I spoke recently about letting your emotions free in order to be aid your creativity. It isn’t always easy for us to  do that. Years of programming has deadened our emotions and hidden them  from us… the joys of adulthood  – just look at the release that comes when you actually break down and let things go with a good cry.

But I digress, yes sometimes I do, don’t look so surprised. Whilst not condoning excessive amounts of drinking one quick and simple way to let your emotions out is a drop of alcohol. The reason this works is that alcohol loosens our minds and our inhibitions. If you are finding it difficult to release your emotions and inner child then a glass of wine could be just the thing. More than that though and your judgment is impaired and you may be creative but not in any direction you wanted to go, but hey.

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Seeing as the previous post of ‘Compelling writing ingredients’ was enjoyed by so many, I thought it only fair to return to the creative cookbook and find a few more ingredients you could add to your literary larder.

Remember, a good recipe doesn’t use all the ingredients you have all of the time, and sometimes the subtle flavour is more effective than the one that hits on the first mouthful. But enough of this extended metaphor, let’s get on with the post.

1. Conflict – two or more characters, in disagreement, in any shape or form will draw the reader in! ‘No, it won’t.’ ‘yes, it will, your reader wants some kind of resolution… or the sequel.’
2. Emotion – love, hate, joy and fear, if you can get the reader to engage with these emotions you’ll have them hanging on every word you write. Why do you think love and horror stories are so well read!
3. Progress – a story, should move from A to B, it shouldn’t be static. Even waiting, as in for Godot, is progress; implied progress counts in writing if not in business.
4. Variety of language – the use of passive vocabulary, which consists of words people know the meaning of, or understand in context, but don’t use everyday, is something to keep well stocked. Try eating the dictionary.
5. Use your voice – all great cooks have a signature dish, or a specialty, as a writer you need to find an ingredient that is your own, unique to you. Sounds daunting but it is an ingredient you already have stocked, you simply need to use it.

So out with the utensils and start cooking. You have a story to write.

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Do you remember the first time you fell for someone? Or when you got really upset about something? Most probably your mind went into overdrive. If you were suddenly in love you may have been able to describe those feelings in words and phrases that weren’t normally in your vocabulary style. If you were particularly angry you will have been able to use no end of colourful phrase. The point is, when you get emotionally charged you can often access your creative power with more ease.

Creativity is about exploring new landscapes, new horizons; things that sometimes defy logic. By trying to ‘think’ through your creative process you are following well worn pathways. Letting your emotion take hold enables you to run off the path into the forest. Your ‘thinking’ brain would never let you take a detour from the path as you might get lost. Your ‘emotive’ brain won’t worry where you end up, it wants to explore it wants to ‘feel’.

So when the muse had gone on vacation stop thinking and let your emotions take hold. If you’re not in the position to have a mid-life crisis and flirt with all and sundry, imagine yourself in that ‘forbidden’ relationship. If no one has got on your wrong side, sit down and watch the news or reality TV, something or someone will get you going soon enough. Release your emotions and let the creativity flow.

We’re all naturally creative, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t get stuck at times as we try to express ourselves. Here are five simple ways to kick-start your creative imagination; very simple yet very effective.

• take a different route – routine is one of the worst enemies of creativity, get stuck in a rut and you’ll stay there. Think differently and you’ll be creative, take a different approach than you normally do and you’ll solve the issue.
• lie down – this is basically making you relax, putting out of your mind all the worries and cares of the day and letting your creative thoughts run free. I often lie down, forget about everything and then focus on one creative task, within minutes my mind is being creative, the only danger is drifting off to sleep but that is my problem.
• stand up – ‘eh? You just said lie down.’ Well, if you are hunched over a blank piece of paper, trying to be creative, concentrating and worrying, it can be deadly. If you focus too much on an issue or problem you may miss the simple solution. So stand up, walk around and change the environment, stretch, rub your neck, anything… just get away from the blank paper.
• change the genre – still stuck? If you were a musician how would you solve the issue if you were a writer? Or vice-verse. If you’re stuck think how someone else would think, it can be a revelation.
• phone a friend – and remember you are not alone, two creative minds are better than one. Working on the same problem two minds can solve a seemingly insurmountable problem.

Go on, have some creative fun.

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It takes a little more than pure inspiration to write that killer content. Although the idea is the kernel to any great literary dish, you should always have on hand the following ingredients to lift your words to the writer’s equivalent of haute cuisine. You may find that taking these ideas with more than a pinch of salt is just what you need.  But you shouldn’t assume that you need all these ingredients all the time, mix and match; experiment. There are many more ingredients you could use, but these are my top 5:

1. Nearness – The reader can be drawn in with any geographical or experiential situation that they can identify with, try and create the ‘I’ve been there’ factor.
2. Consequence – Try to make the content deal with matters that effect; create consequence in what you write.
3. Human interest – Go on you know you want to, go all out for the cute vote, the shaggy dog story at the end of the news keeps you hanging on for the weather report. Alternatively the opposite is also true, a report on the cost to life of any disaster can be a compelling read.
4. Drama – Action and intensity… if you’re writing a story, this can be quite a good hook.
5. Oddity – Pique that mind, interest that soul. Let eyes pour over your words, washing them into the bowl that awaits like open mouth – sometimes being weird works, trust me, I’m an editor.

Remember these are ingredients, it is up to you how you use and mix them, or even add a few more of your own.

This post is also being entered into the top 5 competition at the wonderful ProBlogger site, you can read more about that here.

Picture it, you’re in the ‘creative’ zone, pulling together your masterpiece; pouring out soul into your art… and then you take a step back, look/listen to it and think, ‘that’s rubbish.’

It is all to easy to throw away what you’ve done, becasue you don’t think it is good enough. Perhaps it isn’t the best that could be done, perhaps it does need some more work, perhaps it isn’t great. But it is something that you have created.

At these times, why not use the following quote from John Cage to question whether it really is rubbish.

‘The first question I ask myself when something doesn’t seem to be beautiful is why do I think it’s not beautiful. And very shortly you discover that there is no reason.’

John Cage

The demon for many creative people is procrastination. Many ideas lay dormant and unrealized as other ‘things’ take our energy and effort. There are many reasons as to why we procrastinate and some are deep rooted in our psychological make up. However, there are a few quick and easy tips to help you overcome ‘creative’ procrastination.

• Liver and Ice Cream – Sometimes we simply don’t feel like doing that creative work, but if it is our livelihood then it is a matter of importance. Give yourself a ‘gift’ if you spend some time doing what needs to be done. Rewards can be a very good incentive; have a little ice cream after you’ve eaten the liver.
• Allow yourself to make a s**t first draft – I know many creative people, including myself, who seek perfection in everything they do, and if they feel perfection is out of reach will not even make the effort. This is impossible! Therefore, don’t worry if your first creative attempt doesn’t work. Creativity is as much a journey as a final destination.
• Allow yourself to fail – closely linked to the point above, sometimes what we create, or make, doesn’t work. This is allowed. Don’t worry, we only truly grow by failing. This is a universal truth, trust me.
• Make sure you know what you want – we can put off attempting our creative project because we are not sure what we really want to do. Knowing the goal of our project keeps us focussed. If we are focussed it becomes difficult to procrastinate.
• Remove those distractions – obvious, but those of us who procrastinate will keep the TV remote or the google search box within reach when we should know better. You may find it useful to take yourself away from your comfort zone to do that creative masterpiece, or even unplug the modem.

These ideas only touch the surface but for serial procrastinators like myself, they are well worth spelling out time and time again.

If you want to to do some deeper digging into how and why we procrastinate, and therefore how to overcome it, take a look at The Now Habit by Dr Neil Fiore in our book store.

Many of us don’t sit around with paper and pad on the arm of our comfy chair waiting for a light bulb to appear above our heads, bringing the most amazing creative thought into being. Many of us, okay me, (but feel free to join in as I go along) often get frustrated that creative ideas, of any shape or form, never materialise or even threaten to appear.

With this in mind here are a few simple ideas to provoke an imaginative spark in your life that can be fanned into creative flames.

1. Think in metaphor:  Just like I did above, by describing the creative process as a fire. Thinking in metaphor allows the brain to make connections it doesn’t normally make, and new connections mean new ideas.
2. Describe in another sense: We normally describe something we see by describing what it looks like. However, why not try describing an image by the sense of sound. Or a sound by the sense of smell. Again this will provoke your brain to go against its normal programming.
3. Excessive use of adjectives and adverbs: This could well annoy those you are near very quickly, so perhaps put a time limit on it. Use adjectives and adverbs to ‘colour’ your language everytime you speak. You’ll notice how often you use the same few words, so try to think before you speak. This in itself will stop any automatic phrases being spoken.
4. Imagine you are a famous artist: Take a few moments to imagine you are a famous creator. This could be any type: artist, author or musician. Now what are you going to create today as them? This can help you think in a different way to how you normally approach the creative process.
5. Doodle design: Take a piece of paper and doodle on it, preferably without looking at what you are doing and definitely without thinking of what you are drawing. After a few seconds or minutes, look at what you have done and use it as the basis for creating something, perhaps a picture or piece of prose or even a song. This will force you to think about being creative and open up new creative connections.

Have fun, and may your days be creative.

Something nice and simple to get us going; or more accurately something that casues great stress and anxiety and completely stops us from going. Here are five quick tips to help break writer’s block, or any sort of creative block.*

1. Find a blank piece of paper and doodle; shapes, faces, poses – free your brain from the rut it is currently in. (If you are in an art rut, then doodle with words, creating associations.)
2. Go for a walk, get back to nature if you can. Even in the city you should be able to find a small park, canal or even a tree where you can focus on natural creative ideas.
3. Put the current project/ idea/ paragraph to one side and do something completely different for 5/10/15 minutes. This won’t destroy a deadline if you have one.
4. Find your favourite music track and play it loud, (it’s a lie, you are never too old for loud music) while it is playing listen to its structure, melody and/or rhythm and understand why you like it. Bring that reason into the project you are stuck on.
5. Leave it! Seriously, unless you have an unmoveable deadline** sometimes the muse simply isn’t there – it may even be your creative self telling you to take a rest.

Does anyone else have any cool tips for breaking creative block?
* BTW I am currently stuck here desperately trying to solve a problem with a creative project and so I am making use of tip 3 at the moment.

** If the deadline is immoveable try one of the other tips, and I wish you luck. However, very few deadlines are totally immoveable and if you have left things this late, you may need to take a little look at the other articles coming here soon.