How to Be More Creative
When you were a kid, no one needed to teach you how to be more creative. You could pick up a stick and imagine you were a knight battling dragons, a space hero blasting aliens with a ray gun, or a caveman hurling a spear at a charging mammoth. But then you grow up, get a job in an office with buzzing florescent lights, and the most creative decision you get to make all day is which clip art to use in your quarterly sales presentation.
If you feel like you’ve lost your creativity, you can get it back. You can find that spark again. These guides will help you get there. They are primarily aimed at writers, but artists and other creatives will find them helpful as well. Explore thousands of story ideas and learn how to generate your own. Learn how to quiet your inner critic, and why you should avoid farming out your creative work to generative AI.
Creativity Guides:
- Stop Getting Heckled by Your Inner Critic – It’s hard to feel creative when you’re being criticized, and even harder when the criticism is coming from your own brain. Learn to quiet your inner critic and see the magic again.
- Generative AI Harms Creativity – While most writers and artists avoid generative AI, some people are quick to make excuses and take shortcuts. Learn why you should always avoid outsourcing your creativity to generative AI, even just to “generate ideas.”
- How to Get Story Ideas – As a writer, people often ask me how to get story ideas. Here are some tips to get you started on your writing journey.
- How to Avoid Plagiarism When You Steal Ideas – Where do you draw the line between inspiration and theft? By adding your own creativity, you can avoid plagiarism while still taking (inspiration from) other people’s ideas.
- How to Remix Story Ideas – How to borrow characters, plots, and conflicts from other stories, throw them in a blender, and come up with something uniquely your own.
- 2,000 Story Ideas to Inspire Your Next Creation – Stuck? Can’t decide what to write next? Here is my massive list of writing prompts. Explore all the categories, mix and match, and create something entirely your own.
- Horror and Cell Phones – Ideas for horror stories that won’t leave your readers asking “Why don’t they just call for help?”
- 15 Reasons for Your Alien Invasion Story – Ever wonder why aliens might come all the way to Earth? Here are some reasons to explain why the aliens in your story might make the trip.
- Eight Tips for Perfect Character Names – Sure, you could just Google “sapphic pirate queen name generator,” but wouldn’t it feel better to create something yourself? Explore these tips for creating the perfect names for your characters.
- Tasty Writing Prompts for Bug-Eating Stories – Have you ever wanted to write a character that eats bugs, but can’t figure out how to fit it into a story? Or have you’ve written so many bug-eating scenes that you’re starting to run out of ideas? No? You would never have either of these problems and it’s weird to ask? Well, I wrote a list for you anyway. You’re welcome!
- Story Conflict Generator – Random Sci-Fi and Fantasy Dangers – Stuck? Can’t decide what your story’s big conflict is going to be? Try these fun idea generators!
- Creativity Posts – My latest posts about creativity.
