Every so often I lose my creative impetus. That is, I lose the ability to conceive an idea that will develop into something useful or entertaining. It's not so much that I can't expand on an idea, which also happens, but that there is no idea to expand.It is one thing to plant a seed in barren, arid, ground. It is another to have no seeds for even fertile soil. I suppose the end result is the same but it is more frustrating with the latter. Imagine the farmer with rich loam all around him, with farm upon neighboring farm with wheat and corn growing high, standing there with an empty seed bag.
That's me, the seedless one. Not a clue rattling around in my skull. It is not writer's block, not
really. That happens more often for me when I have many "seeds" but no "soil" in which to place them. There is an abundance of these filling up my "Unpub" folder. Each has a sentence or two, maybe a paragraph, but there they sit. Lifeless. The seed planted, growth started, and then it droops and dies. Like my house plants always did. I am good at growing dead things.Once an idea dies, there seems to be nothing to revive it. So, when I have a dearth of ideas, I cannot simply delve into the old leftovers and expand on one of them. They are sterile, useless.
Here's a sampling of the titles:
Annoying Television Scripts
Couplenames
Campaigns
Coincidence
Economy
My Computer Evolution
New Widget
Planned Obsolescence
Redheads
The Dream
All of these died as quickly as I thought them up. I have decided to do something with them. I am creating a folder called "Cemetery" and I will place them there so that they will be left to Rest in Peace with the respect they deserve.What do I do when I am without a clue? One of my favorite things is to go to Google, click on Images, and enter a word. It doesn't matter what word, any word will do. There will be images for it, or related to it. Sometimes those images will then trigger some idea and that idea will grow inside my brain until a concept appears.
Or not.
6 comments:
Yep, Google images, I do that same thing Douglas, and sometimes it leads to a Robot Nine post. Your cemetery corpses mad me think a bit. One man's corpse is anither man's story?
Alan - nicely said, and i totally agree.
this post really reminded me of the process of filmmaking, and how sometimes you have to keep pushing with an idea even though you have no more interest in it. you have put so much into it, and it is still incomplete. there is nothing more disheartening! i actually wrote about it here; http://thestufflifesmadeof.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html if anyone fancies a little insight into the struggles of the filmmaking process. i wrote it about a year ago, and luckily now the film is nearly finished... but it's because i gave up control and passed it on. sometimes it's nice to see how people dress the baby you have birthed.
Alan - It's only fair. I have used your images to trigger concepts in my own mind... of course, they often wander around lost in the catacombs once there but...
Yolanda - My mother was the artiste supreme of panning. She would sometimes take home movies and, when screened, cause nausea galore as the audience tried to follow. I realize that doesn't compare to real filmmaking but it definitely caused me great trauma.
Dress babies? Not till they are at least three.
UnPub folders are a bitch, they sit there and get added to, they never seem to get smaller. Can relate totally Douglas.
AV
http://netherregionoftheearthii.blogspot.com/
http://tomusarcanum.blogspot.com/
I would love to see 'Annoying Television Scripts'. 'Coincidence' is something I link to Dickens' books.
Oh, you big planner. I have too much to do to plan for future posts... The only thing that accumulates for me are the number of things to do before I die. Now that is a pain in the neck.
Michael.
Michael - Annoying Television Scripts is actually complete. Unfortunately, it didn't work out well and reads like a whine. It may get revived, though.
You are too young to have a Bucket List.
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