CREATIVITY SPECIAL | by SHERRY STRIPLING

GUIDELINES FOR CREATIVITY FOR WRITERS reminds me of an editor who pounded his fist and shouted, “By God, if you people don’t start writing more positive, upbeat stories, heads are going to roll!”

That was not the foreplay I needed for happy writing. The same is true with creativity: Being in the right mood is essential. No need for low lights or soft music, but trust is an aphrodisiac for imagination.

Tip No 1: Find the mood

Deadlines kill open thought. Whether you’re writing a story for family archives or more formal venues, allow yourself time to sidle up to a project to catch creativity by surprise.

Advice: Do the hard work of slugging out a version. Then come back fresh.

Tip No. 2: Rip it up and start over

It was dreck anyway, wasn’t it? Now re-tell the story without stopping, as you would at a party, to release creative flow. Go back and tighten.

Advice: As Annie Lamott writes in “Bird by Bird: Some Instruction on Writing and Life”: “Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor.”

Tip No. 3: Mind map

Desperate? Been there many times. Write down a word or phrase that captures the heart of your story. Then, without stopping, scribble thoughts related to that idea. Your last thought is often your entry point.

Advice: Let it flow, let it flow, let it flow.

Tip No. 4: Find a peculiar perch

Take an off-angled whack at telling the story. It worked for me when I captured the creative, out-there Nancy Nipples for a newspaper story in three-act play form. And when I looked at Seattle in 1900 as if the “Y2K” debacle took me back in time instead of my computer. (Never mind when it didn’t work.)

Advice: Ask yourself, what would Timothy Leary do?