Awesome topic. I might be incorrect about the source, but was it William Faulkner who advised that in writing... "we must kill our little darlings" ? That seems like good tough advice... The notion that sometimes the biggest obstacle to creative thinking is when we hang onto some previous idea that should really be tossed out for the good of the whole. We might be clinging to the thing just because it's one of our favorite moments... It could be a line of dialogue you wrote, a block of action, your favorite scene in your script, or even an entire character that really serves no purpose because so much around it has changed in the re-writing process. It's the hardest thing to delete something that seemed like such an inspiraton at first, and sometimes it's easier to compromise by cutting the idea and pasting it into a separate file of "excess" ideas - in case you decide you want it back. But I bet most times, you end up not revisiting it, because "killing it" freed you up to consider so many other creative options that work better.
amyallen
· 1 year ago
Christian, you bring up a great piece of advice. It's so important to be able to step back and view your own work objectively, which often requires some emotional distance. After completing a first draft, working on projects in between can allow you time to grow less attached to your original project, which makes 'killing your darlings' much easier.
Christian Badami
· 1 year ago
Cool point, Amy. I totally agree about the value of juggling multiple projects, sort of like "playing one against the other" in order to get that emotional distance and perspective. The strategy also clicks nicely as far as time management, because when you're feeling burnt-out on one piece, you can move to the other for a while and avoid any stalls from what people typically see as Writer's Block. There's nothing better than when you go back to a previous project after some time and you've almost forgotten what you wrote, and you can view it with fresh perspective like an objective reader... suddenly the parts that should be cut jump out so much clearer!
Keith Sawyer
· 1 year ago
Hi, Keith Sawyer here! Since that TIME magazine article, my book GROUP GENIUS has been published and it has a lot of tips based on psychological research. For example, connections between very different concepts are more likely to be innovative (that's why the "pick a word" technique often works). Check it out at
You work looks really interesting. I'm definitely checking out Group Genius! Sounds like you'd dig what we're doing at Poptent.
Richard
· 1 year ago
Being creative is hard work! The process that I have found most helpful is to first of all brainstorm. In other words, come up with every idea you can. You won't like most of them; in fact, you may not like any of them. But after you do that, forget the project for a while and let your subconscious mind will work on it. When you come back to it, you're much more likely to come up with an idea you really like. It might even seem like it came out of nowhere. Even then, when you have something you like, it's good to put it aside for a while, and then come back to see if you still like it. If you do, you've got a winner.
TestSEO
· 1 year ago
that out brain... i think you right, you have the point of view
Police Sunglasses
· 8 months ago
Great article, and i agree that brainstorming is the key of great ideas and for that collaboration plays a vital role
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http://www.groupgenius.net.