to help solve problems.

You could apply this principle to plotting a course for your work over the next year. If you sit down and examine what you did last year with an eye to deciding what you’d like to do this year, you’ll have something to guide you when the hunches start occurring. Besides listing the projects you can count on, add some others just in case those don’t work out. Most likely you’ll get hunches about market trends, but you may also get a hunch or two about that sort of pieces may best fit the adjusted scenario.

In all probability you won’t sell to exactly the markets you targeted. But from experience—instinct—you know which ones will most likely buy the type of writing you do. Plus, you already know the editors with whom you have a working relationship. You already know how much time different types of projects take to finish. All of this gives you an instinct to search out places where your work is more or less guaranteed to be sold. By planning ahead, you’ll be able to find the right ideas early enough to stay ahead of your competition.

Hunches, instinct, and intuition can also play a part in predicting when markets will go bad. Sometimes, the writing, as they say, is on the wall. Unfortunately, you probably have looked up from your computer long enough to see it. Has a publisher been repeatedly late with payments recently? Is an editor forgetting that he or she made an assignment? Have market trends in a particular subject area been showing that there’ less interest in that subject? And is the opposite also true? Has a particular subject gotten more press lately, making it more visible?

Betting on a hunch in any of those areas is a calculated risk but one that may yield great results.