Creative writing - From think to ink - Lindstrom Simeon 2015

Desire – the root of creativity

If nothing momentous emerged for you with previous exercise, don’t sweat it. You might have had a breakthrough and realized that deep down, your drive to create and express comes from a long buried need for affirmation that started in your childhood …or, you may merely feel that life is hard and you just like writing goofy things that make people laugh.

It doesn’t matter. Even if an answer isn’t forthcoming, keep asking it in the background. The answer may already be stirring somewhere inside you, waiting to come out soon. Let it be.

In this chapter, we move on to a more specific examination of how we can connect more authentically to that gorgeous, white hot, fantastic, almost genius kind of expression we all long for.

Have you had any moments like this?

Moments where you created something you were intensely proud of, almost gobsmacked by the joy and thrill of it being yours, and being good. We have all known creative competence before, and we’ve all known the satisfaction of making something exist that didn’t exist before. It’s almost an addictive feeling, isn’t it?

We’ve briefly looked at the origin of creativity in the previous exercise. Wanting to be heard, in the most general sense, is at the core of many people’s desire to write a play, paint a picture, go on stage or type out the first chapter of a sweeping sci-fi fantasy novel.

If you’re feeling a little dry, or a little uninspired, there’s one sure fire way to juice up your creative machine again: desire.

To reach out into the world takes a stirring, a yearning, a wanting.

What do you want?

This chapter’s exercise is going to be a flight of fancy, and I’m giving you permission right now to run with it, as far as you like.

With a notebook, start jotting down ideas and impressions around the central title — what do you want? Don’t think about it too deeply, don’t dawdle and imagine someone else reading your work to see if you’re “doing it right” …just ask the deepest stirrings in your heart and mind what they crave, and put it on the paper.

Do you have a hunger for more love and beauty in your life? Do you wish things made more sense? Are you lonely? Bored and desperate for something exciting to happen in life? Do you feel broke a lot of the time and feel a secret desire for ease and luxury? Do you wish your life were quirkier and more special? Do you wish you were popular? Do you crave a sense of purpose or prestige or the stability of a stable job? More money? Do you long for harmony and work that really fulfills you? Adventure? Do you want a little romance in your life? The thrill of some danger? More intellectual stimulation? Do you really really wish you could just buy an X Box already?

Go wild. Don’t put any limits on yourself.

When you switch on this sense of desire and grasping in yourself, you reacquaint with the first little seeds of creativity. Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention. Many beautiful things exist in this world solely because their creators were sick of living in a world where it didn’t exist.

Have you ever had the feeling that you could do something better than how you see it being done around you? Explore that. Do you ever look at someone’s life and feel a yearning to be more like them? Write it down. What is the flavor and tone of your big dreams — the stuff you’d do in a fantasy life? Look at all the things you hate about the world around you right now. After all, what do authors do, fundamentally, except argue with reality?

Writing and putting out your own unique message takes a few special elements, and the first is the desire that things should be different somehow. This starts with desire. Today, tap into that — this yearning and stirring is a powerful source of energy that will get you through many difficult nights of self doubt, or through many boring mornings when you feel like you lack the enthusiasm to get started.

Perhaps you’re a technical writer who has a strong desire for clarity and elegance in life. Maybe you find the world utterly boring and colourless and get a thrill out of creating an alternate universe where enthralling characters battle out their bizarre story in crystal palaces in faraway galaxies. Maybe you’re just damn opinionated and you’re ready to give people a piece of your mind.

Whatever it is, take a moment to get cosy with your desire. Of course, this isn’t a self help book and we all know that wanting something doesn’t mean getting it, but knowing where to go to find your juiciest, most abundant source of creative energy is a powerful tool for any creative. Own it.