The Creative Process

English social psychologist Graham Wallas, in his 1926 book Art of Thought, argues there are four stages to the creative process. 

Preparation 

This is an investigation stage. This is the stage where we’re gathering ideas. We’re reading, watching movies, thinking about the project, and taking notes. I liken it to the gardener who preps her soil for the growing season. It’s all of the groundwork that happens before a seed can be planted.

Incubation

The second stage may look like procrastination on the outside, but might not be. Incubation occurs when we’ve gathered the information we need and now our brains are stepping in to process and make connections. This is the stage where the seeds are planted and the gardener is watering and making sure there’s enough sunlight, but, on the surface, at least, it doesn’t look like anything is happening.

Illumination

After we’ve gathered the necessary information and our brains have finished processing it, we’ll have a flash of insight, where suddenly we know exactly what needs to happen or how to solve the problem. At this point, the seed is a plant, and it’s just pushed through the soil. The fruits of the preparation and incubation processes are visible.

Verification

The verification stage is where we bring our ideas to fruition. This takes a conscious, deliberate effort. It’s where we re-work the scene. Compose the poem. Write the article. The plant is now growing into something amazing.

What stage are you in?

They're all crucial to the process, but without verification, what was the point?

Action Required.

Be Brilliant!

~Katie~

(More) On Story

Story: the price a character pays for the lengths to which she'll go to get what she wants.

Story is about action.

Story is about struggle.

Story is about change.

And . . . 

"Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today." 

--Robert McKee

Be Brilliant!

~Katie~

What is a Storyteller?

A storyteller is someone who presents to us a series of events in such a way that we feel as if they are our events--that we are living the moments being described.

A storyteller is someone who both provides information and withholds it, dancing with the reader (or listener) until they're desperate to know how it all ends. 

There's a difference between a writer and a storyteller. 

I have read masterful strings of words and turns of phrasing that did not compel me to continue reading. I have read writing that was less than stellar, but it didn't matter because I was so engrossed in the story and what was happening that I barely noticed the words on the page. 

Can good writing be taught? Sure.

Can good storytelling? Perhaps. But storytelling is more about feeling than structures and rules.

It's the difference between sitting through a driver's ed class and getting behind the wheel of a Ferrari on a road course.

But don't take my word for it. 

As I was editing this post, Robert McKee tweeted this out: 

Story is far too rich in mystery, complexity and flexibility to be reduced to a formula. Only a fool would try. #writingtips #amwriting

— Robert McKee (@McKeeStory) March 9, 2020

Be Brilliant!

~Katie~