The 'Thinking' Stage
It's the one I'm in at the moment. I tend to be at my most prolific when I'm like this--- there's a constant stream of ideas bustling forth impatiently. I don't sleep very much and I can't really relax. I'm not really entering my imagination much-- the ideas just seem to be there, popping into my brain. It's as if my subconscious has been working on some ideas and proposals and now it's just printing them out, one after the other, and I have plenty of things to choose from.
The things I write/create in this state tend to be pretty good quality, but not my best; and often just a rehash of something I've done previously.
'The Dreaming Stage'
This is wonderful, when I can access it. When it's turned on I can just drift off into thought and imagine a new world. It can be a dream where I let go and am taken on a surprising journey by my mind, or it can be a purposeful journey I take; but I see it so vividly. When I imagine something in this state, I can see and feel everything and everyone in it. I write at my best in this state-- whether it's a screenplay or story or blog. But I have to be quick to capture it, because it soon fades.
'The Instant Flash Stage'
I'll just be walking down the road, and it's like a voice suddenly goes BOOM and says "Film idea! A murderer is proven innocent due to clocks going back an hour, meaning he was arrested thirty minutes before he committed the crime," or whatever, and I'll just KNOW I have to write it.
It might seem similar to the thinking stage-- but the thinking stage is more of a stream of so-so ideas. This stage, it's just a flash of something distinct and certain, and it is always something I find to be appealing to write. I think it's normally random and comedic when this happens, too. I'm not totally sure where the flashes come from but, I don't need to know. But they NEVER come when I'm thinking of writing or of ideas.
---There are other stages, I'll try and capture them and explain them when I experience them, if you find this interesting? Let me know!
I get all these with songwriting and stories. Mostly songs. I've woken up with whole songs in my head but have had to get moving into the day and, by the time I get to a guitar, I've totally forgotten what I woke up with. I know, I know, I need to write them down straight away.
ReplyDeleteI carry a notebook round with me constantly now, I'm always getting ideas though of course not all of them are any good. I often get a little tingling sensation in my brain just before a really good creative urge occurs.
ReplyDeleteI find your take on how you get inspired creatively very interesting and I look forward to more.
There are so many instant flashes inside my brain that I think it loses its credibility! =P
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