Scratching
It’s not about an itch exactly, although it is rather a compulsive activity. I’m reading Twyla Tharp’s book, The Creative Habit, at the moment, and scratching is the word she uses to describe a particular part of the creative process – right at the beginning.
It’s also called noodling, which is perhaps a more attractive word for it, and it’s a close relative of daydreaming – although slightly more active and focussed.
It’s no good sitting around and waiting for the Muse to show up – finding and developing ideas is an active process. Ideas are all around – you can find them in books, in other forms of art, overheard snippets of converation, or outside in the great wide open.
There are also some fun tools that can help to get you started. Online story prompts can be found – use google or try this one. You can use tarot cards. Try the Creative Process spread here, with the William Blake cards.
Oblique Strategies designed by Brian Eno is one I love to use. I have a box of cards here, or they can also be found online.
Or you can just pick up a random book, and open it to find a word or phrase and follow where that leads you.
Just remember the one cardinal rule – whatever you go with it has to be something that really matters to you, that fires up your imagination and touches your emotions. If it doesn’t matter to you, you’ll get bored and never follow through – and if it doesn’t matter to you, why would it ever matter to anyone else?
But one idea on it’s own isn’t enough. For an idea to really take root and develop, it somehow needs to collide with another idea – and the combination just sometimes has a real spark of life and energy that will hopefully be enough to inspire you all through the hard work of actually working with the idea, getting it down on to paper and creating something new.
One difficulty is that it’s quite an enjoyable process, scratching. From the outside it’s impossible to distinguish it from procrastination. Lots of writers can get stuck in the research stage, and I know I’m at risk of being one of them. It’s one reason why I’m putting off my long planned historical novel – until I have more confidence that I have the skills to complete a novel length project.
Where do you find inspiration?
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_b.png?x-id=9ecd6ec3-ff98-4731-b620-9a6ade08baeb)
About Ann GodridgeAnn Godridge has just completed her first crime novel, The Mermaid's Shroud, and has started work on the sequel. Her story the Tree of Knowledge was shortlisted for the Asham Award. She writes about writing and sometimes about textile arts at her blogStraw into Gold. You can find out more about her here - About Ann G.
View all posts by Ann Godridge →
10 Responses to Scratching
All that jazz – All in A Day
Review of: Cousin Alice Jazz Music by Cousin Alice: Elaine Sturgess Reviewed by: Elaine Sturgess Rating: 5 On January 21, 2012 Last modified: January 30, 2012 Summary: What makes Alice so distinctive is her wonderfully smokey voice, a quality that furniture designer William Yeoward found so arresting at a concert she was performing for the [...]
Me too, Morag
I'm thinking of a new life direction, as a pro-procrastination coach
I LOVE the idea of a useful process that's difficult to distinguish from procrastination!!
As long as the post doesn't involve too much work, I'd be interested in that, too!
Hmmm. I have my own confession to make here… Last year one of my OU homework assignments was to make a note of some overheard dialogue and turn it into a scene for a script.
So you can guess where I was when I heard something funny that I just had to record straight away…yep, knickers round ankles, scrabbling away in my bag for notebook and pen…
In my defence it wasn't a busy day at the garden centre…
In stitches now, thank you, ladies
Sorry Ida… It could get a little intimidating in there, thinking someone behind closed door might be taking notes
Don't laugh, but I often get good ideas when on the loo! Yet that's hardly what you'd call an inspiring environment – not in the poetic sense, anyway. Perhaps it's more to do with being isolated in a very small, visually bland space with nothing to distract me … well, other than perhaps someone banging on the door shouting that I've been in there for 15 minutes and there's a long queue of ladies waiting outside with their legs crossed…..
Twitter: SuzeStMWrites
Why don't you simply keep a small voice activated recorder in your pocket, Ann? They only cost about £30 and are invaluable for this sort of thing (including recording ideas that come in the night).
I shouldn't laugh, but the thought of a sound-activated recorder in a ladies' toilet cubicle will keep a smutty little smile on my face all day … sorry Morag, it IS a good idea!! Ignore me … <rofl>
Twitter: SuzeStMWrites
I am trying not to visualise that but with great difficulty..LOL