Question: How do you replenish your creative well?

[izi 出久]

I've been reading The Right To Write by Julia Cameron. She discusses the Artist's Well, our creative pool that we draw from whenever we write (or draw, paint, compose, sculpt, what-have-you).

Reminded me of the time I saw a theater production of 1984. Winston breaks the fourth wall while being tortured, his terrorized screams piercing the audience, and he begs us over and over to do something why won't you do something you can stop them what's wrong with you. It gave me chills then and gives me chills now remembering it.

Theater fills my creative well. Along with other things. Walking. Museums. Lake Eola in Downtown Orlando.

What replenishes your creative well?

 

[Brayati]

A change in perspective.

 

[JohnBertel]

Theater fills my creative well.

Oh yes, mine as well! The story and characters seem to stand up more clearly than in most movies and novels.

 

[Rich.]

Powerful hallucinogenic drugs. Conversations at the crossroads. Midnight morris dancing. Living life, I suppose, but most of all, for me, it's reading – non-fiction, fiction, whatever – reading stories.

 

[Hannah F]

Reading and walking in wild places (not at the same time in case I fall into a rabbit hole).

 

[Serra K]

For me it's nature, old forests, epic mountain ranges, miles and miles of flatlands, anything away from electric lights and the buzz of the human colony. Unfortunately I'm stuck in the suburbs now and don't drive anymore so I have to dig a little deeper for creativity. I find it in the simple moments. Theatre and dance makes me cry, for some reason fireworks have the same effect. There's really no lack of sources for creativity, the ability to find them though is a constant journey. I've learned to find a lot from a little and gratitude keeps the soul content.

 

[E G Logan]

I have an ongoing assortment of short stories that can best be described as 'mysterious and macabre' - that would be, not all ghost stories – which I add to now and again when major work is either going wrong or just plain not going.

Some are deliberately (mmm, well!) left as outlines for me to come back to and quickly finish off. Some are 'done' but not 'polished', so there's that to do, too.

I find if I let my mind wander when I'm out with the dog, before I know where I am she's located something indescribably disgusting and is walloping into it as if she didn't have a clean bowl of Special Dog* +crunchy stuff waiting for her at home. If I don't come to in time, and she likes the smell, sometimes she also rolls in it.

It has to have been a really good plot twist to be worth that.

(*yes, really. Also Randy Dog, but I feel I have to be a bit careful with that just in case... Italian supermarkets' own brand petfoods often have English names that cause a moment's hesitation.)

 

[BrianY]

I'm not so sure about having a "creative well." Many of you might have one and others might not. I myself am more inspired by a blank page than anything else.

 

[MattScho]

I come on here and chat a bit. Sometimes I answer questions, such as, say, how do you replenish your creative well, about which I am trully clueless.
i do hope it helps.
One trick I have, I ban myself from getting back to it for a couple days. this, of course, means the work becomes an obsession, and i'm turning it over and over and I really cannot wait for the ban to end, because I have something to say. I've usually gotten a couple chapters written or revised (in my head) before I return to the keyboard.

 

[Mel L]

Stepping away from the writing life gives me a chance to observe people, places, nature...and that replenishes my creative charge. Travel is a great way, but even a day trip to visit a different city or place can do it. Distance seems to be key for me.

 

[E G Logan]

One trick I have, I ban myself from getting back to it for a couple days. this, of course, means the work becomes an obsession, and i'm turning it over and over and I really cannot wait for the ban to end, because I have something to say.

That one works for me, too.
If I'm doing something paid, for example, and I have to finish it by a specific time, etc, whenever I stop to make a coffee my brain keeps dotting back to the WIP.

 

[Jonny]

With me it's a few things.

Scenery, the more rugged and windswept the better. Mountains lakes and rivers in particular.
Music. All sorts and styles but especially lengthy pieces heavy with otherworldly atmosphere.
Comedy both written and also in film and TV.
PG Wodehouse.
And a special mention to this piece of music. Along with the Cello there cannot be a sadder instrument than Uilleann Pipes.

When the end of the world comes it will be heralded by a piper.



Better sound on this recording.

 

[izi 出久]

When the end of the world comes it will be heralded by a piper.

Wow. This is beautiful and haunting at the same time.

I listen to a lot of Nordic music. Most of it is in Icelandic (if there are words), so I can listen while writing and not get distracted. I missed adding music to my list, but yes, music definitely restores my creativity.

 

[Jason L.]

Let's divide mine into stages:

• Level 5. FULL OF ENERGY! LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I try to use this for my heaviest lifting: plotting, trying to tackle scenes that I find difficult, and stuff that I can't handle as gracefully. I know I have energy. I am living and breathing this world. All I need to do is superintend it wisely. It's best not to waste it on stuff I know I can do when I am a little more tired.
• Level 4: I'm working and I don't want to feel exhausted. For this, music, music, music. The music can vary according to my mood and need. Sometimes I sing along. If it gets distracting, I turn on white noise. But I need to be in this zone without feeling tired.
• Level 3: I'm tired and I just don't know if I can go back. Music now just annoys me. I often start reciting bits of my character's dialogue: in the shower, as I am chopping tomatoes. Eventually I start hearing my characters' voices rather than my own, and it becomes less about me reciting and more about me listening as they reveal themselves. It can really get me excited because I like the way that turn of phrase captured the awkwardness or bravery.
• Level 2: Energy is just now officially low. I read complete trash. Sorry, classics fans, but the degradation of Raskolnikov is not to be contemplated on an empty battery. Screw the classics. Now I am just reading the stuff that I have had on my TBR list. Anything that catches my eye. That time travel romance that features a kilted dude? I'm giving it fifty pages. The mystery with the cat on the cover? How bad can it be? (Hint: the answer is yes). Eventually, in this mix of predictable genre fare, something starts taking a more active interest. "Oh. We've just met a Catholic priest. It's 1450. I'll bet he's a villain. (fifty pages later) Called it. Because this is apparently thinly-veiled anti-Catholic propaganda." "Oh, honey, no. Women do not behave like this in public at this time without serious social consequences." "No, it's not Roderick who killed the security guard. It was Brenda. Brenda. Reread Chapter Four. Nope. Nope. It was Brenda. And why are you gossiping about the murder with a murderer on the loose? And why are you wearing stilettos? Who does that?" "Ack. Oh. This is an American writing. I can tell. No clue how European class structures and master-servant relationships look." And then, slowly, I start getting irritated. "I could write better. My dog could write better. And these constant slow corrections start making me see another missed possibility: perhaps the Catholic priest was a true believer and a kind person (as truly many must have been)? What would it change if the real villain were someone else? What would we do if Brenda murdered the security guard for a better reason than jealousy? And if the heroine wore sensible shoes...and didn't act like an idiot (Sorry people, I'm getting super judgy)? Slowly these start manifesting.
• Level 1. I am out. This is the most dangerous, because in the past I have been out for literally years at a time. I stopped reading, I stopped writing, just done. Join a book club (because that way you absolutely have to read that book, even if you were like *sigh* really?) Eventually, start reviewing some of the thing that you wrote that you think you didn't bomb.
  • Do NOT beta-read other people's works during this time.
  • If they are bad, you will be beating the crap out of yourself because EVEN THIS GUY IS DOING IT AND HE DOESN'T HAVE A COMMAND OF THERE/THEIR/THEY'RE. You won't start editing it in your mind because you will always feel like you are stealing, and you don't want to be a monster.
  • If the works are good and you've beta-read them, you will feel kind of embittered. This is good. This guy clearly deserves to get published and make a million dollars. Well, it could have been me but it isn't. I need to go and eat my feelings now.

Just my thoughts. Does this help?

 

[izi 出久]

Sorry, classics fans, but the degradation of Raskolnikov is not to be contemplated on an empty battery.

Oh my god.... literally just referenced Raskolnikov in a short story I'm writing.

Do NOT beta-read other people's works during this time.

I hear this. I love beta reading, but sometimes I just feel like reading something beautiful and shutting my critical reader down, and at those times, I just can't beta read. Don't have the energy.

Level 1. I am out. This is the most dangerous, because in the past I have been out for literally years at a time. I stopped reading, I stopped writing, just done. Join a book club (because that way you absolutely have to read that book, even if you were like *sigh* really?) Eventually, start reviewing some of the thing that you wrote that you think you didn't bomb.

I feel like I was here the entire time I was teaching. Kinda sad. But I wasn't alone. I think it was Stephen King who also said teaching sapped his creativity. Not a quote but that was the idea.

 

[Mel L]

With me it's a few things.

Scenery, the more rugged and windswept the better. Mountains lakes and rivers in particular.
Music. All sorts and styles but especially lengthy pieces heavy with otherworldly atmosphere.
Comedy both written and also in film and TV.
PG Wodehouse.
And a special mention to this piece of music. Along with the Cello there cannot be a sadder instrument than Uilleann Pipes.

When the end of the world comes it will be heralded by a piper.



Better sound on this recording.

PG Wodehouse. My kind of therapy!

 

[Mel L]

Lots of great musical inspirations. It occurs to me that we could create a Litopia writers' playlist. Not sure who uses Spotify or other music sharing platform?

 

[Dorm Ant]

Magickal Inspiration Smoothies and Thought Power Cake.

 

[Pamela Jo]

With me it's a few things.

Scenery, the more rugged and windswept the better. Mountains lakes and rivers in particular.
Music. All sorts and styles but especially lengthy pieces heavy with otherworldly atmosphere.
Comedy both written and also in film and TV.
PG Wodehouse.
And a special mention to this piece of music. Along with the Cello there cannot be a sadder instrument than Uilleann Pipes.

When the end of the world comes it will be heralded by a piper.



Better sound on this recording.

Absolutely. When we lived on Lantau Island, off Hong Kong about 1995 to 97 one of the things discussed at BBQ's and cocktails was the phantom piper. Especially on Sunday you could hear the notes drifting across different parts of the Island from on high. The cold, damp Jan. before the turn over we found that there was a real piper, practicing for the final ceremony. Did you know the medieval Swiss had pipers? Variation on bag pipes. A few are trying to revive the instrument.

 

[Pamela Jo]

Magickal Inspiration Smoothies and Thought Power Cake.

Oh, my. "Thot power" cakes- like Fairy Cakes for rational thinkers?

 

[Pamela Jo]

Horses are almost always in the moment. It's part of their survival. So if I go and hang out with them I can't think about anything else.

 

[MattScho]

Magickal Inspiration Smoothies and Thought Power Cake.

Edibles? I'm not sure getting stoned recharges me, but it is worth a bit of experiementation

 

[Dorm Ant]

Edibles? I'm not sure getting stoned recharges me, but it is worth a bit of experiementation

Oh, it's a while since I got stoned, though I am not knocking it. I just meant that I can bake a cake full of creative intent and power it up with inspiration, then eat it and get over any block.

 

[Pamela Jo]

Oh, it's a while since I got stoned, though I am not knocking it. I just meant that I can bake a cake full of creative intent and power it up with inspiration, then eat it and get over any block.

Ah makes sense. I would say I also do something creative I can finish quickly and get feedback on. Photography, sewing, cooking, baking, gardening. Never enjoyed getting stoned. Renders me speechless. And my brain stages it's own version of Disney's Fantasia wo any herbal stimulation.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

It's hiking for me. The longer and more gruelling, the better. LOL! I always come back recharged and ready to write.

But of course, I can't do that all the time, so nightly walks around the neighbourhood are good, too. In fact my current WIP was inspired by neighbourhood walks. One of the local cemeteries has several unmarked graves nestled under a big oak tree ... who can resist spinning a tale about that? Stir it up with some colourful local history, add a dash of fantasy, and hey presto! You've got a story!