Brainstorming through OBSERVATION.... 

Many people "brainstorm" as if the only ideas they can put on their brainstorming resource are those they already have experienced or know. And to some extent this is true...

But believing "I can only gather ideas already in my brain," limits the creativity (and my extension resource) of brainstorming. 

Therefore, it's important we consider ideas NOT ALREADY in our brains. How do we do that... 

One way is OBSERVATION. 

Here is one exercise....  take a little time to just observe somewhere. 

• A garden
• A forest
• A splashpad full of children on a July afternoon
• A Costco 
• A park 
• A County Fair
• A busy restaurant kitchen 

The list could go on... but you get my drift. 

Then set your OBSERVING to a purpose... 

• ACTIONS: What are people doing? 
• SOUNDS: What are the sounds of this place? 
• KINDNESS: What does that look like here? 
• FREEDOM: What does that look like here? 
• FEAR: What does that look like here? 
• OVERCOMING FEAR: How are pe
...

A picture is worth 1000 words.... 

It's time to look at this from the other perspective... how do we CREATE IMAGES that capture ideas, principles, beliefs, emotion, relationship etc.

Being an author, coach, cheerleader and lover of STORYBOOKS... I hold this perspective close.

• Every page in a storybook shows the words being acted out.
• It gives a level of context that in a novel might require 10 pages.
• It's a powerful connection to our visual and creative portions of our brain. 
• It brings the words to life. 

Thus I believe that to envision a principle in picture form may be more powerful than any quote posted on a wall. For it requires we see this quote in action. 

Therefore today's creativity muscle exercise is going to have to you VISUALIZE and create an image. 

For those who are about to hit... NEXT because you believe you can't draw, WAIT. Take a deep breath and realize this is not anything you have to share... ever. 

The creative muscle, obviously metaphorical, has dif...

PERSPECTIVE.... this is one of my FAVORITE things. 

Have you heard that quote, "Walk a day in her shoes..." well, this is all about perspective. It's easy to judge, misinterpret, marginalize, criticize and condescend when we don't understand.  And most of what we don't understand is attributed to being shackled to a single perspective. 

Taking the time to intentionally walk in another's perspective is powerful and absolutely necessary if you want to be a good writer. 

WHY? you might ask.... 

2 Reasons...

1. Every character has his/her own motives, which you must understand AND

2. Every character is NOT YOU. Meaning they respond to even the same motive differently depending on their own experiences. 

Thus you have to be willing and capable of walking in another's perspective to write characters and stories that impact. 

If you like movies, check out VANTAGE POINT. It tells a full story by showing the same 60 minutes from 8-9 different perspectives, or vantage points... hence the...

FREEDOM... 

This is posting on July 4th, Independence Day for the United States of America.

Since this holiday is a profound reminder of the VALUE of FREEDOM,  I thought I would have us consider how this value is experienced by our characters. 

While for our country it's freedom from Tyranny, what does it look and sound like for an individual person? 

• For Hiccup... it's freedom from the cultural expectation of killing dragons. 
• For Will Smith in the movie Independence Day... it's freedom from alien annihilation. 
• For Moana... it's freedom from the limitations of her culture which is shackled to fear and the lies of their ancestors.
• For Wiley... it's freedom from the road runner's teasing. 
• For Kylo Wren... it's freedom from the lies of the dark side that taint the actions of Ben Knobi. 
• For Frances in Under the Tuscan Sun... it's freedom from the devastation of infidelity, divorce, and her own playing small. 

Now you try it... 

Creativity Muscle Exercise #8 

This...

Writing COMMUNICATION, is not as easy as it might look. But good news... it can be learned.  

Let's consider an example...

--> A simple idea like communicating to someone near you that they smell badly.

First, the actual words... 

• You stink. 
• You might want to shower. 
• Is that smell you? 
• Did you use deodorant today? 
• Have you showered lately? 
• Did you step in something? 
• Is that smell your clothes or you?
• You smell bad. 
• I'm not fond of your new perfume. 

Second, the tone...

• Sarcastic 
• Matter-of-fact 
• Motherly
• Compassionate 
• Insulting 
• Playful

Third, the delivery...

• Whispered 
• Loudly stated in a room full of people
• Written on a piece of paper and slid across the table
• Intentionally in the presence of another admirer 
• Told at the end of long meeting
• Pull them aside

Can you begin to picture how each combination could communicate the same idea, slightly differently? 

Can you also see how it communicates so much more? 

It reveals the relationship b...

Recently I watched "The Making of The LAST JEDI," the number 8 film in the Star Wars series. I'm a diehard Star Wars fan as I remember watching the 1st one in the theater at 6 years old (which gives away my age) and thus find it a joy to watch the "making of documentaries." 

In this one the writer/ director, Rian Johnson, walked us through his process. Since he was BOTH writer and director, he had interesting light to shed on the characters, plot, themes, and settings (the major legs of any story). 

One of the most profound things he said was this, "I started with each character and asked WHAT DO THEY WANT?"

The answer to this question is deep and may or may not be in the awareness of the character. But dig harder enough and you find a core WANT which becomes the driving motivator for this character. 

Thus today, we are going to dig into a "CORE WANT."  

Creativity Muscle Exercise #6

• Select a character you like from a book, TV, film, or game. 
• Ask the question, "At the core
...

They say a picture is worth 1000 words... 

In the world of storybooks, that sounds about right. A 30 page illustrated book... that's 30,000 words plus the words written on the page and you have the equivalent of a personal development book. 

But let's face it pictures are way more fun... So, let's use a few to get your creativity muscle working out!!

Creativity Muscle Workout #5 

Below are a four pictures from Unsplash, a free photo website, with the photographers listed. Allow yourself about 90 -120 seconds per photograph and WRITE FROM the picture. (The purpose of short time on 4 different pics is to not allow your mind too long to analyze the picture, but to run with whatever first emerges from it) Here are few questions to get you thinking... 

• What comes to mind?
• What perspective is interesting? (person, animal, flower etc. any perspective) 
• What is happening,  just happened, or about to happen?  
• What is being whispered?
• What is being felt, observed taken in, express
...

I was watching a re-run of Friends this afternoon... you know the episode where Joey writes the "Recommendation Letter to the Adoption Agency" for Monica and Chandler. Joey used the thesaurus on EVERY WORD of his letter. He wanted to sound smart. 

But isn't that ONE KIND OF COMEDY... in attempting to sound smart, he sounds ridiculous. 

This opened up a handful of creativity moments for me, which I will explore over the next few workouts :) For today...

Writing comedy can simply be a person trying to be or do something that isn't "in their wheelhouse." For example...

• Hiccup in "How to Train Your Dragon." He is constantly trying to be something he is not... a dragon-killer. And his attempts are funny. Sad, but funny. 
• Joey in "Friends." He attempts to sound smart and only sounds ridiculous. 
• Lucy in "I Love Lucy." She and Ethel try to be candy-makers and end up consuming and stuffing pounds of chocolate into their mouths, hats, and dresses. And all in attempt to prove they are wo
...

JOURNALS are a place where people...

• Process what is going on in their lives
• Reveal their inner most secrets and emotions
• Record difficult, amazing, fun, sad etc. things that have happened
• Explore a situation for the lies, the truth, the motives etc.  

This means that one great creative muscle exercise is journal entries for our characters. 

Creativity Muscle Exercise #3

A simple journal entry for a character you KNOW and LOVE from a book, film, or episodic that already is in motion. i.e. Cinderella, Jack Reacher, Sydney Bristow, Luke Skywalker, or the Rat from Ratatouille. 

You pick a favorite...

Write a journal entry from this character's perspective on their birthday. The day could've gone well or badly... or just simple reflection. Whatever you think this character might record on the pages of their journal on their birthday. 

DEBRIEF: 

1. Was choosing a character difficult? Why do you think that is?
2. This exercise taps into the concept of VOICE... was it difficult o...

The UNEXPECTED is always a great tool in writing.

Whether it's...

• An unexpected outcome
• An unexpected setting 
• An unexpected feeling
• An unexpected death
• An unexpected presence
• An unexpected emotional response

It's powerful. WHY?

Because you surprised your audience and that's delightful. It's the TWIST... 

Now I say SURPRISE... not SHOCK! Delight not violate. So the WAY you employ the unexpected must work for your audience. 

Therefore today's creativity muscle exercise is to use the SAME prompt as day 1 and go in the opposite direction. 

• If in the woods, you went to frightening... then go to pleasant.  
• If in the woods, you went with to sadness... then go to joy. 
• If in the woods, you went with to horror... go with childlike. 
• If in the woods, you went with to serious... go with humorous. 
• If in the woods, you went to environmental... go with gluttony. 

Tell the UNEXPECTED ending... and have fun inventing something that surprises even you. 

Creativity Muscle Ex...