Eight Steps To Finding Your Creative Zone
I still have a notebook full of notes from a fictional world I created when I was around fifteen years old. I expected it to be a lot more cringe-worthy than it is. Granted, it's not something I'd put up for publication anywhere, but the mass of notes (and recognizing that I only have about half of it) is pretty impressive for its quantity and creativity. I compare that to the slogging I'm doing in my Frayed Knights design sometimes, and think, "Holy crap! Where's that fifteen-year-old when I need him?" That kid could generate a ton of content inside of two weeks.

Of course, that kid also got home from school at 3:00 and had few other responsibilities aside from a couple of daily chores and rushing through his homework at some nebulous time of the evening. He had focus. He didn't care about the quality of his work - he just wrote for himself, and then would decide later whether or not to share parts of it with close friends who wouldn't really care one way or another.

Rotten kid.

Much of the time, I struggle a lot more with the creative side than I ever did back then. I am not really a believer in "writer's block" per se... but creativity is something that's not often easy to summon up on demand. Whether it's writing articles for this blog, short stories, snarky dialog for the Frayed Knights and their friends, coming up with weekly D&D adventures, or whatever - there are sometimes where it takes some effort to make things flow. Sometimes it takes a while. And sometimes it just comes like a flood.

So I get jealous of my fifteen-year-old self. He was in the zone all the time, even when his mind was supposed to be on something else. That probably explains his grades....

So I talked to a couple of creative friends of mine, and we compared notes. What works? How do we get ourselves in the zone? There are a few common threads:

#1 - Lack of Interruptions or Distractions: Interruptions tend kill productivity no matter what you are doing. One trick is to find (or designate) a time, place, and situation relatively free of interruptions. Late at night, early in the morning, a closed door to the office...whatever. A friend of mine says she tried to have a full tummy and an empty bladder when she gets started to avoid interruptions of a biological nature. Web-surfing, You-Tubing, and instant messaging are probably worse crimes than garden-variety interruptions for killing creative time. Again - focus is critical.

#2 - Music: Music (optionally with a good pair of noise-reduction headphones) can also help cut out distractions. And it can also get you in the right "mood" or frame of mind. The music should be something familiar and comfortable that can play in the background without attracting your attention.

#3 - Habit: Your brain responds to habit and time schedules as much as any other part of he body. Establishing that same time, place, and collection of music every day for your creative endeavors can really help.

#4 - Warm Up: One trick I've found is that creative work doesn't usually flow until I've "primed the pump" a bit. I find myself writing crap until something clicks and I get in the zone. I remember creative writing classes often had an exercise or something to do for the first five or ten minutes to "get things started." In fact, the "interviews" I did with the characters for Frayed Knights originated from these exercises. (See interviews with Dirk, Arianna, Benjamin, and Chloe). It really does work - take some time to work until you feel like working!

#5 - Keep a Notebook Handy: Another thing I've found is that creativity can strike at any time, in any place. Keeping a notebook handy to write down ideas works two ways. First of all - obviously, it allows you to record your ideas before you forget them (and I do - all the time!). Then, when you have your time to work on them, you have a list of ideas you can dive into and expand upon. Secondly, and more subtly, it acts as a reminder to your subconscious that you are constantly seeking creative ideas. Your mind will strive to meet your expectations.

#6 - Recognize Your Creative Patterns: My best ideas come in the form of isolated scenes or vignettes. Or snippets of dialog. The "work" part of the creative process comes in trying to string these ideas together. Sometimes it feels like trying to rationalize and explain the plot of a half-remembered dream. But when I recognize that and try to work with this as a strength, rather than trying to force myself to only come up with fully-formed ideas, I find it's easier to get the ideas flowing.

#7 - Finding Good Sounding Boards: My wife and several friends of mine have proven to be excellent sounding boards for ideas. Oftentimes, my best ideas come when I'm bouncing some less-than-adequate ideas off them. They make suggestions, get my brain going in other directions, and the ideas just start flowing. This isn't so good for the "work" phase of getting into the creative zone, but it's very valuable for refining concepts during the "gestation period." Be careful - it's rarely clear who came up with what part of some idea when you are doing this, so make sure you are working with people you can trust.

#8 - Practice Makes Perfect: I've also found that creativity - like just about everything else in life - improves with practice and frequent exercise. Don't give up too early. And once you establish the habit, don't give it up once your immediate task is complete!

In recent years, I've found that taking a walk by the river or lake at lunch time, notebook in hand and iPod playing the right music, helps me both with generating new ideas and with getting some well-needed exercise. I've also found repeatedly that just sitting with the music playing "trying" to come up with ideas in a vacuum fails me. I tend to do far better when I'm actively working and writing, trying to put the temporarily non-existant ideas down on paper.

I've found these tips have really helped me when I needed help (which is most of the time). What works for you? How do you get into your "creative zone" with whatever it is you do?

Labels: Game Design, productivity

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