Tuesday, April 10, 2012 # 9:45 PM
Unlocking Creativity
UNLOCKING CREATIVITY
Okay. I am working on a new play for our summer touring season of shows for young audiences. I'm on schedule with the deadline I have set for myself of May 1st to finish the play. That way our actors have enough time to rehearse the show before our first performance in June. About one-third of the way into the play, I hit a roadblock or should I say 'writer's block'. A song, or what I hoped to be a song. It is a common problem with writing this type of play for children. The song has to be short, fun, witty, catchy, a little silly, but still has to impart some information and move the story forward. I could have left it and come back to the lyrics later, but I find it difficult on the first draft to leave a block out of the story like that. Silly, I know, but that's the way I write for better or worse.
I tried and tried to work the problem. Dragged out information from Google, Wikipedia, and rhyming dictionaries, but nothing was coming. My brain was a dry well. One day went by then two and I was still staring at the same page. I knew what I wanted to happen after this section, but I couldn't go on without the connecting puzzle piece.
While driving to an appointment on the second day I was listening to a radio talk show. They were interviewing a man who had written a book on the nature of creativity in the brain. He said creative people are average people who have an epiphany about something, can recognize it and respond to it. I kind of knew that part. Like many writers or artists I have a lot of epiphanies - usually in the middle of the night or in the shower unfortunately when I don't have a paper and pencil handy. I have too many epiphanies. They crowd my brain and keep me from having a decent, coherent conversation with anyone. I knew about that. But the gentleman on the radio had some other interesting facts about creativity.
He said scientists could tell when an epiphany is coming by the number of Alpha waves in the brain. It seems epiphanies come when the impulse inhibitors of the brain are calmed or disabled and the Alpha waves take over. The key is to relax. Walk away from the problem. Forget the deadlines and don't stress about it. It seems counter to every lesson about perseverance and tenacity, but one can't argue with the EEG's. The author on the radio suggested taking a small drink or using another similar relaxing substance. Not wanting to turn into Earnest Hemmingway or Edgar Alan Poe, I didn't think using alcohol was a good option for me. But the idea of going for a walk or taking a nap could work. I do often get my best ideas when I'm half asleep. This time, however, I'd have a pen and paper ready. Sure enough while I was sleepily putting away the laundry my epiphany arrived. I bolted downstairs and typed the lyrics into my computer before they had a chance to scatter among the other images and phrases caught in my brain's neuron whirlpool.
Lyrics recorded, I could finally move on to the next scene and the next sequence of the story. I wish I could have caught the name of the gentleman they were interviewing. Whoever he is, I owe him many thanks for the relaxing hours ahead and their accompanying epiphanies.
Labels: creativity, epiphanies, new play, relaxation and creativitiy, writer's block, writing techniques
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