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“The painter has the universe in his mind and hands.” Leonardo da Vinci
I’ve recently been inspired to write about and discuss with you guys the “creative” part in “creative writing”. So here it goes.
Ever since I had learned how to read and jumped into the world of fiction, my main disappointment and annoyance came from how boring and predictable books where.
I remember telling my siblings, “These authors have the freedom to write anything, yet they are all writing the same overdone tropes and characters we’ve seen hundreds of times.”
I just couldn’t understand it.
Consequently, I often found myself reading books and then constructing elaborate headcanons in my mind, where truly intriguing things would transpire (often involving secret identities, betrayals, and ill-fated late-night heists lol).
Although I was perplexed by the famine of creativity at the time, I soon discovered the answer to this question when I tried my own hand at writing. It’s comfortable. It’s comfortable to stick with what you know and not venture beyond those boundaries.
It’s far easier and less risky to write about a farm boy yearning for something greater when you’ve grown up watching Star Wars on repeat. It’s much simpler to create a character suspiciously resembling yourself rather than crafting a completely new individual whose only resemblance to you is their possession of ten fingers.
As writers, I believe we often impose unnecessary limitations on ourselves. Whether consciously or unconsciously, we keep our heads down, staying within the confines of the familiar. We suppress our best ideas, waiting for a time when we’re “more experienced.” We settle for the initial thoughts that come to mind instead of delving deeper. We rely heavily on tropes and clichés because “What else could there be?”
But why play it so safe? Sure, I may not be able to fly in physical reality, but why not in the realm of imagination? Why limit myself in a limitless world? The world of imagination? The world of artists?
That’s the joy of being an artist and the beauty of the God-given ability to dream, imagine, and create. To see beyond our human eyes and glimpse something much grander. To journey to nonexistent worlds, befriend Jabberwockies, and weave stories surpassing even the wildest of dreams.
I believe another way in which writers (myself included) limit themselves is by viewing our writing inspirations—J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Neil Gaiman, Brandon Sanderson, to name a few—as the ultimate goal to achieve.
We think, “Oh, to write as wonderfully as they do!” But what if, instead of idolizing our inspirations, we viewed them as launching pads to soar even higher?
Consider how young chess players study their predecessors. They learn and analyze the strategies of the greats not to emulate them, but ultimately to surpass them in a match. It’s not uncommon for a once-renowned chess player to be defeated by someone decades their junior. Not because the young player was inherently superior, but because they could study the greats that the older player couldn’t. The young chess players learned in a day what the older chess players took their whole life to learn.
If you read some of the earliest works of fiction, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, you can see that the art of storytelling has come a long way.
Just as each generation of writers builds upon the foundations laid by their predecessors, we too should strive to learn from our favorite authors. Not to replicate them, but to utilize their wisdom as we fly to even greater heights.
Gold Mining
Now, let me share what sparked the inspiration this post, —the idea that imagination serves as the raw material, be it gold, bronze, steel, or even plastic, and writing techniques act as the tools that refine this material into jewelry.
I’ve been contemplating how much emphasis is placed on the technical aspects of writing while the imaginative, creative act itself is often overlooked in writing blogs and communities.
Perhaps this is because there isn’t much to be said about the act of imagination—it’s something you simply do. There’s not much to dissect.
Yet, because it’s rarely discussed, I feel like its significance is often overlooked. In my view, the imaginative act of writing is the heart of it all, serving as the raw material, so to speak.
Your imagination represents the precious metal, while writing techniques are the tools skillfully employed to mold and shape it into something extraordinary.
Both elements are crucial for crafting a compelling story, but if you neglect the creative imagination, you’ll end up with a plastic crown that won’t even last through a half-day at a five-year-old’s Minecraft-themed birthday party.
Anyways, these are some of the thoughts I’ve been pondering as of late. There is still a lot I’m thinking through, but I’d love to hear what your thoughts and opinions are on this topic of creativity!
Being writers yourselves, you are probably well-acquainted with these dear scallywags imagination and creativity, so I’d love to know your thoughts, experiences, and even struggles and revelations you’ve had surrounding them.
Oh my goodness… just… YES!!
I can’t wait to discuss this with you and everyone else. I don’t have time now, but I’ll definitely get on tomorrow and share some thoughts! 😄
Write what should not be forgotten. — Isabel Allende
Hi Kathleen! Great topic, and wonderful point!
Something I think many writers will get mixed up is creativity vs originality. Many writers do aspire to make something different to call their own, but then to be their own, it can’t be like anything else that already existed, right? So eventually you’ll find a story about… a rabbit, no, a space rabbit that can make… ehh, that’s already been done, can’t do this, mmm… trombone noises? Not that a story about a space rabbit that can make trombone noises can’t be interesting if written well, but simply that you’ll often find at this point that everything else has been sacrificed to make the story unique. This isn’t creativity at all, but the opposite.
Instead of looking up to what could be, your looking down at what already is, and trying to avoid it. As you pointed out wonderfully, our inspirations should be launchpads to new heights, not set markers to be climbed towards to be considered a success. Many people I think are worse than trying to climb to the level of the inspiration, because instead, they aren’t climbing or launching, they’re trying to be at the same altitude as the inspiration, without touching the inspiration, trying to float with no form of thrust or foundation.
Creativity does not care about what has or hasn’t been done, it embraces all possibility. Then it can be tempered into whatever is desired using literary tools as you’ve mentioned, then it will ultimately become something new.
Sometimes that something new will have the famer boy wanting more out of life, then an old man with a long beard comes and gives the chance, the boy hesitates, only to find his home destroyed, forcing him into this crazy adventure, even though that story has been told a million times before. Sometimes that something new will instead be so unseen before that it radically changes the fundamentals of storytelling as a whole.
The first may be seen as not something new, but it can be, being written from an angle yet to be seen. That being said, I still think clichés should be generally avoided, because they often don’t arise out of creative merit, but out of comfort as you’ve pointed out. Even if it is out of artistic merit, it is a path that has been treaded for so long that people will moan by the first step, so perhaps it is time to tread a bit further down to see what else there is, but if your going to dive into the bushes, dive into the bushes because you saw something there that honestly captivates you, not because your worried that your standing on the same ground someone else once stood on.
This is something I struggle with often, and it’s taken me a while to be more open to taking inspiration when it comes, even when I realize it’s been done before in some shape or form, because what we all need to realize, is that it has all been done before in some shape or form. At least that’s my current standpoint.
He is perfect in Justice, yet He is perfect in Mercy, even when we fail Him. For this, He is good.
Great topic! I’ve felt the same way.
One of the examples of this topic is one of the books that inspired me to write, the city of ember. I loved the first book, and it has that kind of ‘awe’ feeling, the world is just too cool and so are the adventures. In the sequel, when the characters are no longer underground, they emerge to just… a bland world to become accustom too. The new character aren’t memorable, and it just wasn’t fun to me. There was so much room for an entirely new place, plot, and world building, but I think the author was playing it safe. I totally agree with what you are saying, and I think that there needs to be more diversity in books. Something that I have noticed is that the more creative a idea is, the harder you have to work to make it happen. I have this second writing style I go into when I work on my side project (It’s a fantasy). It has a more of train-of-thought writing style, as if you are reading a ramble string of the characters thoughts. I really like it, but it needs a lot of work and anybody who read might think it was a mess. So it’s harder, but it’s different.
I understand what you are saying about creating characters like yourself, it’s a comfort zone kind of thing. For me, it depends. I in some cases think that some people try to write things different than there own experience when they are not yet mature enough to understand how to write it. In that case, you should stick to your own emotional experience. For instance, it would take a number of years of just living life to understand how to properly portray a abusive relationship if you have never seen anything of the sort or experienced a taste of it. If you have talked to people with the experience, that can take the place. Or just life experience, you can learn as you get older. I write characters a bit like myself because I can better express emotions I have felt. Also, I haven’t met mny people (I’m pretty isolated) so I wouldn’t know how to write much more.
I was looking at a publishers website awhile back, and I noticed for submitions they wanted you to say what books your was like. I think that’s just no fun, because your’s is supposed to be different. I mean what am I supposed to say, “The comic style and humor of haikyuu, touch of romance and homemaking like in little women, the vibe of city of ember, lone adventurer vibe of… my life?” I mean the point is to be different, so why should it be the same? I don’t think that above description sounds professional, but it sound like my series! XD
I’ve also felt unsure about plot structures, they just seem to much like a manual. Maybe there is a better way to do it. I’m not saying to abandon the hero’s journey, it’s a good structure but it’s so similar. I mean does every book have to meet the mentor as the next starting stage? Idk, I think that somebody could make up something better. It seems more like a constraint to me.
へびは かっこいい です！
Totally! Look forward to reading your thoughts.
“Not that a story about a space rabbit that can make trombone noises can’t be interesting if written well, but simply that you’ll often find at this point that everything else has been sacrificed to make the story unique. This isn’t creativity at all, but the opposite.”
100%. Really great point. Being original just for the sake of being original, is missing the whole point of creativity.
What you pointed out about cliches is also a great point. I don’t think cliches or tropes are inherently bad, however they are more than not by-products of an author who lacks creativity. And its the absence of creativity that is what makes the story bland. Not necessarily the cliches themselves. Correlation not causation type of thing.
“This is something I struggle with often, and it’s taken me a while to be more open to taking inspiration when it comes, even when I realize it’s been done before in some shape or form, because what we all need to realize, is that it has all been done before in some shape or form.”
I can really relate to this. A few of my siblings and I write stories together, and in the past we used to be so scared of writing something even remotely unoriginal that we became paralyzed and never got anywhere with our writing.
However, we eventually came to a realization: our focus was misplaced all along! The realization linked to what I mentioned above that tropes and clichés aren’t inherently negative, but they instead often indicate a deeper issue. (Lack of creativity.)
Once we shifted our mindset towards pursuing creativity instead of avoiding predictability, everything changed. We started prioritizing creativity, embracing the endless possibilities, and having fun in the exploration of the wild and unconventional. We discovered that by doing so, our stories naturally became fresh and imaginative, without having to force ourselves to write about space bunnies, haha.
Even if our narratives occasionally incorporated a few tropey or cliché elements, it wasn’t an issue as they served the overall story effectively. The key was that we had stumbled upon them through our creative endeavors, rather than resorting to safe and predictable choices.
I haven’t read the Story Embers books, but I’ve always loved the movie. Like you mentioned, it always had this mystery and “awe” feeling surrounding the whole world and story.
It’s interesting how you bring up the sequels being a let down, as I think creativity plays a part in why so many sequels fail to hold candle to the original.
When an author first starts off a series, they are probably excited and energetic, buzzing with all the countless possibilities of entering an entirely new world. This passion and creativity fuels their first book.
However, once they reach the second book its not as fresh, not as exciting. They may also be a bit weighed down by the public’s response to the first book. Whether that be being weighed down by the negative responses dulling their flame, or the positive responses which add the weight of expectations for the second book to match or out-do the first book.
This is why sequels are so tricky. It really tests your ability to build off of and expand on the first book while adding in new creative ideas that breaths new life to the narrative, world, and characters. (I’m going to be seeing the sequel to Into the Spiderverse tomorrow so I look forward to seeing how the writers handle these issues in this series).
I understand what you are saying about creating characters like yourself, it’s a comfort zone kind of thing. For me, it depends. I in some cases think that some people try to write things different than there own experience when they are not yet mature enough to understand how to write it. In that case, you should stick to your own emotional experience.
This is such an interesting and important topic. To write or not write from experience? I honestly have so much to say about this that I may make a post dedicated to this because again, it can be a tricky subject especially considering topic of writing about mature topics such as abuse.
All in all I think being a writer, like being a actor, requires great honesty, and great empathy. Without it, you are going to run into a lot of issues when writing characters who differ from yourself. Which, inevitably happens when you have a full cast of characters with individual personalities and backgrounds.
Plot-structure, which you mentioned, is also a interesting topic that I’ve been thinking about lately as well. I personally believe each story needs a least some structure to give the story a sense of direction and progression. However, how much room you have within that structure to explore unconventional storylines, and whether you can ever get away with breaking basic plot-structure is an interesting discussion that I would love to delve into.
But for now I think I need to log-off and get to bed lol.
Man, your post has inspired an avalanche of ideas, questions, and thoughts in my mind, haha. I look forward to talking about theses things further!
I totally agree. And personally, I don’t think a series should ever be unless it was originally planned to be one. If you plan on just doing one, like you said it might not be as bright and ecxiting afterwards. And if it’s l=not, I say move on to one of the many other ideas that have been on the backburner! Series are always better planed together imo because you can do some really long term foreshadowing– my favorite manga series (45 books long) has a volume 42 event foreshadowed in like volume 4 or something 😬 that could never happen without it being planned for a long time before.
Yeah, with writing from experience, I’d say for me it’s gone pretty well. Even when I was an extremely new writer, I had people telling me my emotional scenes made them tear up. Sure, I’d say they were good, but I had personal experience with what I was writing about, so it just really shone. I can’t write quite like that with romance for instance because well… I haven’t had much of that irl lol! The one problem I have encountered with this is that you have too keep the ideas separate. If there is a theme very prevalent atm in my ‘life story’ I tend to give it to a character, which is ok, but I have to make sure it doesn’t effect every character arc I’m writing, just because it’s what I’m currently thinking about. Otherwise, all the arcs become too similar.
I think plot structures are necessary, but I can’t say it doesn’t bug me when people advertise them as a form of ‘recipe’ anyone can follow to make a great book. It’s a great thing to fall back on, but idk… I don’t like it when it becomes too systematic.
I’m so glad my post inspired you lol!
Oh and yeah… across the spiderverse looks really good, I’m trying to keep myself from watching spoilers… XD
へびは かっこいい です！
100%. Really great point. Being original just for the sake of being original, is missing the whole point of creativity.
What you pointed out about cliches is also a great point. I don’t think cliches or tropes are inherently bad, however they are more than not by-products of an author who lacks creativity. And its the absence of creativity that is what makes the story bland. Not necessarily the cliches themselves. Correlation not causation type of thing.
Absolutely, I like how you put it as correlation not causation, because unfortunately people take it as causation too often, and that’s when it becomes difficult to use the overused clichés you might feel specifically are needed for the story. One example I think of is a friend of mine is trying to write this big epic graphic novel series. He asks me a lot on my thoughts on his worldbuilding ideas and writing. One time he actually wanted to add unicorns to his world, and I really struggled with how to respond.
I really wanted to say ‘Yes! Go for it, they could make a really cool addition, and there’s so many unexplored ideas with what a unicorn really is that you could get into.’ But the issue is that unicorns are not only cliché through correlation, but are also very often correlated to “girly” things, and it might ruin the more serious tone he’s intending for a lot of people that view it that way. He actually pointed out that unicorns historically were more of a serious idea, which is true, but that’s not the point, because your writing for people that exist today and tomorrow, not yesterday. Ultimately, if this is the reason for avoiding unicorns though, then that gets into avoiding clichés because they are clichés, which shouldn’t be the case. I ultimately told him that if he wants to, he should most definitely add unicorns, because there is a lot he could still do with the idea, but its hard because there is still that correlation to other less serious ideas that might mess with the story’s tone. Though of course that’s just how I see it, and many will be able to take it seriously without any problem, like if it is the tone of DnD, or any high fantasy, it makes sense, because anything goes.
That’s awesome that you and your siblings were able to break that barrier! It’s actually really funny how I ended up coming up with my current worldbuilding project, because it also came from a sudden transition from originality to creativity.
I made a language, called Lasi’el, but I wanted a cool world for my language (I’m a Tolkien I know🤣😅) I was trying to think of what would be something unique and original to my world. My mind actually continually kept going to floating islands, and I kept getting mad at myself because how much more unoriginal can you get than floating islands? However, I eventually entertained the thought for only a moment, then I came up with a world not of floating islands, but a world of densely clustered planetoids, each with their own gravitational field. I then moved on to create a whole world based off of this idea, and eventually a whole universe I’m working on. I thought that floating islands was an off limits idea, because it was already so well explored, but once I let myself go, it only took a moment to erupt with completely new ideas and concepts. I’ve seen planetoids also before used to a lesser extent, like in The Little Prince or Super Mario Galaxy, but not quite in the way I’m doing it, but that’s not the point, because I was finally able to let myself think creatively, instead of originally.
He is perfect in Justice, yet He is perfect in Mercy, even when we fail Him. For this, He is good.
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