My two tricks for getting the juices flowing are to go for a walk and just to randomly browse through Flickr. Fairly frequently some image will just jump into my brain, flick a switch, and I'll know what I want to write.
Nils Geylen
· 2 years ago
Thanks both. I wasn't really fishing, but it's always a good sign when people don't shy away from commenting because they can't think of anything nice to say :-)
I like the quickies too, in a way, because with the caption they do convey, um, something. That's why I was finally confident enough to post them.
As for just browsing around, that is a good trick. I do it all the time. The risk, of course, is that you'll see so much good stuff, you'll lose all motivation and head for the pub again; just out of pure desperation.
Arjun Muralidharan
· 2 years ago
Nice work, Nils... it's so.... honest :-)
I personally love interpreting classical music, that's the most creative thing I do next to writing. I guess to get flowing I need to expose myself to a lot of that stuff - if I want to write a good article for my student blog I'll go read others or look up a student forum. If I want inspiration for making good music I'll listen to good music or great artists. That makes me want to be like them, which in turn gets me going.
Nils Geylen
· 2 years ago
Honest? Now there's one I hadn't heard before. Thanks though ;-) And thanks for your comment. Immersion, indeed, is still one of the best ways to get good at anything.
Joe
· 2 years ago
Those are cool, Nils. Isn't there something so cathartic about doodling, using a real pen or pencil on real paper? For me personally, music seems to get the creative juices going, so I have music on all day long. Not so much in my writing, but in my illustration or graphic work. "Being creative" takes on a whole new meaning when you do it for a living, and sometimes just getting back to good old pen and paper provides all the creativity I need.
And more often than not, a looming deadline is the ultimate inspiration.
Daniel Lestarjette
· 2 years ago
Nils, I just sent you a bookmark on Delicious--I haven't read though it completely (starving, must get food first!), but it looks promising, at least in terms of writing.
I like the line drawings more than the first two, but they're all far better than what I can produce. And the captions really make them, I think.
All Comments
My two tricks for getting the juices flowing are to go for a walk and just to randomly browse through Flickr. Fairly frequently some image will just jump into my brain, flick a switch, and I'll know what I want to write.
I like the quickies too, in a way, because with the caption they do convey, um, something. That's why I was finally confident enough to post them.
As for just browsing around, that is a good trick. I do it all the time. The risk, of course, is that you'll see so much good stuff, you'll lose all motivation and head for the pub again; just out of pure desperation.
I personally love interpreting classical music, that's the most creative thing I do next to writing. I guess to get flowing I need to expose myself to a lot of that stuff - if I want to write a good article for my student blog I'll go read others or look up a student forum. If I want inspiration for making good music I'll listen to good music or great artists. That makes me want to be like them, which in turn gets me going.
And more often than not, a looming deadline is the ultimate inspiration.
I like the line drawings more than the first two, but they're all far better than what I can produce. And the captions really make them, I think.