Creative Meandering

It’s been a while since I’ve done a post on creativity. So here’s one technique that I really like: Creative Meandering. Find an interesting image, preferably a cityscape of some sort. It should evoke an emotion and have plenty of doors or windows or nooks and crannies that you can’t see into. Something like this:

Grab a pen and paper. Wander through the picture, led only by your curiosity asking questions about the things you can’t see. Pick an object in the picture what does the peron who owns this object do for a living? Write that down, just a word or simple phrase (stockbroker).

List unseen details about the objects in the picture (pick a boat and write down its name). Write down details about the people you can’t see around corners, in the shadows, through windows and doors–one detail per person, one person per door/window/corner. What are they eating? Where are they going. What did they buy at the store today? What toy is the child playing with? If they’ve left town, where did they go?

Ask a questoin and answer it quickly–no, immediately. Don’t ponder it. Be intuitive about it. The first thing that comes to mind whether it makes a lot of sense or not.

Do this until you have a list of fifteen to twenty-five words or short phrases. Now, for each word or phrase, list five attributes. Size, color, uses, functions, likes, dislikes, numbers, location, etc. Again, don’t wrestle with it. Just write down five attributes you associate with the word or phrase. “Stokbroker: buys/sell, wall street, other people’s money, Charlie Sheen, corner office”

Now, pick up whatever craetive challenge you are working on, whether it’s crafting copy, writing a short story, decorating the baby’s room, starting a new business…whatever it is. List as many results of applying each attribute to your challenge as you can think of.

Short story + buy/sell: The main character buys or sells something he shouldn’t. The main character is a slave who is sold. Bribery. Blackmail. Set at an auction. He sells something invaluable for a song, then has to buy it back at great cost. He is selling his childhood home.

Short story + wall street: Set on wall street. Set during the stock market crash of the 20s. Takes place on a street where neighbors on one side erect a wall to separate themselves from those on the other side. Involves a ticker tape parade.

You get the idea. Don’t discount anything at this stage. this is sheer idea generation. Your simply creating raw material. It’s not good. It’s not bad. It’s simply raw.

At the end of this process, you will quie possibly have hundreds of seed ideas. Go through your list and see if any recurring themes arise. Make note of these. Next, combine two or more seed ideas and see if magic happens. We’re refining now, but we’re still not judging too harshly. (For a refresher on how to do this, read this.)

Give youself a break, then come back to it. Take the top 20 ideas you have and see i you can tweak them to make them even better. Take the most outlandish, bizarre idea you came up with. How would you make it work if it was the only idea you had to work with (give it an honest effort).

Now, start fleshing out your great ideas. This is the time to be critical. See what works and what doesn’t. what floats to the surface and what sinks to the bottom.

This is a powerful way to unleash those wild ideas locked away in your subconscious. These ideas aren’t coming from the picture you used. Remember, all these ideas were sparked by things you couldn’t see in the picture–things that don’t exist in the picture. These all came straight from your imagination.

The picture simply served as a portal to let those subconscious ideas out.