Writing Reflection Series #4: Random Things that Boost Creativity

I guess this isn't really a reflective piece. I've just been trying out random things to help me boost creativity in my writing, and I decided it might be cool to take stock of what has worked for me since there are some writers on this site. This will ramble quite a bit. Here we go:

 

Personality Tests: Especially from this website. Whoever wrote these profiles was a really great writer. Not only are the explanations clear and concise, but whoever wrote this had a serious flair for literary turns of phrase. I use this site a lot for building character. Of course, not all characters are going to fit snugly within one type since characters are (should be) like real people, individuals who have their own unique ticks and quirks. But I find that this site really helps, especially when I get stuck in scenes. It helps me predict what my character would do based on their personality. (Fun bonus fact: I'm an INFP)

 

Reddit & Quora: You can find a forum for pretty much anything on Reddit, which I find super helpful especially when I have to do research on a topic that I'm not familiar with. The internet has no shortage of enthusiasts and experts in practically any field you can imagine, and most of them are pretty open to sharing their knowledge. I find this helpful when I want to do some research on a topic, but I don't have a lot of time to do more in-depth research. Also, people on Reddit and Quora have very unique perspectives, sometimes. Plenty of characters on the internet.

 

Spotify: Lots of really cool playlists on Spotify, makes it a great tool for discovering new music. I've been having trouble sleeping lately, and I've discovered that putting on white noise or ocean sounds has been helping me sneak some hours back into my sleep schedule. In "Rhapsody in Scarlet," my characters get lost in the forest, so one night I randomly decided to put forest noises on while I sleep, hoping it would boost my creativity. I don't know how effective it was, but it did help me sleep better.

 

Forensic Files, BuzzFeed Unsolved, & True Crime Docs: I'm going through a phase. What I find most compelling about these true crime shows is that the people perpetrating these crimes often have very intense drives and motivations, and as a writer, I'm fascinated by what moves people to do what they do. It helps with character building, I feel, getting in touch with the psychology behind people's decisions and actions.

 

Reading: This should be pretty self-explanatory. I actually need to read more. Not only does it expand your mind and fill up your hours, but it also helps you build your vocabulary and learn new ways to express things in your own writing. For example, how does this particular author use dialogue tags? Can I use my dialogue tags in a similar way? How does this author indicate the beginning of a flashback? How does this author describe scenes? How does this author describe smells and tastes and other non-visual sensory details? For me, one of my biggest writing weakness is fight scenes. I wanted to be able to describe the fight scene in a really detailed way, but I get tempted to make the descriptions really overwrought, and fights happen very quickly. Reading helps me see how other authors handle fight scenes.

 

Behind The Name: Or baby name websites in general. It's so fascinating how many names there are in the world, and there are a lot of unique ones on the site. Sometimes, I scroll through the site and come up with short stories for random characters who have a particular name, or come up with a story of how this character got that name. Of course this doesn't apply to fan fics, where the characters already have names. Haha. One of my favorite name stories is this one time when I was telling my little sister about different kinds of trees. I showed her a picture of a juniper tree and told her what it was, and she thought I said that the tree's name was Jennifer and I had just pronounced it weird. Junnifer. A surprisingly nice name. 

 

Museum Visits: If you think about it, a museum is a collection of stories. My imagination always gets electrified when I visit museums. It makes me think about all the people who lived before me and what their stories were.

 

Public Places/People Watching: Another obvious one. But I think, to put this piece of advice in another way, just pay attention. There are hundreds of stories swirling around you all the time, every single day, and if you just pay attention, you might catch a detail or two that will set your imagination spiraling. 

 

Friendship is a beautiful thing: The #1 thing that boosts my creativity is talking my ideas through with my friends. Most of them are not writers, but they've been reading for quite a while and they kind of have an idea, from a reader's perspective, of what works and what doesn't. I'm a very solitary person, and I am constantly thinking about my ideas in my own head. Giving my ideas some air and letting them breathe by sharing them it my friends really helps me get out of tight spots and see new paths. I need more writer friends, haha.

 

Anyway, what are some things that help boost your creativity?

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