Understanding Your Personal Creative Process

Several elements make up an individual’s creative process.  We will consider five of the key items to any process, though it must be said that your personal process is as unique as you are.

What is a creative process?  It is essentially the process by which you generate an idea that is then executed in your chosen art form.  Although this article is about writing, the principles hold true for most art forms.

Everyone with an artistic bent develops a certain rhythm that keeps them able to consistently produce.  Writers are no exception.  The rhythm is heavily affected by the predominant type of writing as well as style and mechanics (how you actually move words from your head to paper).

Lets look first at the concepts of feeding and composting.  While a free-lance fitness writer may feed on industry news, continuing education and information gleaned from people practicing various forms of fitness, an essayist may feed on a wide gamut of sources from headlines to history, poetry to personal experience.  Some writers can easily alter their output by altering what they feed on.  Others find their well running dry if they don’t feed their writing in very specific ways.  Most of us are somewhere in between.

In order to understand what best feeds your craft, look at the periods of time in which you were most productive or wrote most effortlessly.  Backtrack through the month prior to this period.  What was going on in your world?  What were you reading and doing?

In addition to absorbing, there is a quiet period.  Common terms for this period are composting, percolating, gestating, or germinating; the concept is the same.  It is the time your writing mind requires to process what you feed it through the filters of your experiences, beliefs, opinions, and views.  For some, this process is brief indeed.  For others, it is much longer.

One way to determine your composting rhythm is to refrain from writing anything at all until the urge is heavy and ripe.  When you do write, write non-stop for at least 20 minutes.  Backtrack the topics of this writing spree to specific events, reading, conversations, and observations.  If you practice refraining on occasion, you may develop a sense of your composting rhythm.

Another rhythm vital to the creative process is your body (circadian) rhythm.   During which part of the day does your creativity peak?  8 am, 10 am, 3 pm, 7 pm, midnight?  Where is the sweet spot in your day when your creative juices run like hot maple syrup?

While most of us are able to create at any hour, the ease and productivity during the natural peak makes locating that peak worthwhile.  To do so, observe when you get the creative itch.  Make notations in your planner for a couple of weeks.  Although you will peak at different times, you should observe a consistent preference.

You can do this while at work as well.  Note the time of day you are most likely to make notes, generate ideas, write down thoughts, and when you get creative for your employer.

Sources of inspiration factor into your process as well.  All of us can draw on both types, but generally have a preference for either external or internal idea generation.  Let me explain the difference.

You are out shopping with your friend at Lowe’s.  You are an external generator while your friend is an internal generator.  While walking around the store, you observe an interaction between spouses deciding on which tool to purchase.  Your mind makes connections and grabs an article or story idea from your observation.  You jot it down and keep moving.  Your friend, having heard the same conversation, ignores it.

Halfway across the store, your friend suddenly goes quiet, then pauses and grabs paper.  Before the notebook is put away again you chance to see that she has written down an opening sentence and one line description on a topic having no relation at all to Lowe’s, the store contents, or even your conversation.

External sources come from what you see, hear, taste, touch, or smell.  Internal sources come bubbling up from the depths in a clarifying statement, opening sentence, title, or concept and often have no relation to the activity at hand.  One is not better than the other.  Often, we use both.  However, it’s likely you experience one more than the other.  Keep a log of your ideas and topics for a few weeks.   Jot down what you were doing at the time the idea came to you.  After a while you’ll have a good idea which source is dominant for you.

If you use external sources, sitting at home all the time is not for you!  Get out into the world and feed your Muse.  If you use internal sources, feed yourself on a wide variety of topics and let your writing mind hand them to you as you go about your life.

Mechanics and habits or ritual is also a significant part of your process.  Let’s face it, some writers must use pen and paper and some writers can only compose on a keyboard.  The majority of us are in between but have a strong preference.  Just as the actual process you use to move words from brain to paper is part of your creative process, so are the locations, settings, and rituals you apply to writing.  Again, we’re talking about preferences here.  Most writers can (and have) written anywhere at any time, but still exhibit a strong preference for the corner of the sofa, the kitchen table, a cafe, or the patio.

How much and how early you share is part of your mechanics that might work for or against you.  Some writers talk out their ideas or problems with a piece.  Others keep silent, discharging all the tension into the writing.  While there is no right or wrong method, if you are finding you don’t complete many projects or have no desire to continue them after talking about them, cultivate silence until the first draft is complete.  A novelist stuck on a bit of dialog might benefit from talking it out.   A poet might find it the fastest way to kill his work.

Rituals develop when we experience success at something and try to duplicate the environment.   You exploded through three chapters of your novel while sitting on the couch eating popcorn.  Somewhere in your mind you’ve made a connection with the couch, popcorn, and productivity.  A ritual is born and Orville Redenbacher is a happy company.

Some rituals are beneficial (deep breathing, focusing, exercise, or writing by appointment).  Others might be a deterrent (writing with only one pen or in only one position). What is important to remember here is that a ritual should serve you, not hinder you.  Rational logic needs to be applied to any ritual or habit that holds you back.  If you simply cannot write without that one particular pen that was chewed up by the dog, your writing career has ended.  If you can only compose on the keyboard, loss of power (and the eventual end of your laptop charge) puts you out of commission.

On the other hand, certain rituals, when held loosely, can enhance your writing experience.  If you prefer to write at the kitchen table with a fresh cup of coffee, that’s great–as long as you are able to write when the coffeemaker is broken or you are confined to bed.

Examine your intentional and accidental rituals.  Do they help or hinder?  Ditch the destructive rituals and cultivate some new, better habits.

It is difficult to fully dissect one’s creative process, and that is not the point made here.  However, understanding your process enough to work with it instead of against it can bring about pleasant results.  If something in your system breaks down, knowing the names of the parts can make diagnosis and repair a simpler task.

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