The Creation of Creativity

I've put a lot of thought into my thoughts, rather unsurprisingly. The real shock though, is that with almost all my writing hardly any planning is involved. Before I write anything there's always some sort of epiphany. A spark of inspiration. My novel ideas come at the oddest times, in the simplest of places-- seemingly brought on by nothing in particular.

I owe it all to my creativity.


So where does it come from? Those who have read my work often echo that question. How does my mind come up with such unique and interesting stuff? Why am I able to create fantasy from nothingness? Well, I think it's just an innate ability. Not to sound arrogant or anything. Creativity is something, I believe, you either have or you don't. As long as your parents didn't quash your playful spirit during your youth, your imagination should grow with you.

Honestly, I think I owe much of my creativity to the video games I played as a kid. As lame that might sound to some people, it really isn't something to be ashamed of. Day after day, my budding brain found itself dropped into colorful worlds brimming with whimsy and awe. Challenges awaited me at every corner, constantly testing my patience and bolstering my critical thinking ability. The many silent protagonists whose shoes I filled served as my role models, and the villains I faced became my teachers. Beyond fostering my love for adventure and storytelling, video games showed me the importance of fighting for what you believe in... and your love.

But there's certainly other factors. To say I owe all my creativity to shunning the outside word and playing videogames would just be unfair. Toys, movies and TV shows also had their hand in the creation of my creativity. My love for detective stories started with a cartoon that I absolutely adored and watched over and over. (later to be discovered as an anime- and a Miyzaki one at that). Sherlock Hound, it was called. It starred the cast of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes in a re-imagining of the classic tales. The only difference? They were cast as humanoid dogs! By extension, my favorite Disney movie became The Great Mouse Detective. Same concept, only with mice. Can you guess what my favorite show is now? HINT: No, it's not that god awful show Elementary where Watson is an Asian woman and Moriarty is Irene Adler...   It's the BBC hit SHERLOCK. Love me some Mofat writing!


Ahem...

But I digress.


Creativity is not formed solely in childhood though. It's formed by how you respond to your average day-to-day. All throughout my life I would constantly be thinking of fascinating and unreal alternatives about scenarios and such. I love fabricating identities to complete strangers, or messing around with friends. I make weird characters and cool stories up for no other purpose than to amuse myself. Acting them out and telling them (respectively), just so I can see the reactions on the faces of others. Now that I'm a writer, I don't feed the need to hoodwink random people, getting my fill of creative expression and then some. But my creativity grows nevertheless. Writing boosts my creativity exponentially.


So don't display, if you find your brain trapped in concrete. The path to seeing the abstract is a zany zigzag, and it runs beside the straight path we walk day to day. It's just a hop away and a hop back, so don't be afraid to create some creativity every now and then.


- B