The blank screen. It’s taunting. It’s daunting. It’s not rewarding or inspiring and, until it has at least a few sentences on it, it’s certainly not profitable. Sometimes you’re just totally, honest-to-goodness out of fresh ideas and innovative angles to pitch to your editor or deliver to your blog readers.
More than some highfalutin concept, creative restoration is necessary to produce the editorial content that will make you proud and — bonus! — pay the bills. That, however, is easier said in a mediabistro story than done in the deadline-driven nuances of real life.
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“The most important part of being a writer is being intellectually curious: having the wherewithal to dig for information, evaluate it, turn it on its belly and learn all you can about it. I find that when we do this — when we’re constantly reading, constantly listening, constantly talking — the fount of stories always reveal themselves,” said Denene Millner, founder and editor-in-chief of MyBrownBaby.com and author of 19 books, including three New York Times bestsellers.
Here are some more tips on how to kick start your creativity and generate new story ideas.
Work in a new medium.
It might not even be a matter of switching professions. It could just be you need a respite from the kind of writing you’re doing. Switching up genres and topics will spark creative ideas.
“I’ve definitely gone through phases in my career where I’ve written in one genre instead of another for a while just to get a break,” said self-professed “scribe of all trades” Carly Milne, who has contributed to Glamour and Rolling Stone. “When I got burned out on writing journalistically, I transitioned into doing marketing and PR writing. When it felt like that well was starting to run creatively dry, I transitioned into lifestyle blogging. That led to travel writing, which was great fun, but, after a couple years of being on the road nonstop, I was getting exhausted and needed a break from that, so I went back to the lifestyle route, which once again led me to marketing writing.”
| “Exercise is scientifically proven to help you focus.” |
If you listen to your muse, whatever or whoever that muse is, she says, it’ll guide you wherever your talent can be best used at that time, even genres or opportunities you may not have considered before.
Milner adds that launching her blog gave her a renewed, unrestricted creative space to express herself and explore ideas. “It’s where I get to tell stories, give my opinion, showcase my skills as a writer, a mother, a decorator, a cook, a thinker, a feminist and a lover of my culture, art and people. There’s nothing like having free reign over my words, the freedom to express myself without an editor looking over my shoulder or telling me my approach doesn’t jibe with hers,” she explained. “It’s especially lovely to be able to push the ‘publish’ button when I want, however I want, without having someone change my words and intent without my permission. It really is a freeing experience.”
Get up and get out.
When your brain shuts down, take a hike — literally. Exercise is scientifically proven to help you focus. And, you know, there’s that whole helps-you-live-longer thing, too.
“There’s something about getting out of my well-worn paths that helps me see things differently, so I like to hike a different spot each time so I don’t get stuck in a rut there, either,” said Milne. I find exercise of some kind, even if just walking around the block, does wonders when I get too wrapped up in my head.”
Unless you’re writing a comedy sketch, the gym might seem like the last place that creative inspiration might reside. (Sweatband Guy and Perky Zumba Girl may not necessarily forge fresh perspectives.) But it’s the physical stimulation that loosens blocked thoughts.
Leave a subject alone for a while.
Research it; write about it; then shelve it like yesterday’s news — because for you, it is. A new angle may manifest itself, but it can’t be forced.
Consummate journalist Paul Tullis has been writing for top-shelf mags for the better part of a decade, so he’s had his fair share of experience turning hard-hitting investigation into feature news stories. One piece in particular for Businessweek on TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline left him burned out.
“I was following that for months, and it was so controversial, and it became such a big story nationally, and people had such strong feelings about it on both sides that I had a Google alert set up for keywords so I didn’t miss any news on it,” he said. “I didn’t read every single article on it, but I was making sure I didn’t miss anything important. The day that article came out, I canceled that Google alert. I was like, ‘I cannot read any more of this. I’m going to go crazy.’ He eventually picked the subject back up (for Businessweek again, as a matter of fact), but when he did, he did it with refreshed zeal and interest, which manifested in his writing.
When a topic or project starts boring Milne to tears, she knows it’s time to park it and invest her time into something else. “That’s not to say that I’m the paragon of what’s great writing or anything like that, but I think that when a writer is engaged in what they’re writing, a reader can feel it. That’s part of what helps them get sucked into the material. In those instances,” she added, “I find the best thing to do is step away from the computer and disconnect from the project for a while. The more I sit there and obsess over what’s not working, the more I find I just dig myself deeper into a creative hole, and that doesn’t help anyone involved.”
| “When I find I can’t get the gumption to work on an assignment of some sort, it’s because my perfectionist nature is getting in the way.” |
Stop obsessing on writing a masterpiece and just write.
It’s a challenge, yes, but you can revise a draft easier than you can craft perfection from the giddy up. Just getting words out gets the creative juices flowing, thereby removing that which has you stumped.
“When I find I can’t get the gumption to work on an assignment of some sort, it’s because my perfectionist nature is getting in the way and won’t let me actually start, or continue if I’ve already gotten the ball rolling,” Milne admitted. (Amen to that, by the way.) Like many of us, she’s gleaned advice from professional resources that boil down to this: just write.
“I’ve read several interviews and articles in the past that had suggested giving yourself permission to write a crappy draft, even going as far as suggesting that you ask your muse to help you write the worst sentence you possibly can,” she advised. “Once you do that, not only do you see that said crap draft or sentence isn’t the end of the world, but then you’ve officially started. So you might as well keep going.”
Make friends with other creative folks (not necessarily writers)
Meeting new people in general and even making small talk with strangers can kick the cobwebs off of your creativity.
Milner got an idea for a really inventive project just from an inside joke with two of her colleagues, Mitzi Miller, now editor-in-chief of Jet, and Angela Burt-Murray, former editor-in-chief of Essence when they worked together at the now defunct Honey magazine. “We used to have a humor section in the back of Honey, and Angela sent around a message saying that we should make up a mock 800 number that would allow people to hire an angry black woman to deliver custom cuss-outs to people who’d wronged the callers. When the email circled around the office, we could hear the laughter spreading from computer to computer, with everyone shouting out who they’d deliver a custom cuss-out to,” she recalled.
“Finally, Angela and Mitzi came stomping over to my desk and insisted that I call my agent and tell her about a book idea they’d come up with on the spot: a humor book that would give black women a guide for how to use their powers for good. Within two weeks of the pitch, we had a book deal for The Angry Black Woman’s Guide to Life. And that collaboration led to the three of us penning a novel together, The Vow.”
“Talking with friends can not only lead to some wonderful ideas out of some of the most amazing — or inane — discussions, but [friends] can sometimes see where you’re stuck when you can’t,” added Milne. “And if you’re open to being called out on the mat for it, a whole new flood of creativity can come over you.”
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Janelle Harris is a freelance writer in Washington, D.C. She documents her editorial adventures at www.thewriteordiechick.com.
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