Mitch Ditkoff's article, 14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas, contains, obviously enough, just that: fourteen basic methods which one can use to aid their own creative process. Some of the insights--and explanatory metaphors--that are made, offer true, yet simple, bits of wisdom pertaining to both creativity in general and the practice of idea-generation.
Allow me to include a brief discussion of three of the techniques discussed within the article, three which I found personally rather interesting.
The first means of getting ideas that is given is also perhaps one of the easiest to do, as well as one of the most simplistic: "follow your fascination." Basically, you can just go ahead with something you find interesting--something that draws your mind towards it--and work from there. I like to think of this as an extremely valid piece of advice. No matter what it is that you're trying to create, having a personal fondness for it makes the process of creating it all the more worthwhile and successful. Focusing on things you already consider interesting as examples gives the idea itself much more of an emotional grounding, and prior knowledge of these fascinating subjects can prove irrefutably useful when it comes to filling in the details. As far as attempting to implement this method into my own Creative Life, it's something that I can definitely see myself trying to do more of. Oftentimes, the unfamiliarity of a project setting proves, to me, to be a major inspirational turn-off, so I think that taking a more personal approach would be nothing but beneficial.
Another easy, very valid suggestion is just to "take a break." Sometimes, after working on a project for an extended period of time, I'll end up finding myself so bogged down and overwhelmed that I can't get anything done at all. Stopping to relax and forget about things for a bit, if only every once in while, can provide an excellent means of refreshing oneself, to the point where an idea will often happen rather quickly when returning to the task at hand. Plus, I've noticed that while I'm not wholly concentrating on something--while taking a break, for instance--is when I have a tendency to get the best ideas for it.
The last piece of idea-generating advice from this article that I would like to mention is to "notice and challenge existing patterns and trends." The author states that having the ability to reconfigure trends into something else--be it something similar, or entirely new--is one of the most useful assets to a creative mind. I have to agree wholeheartedly. To do nothing more than recreate what's already successful is the first step towards turning a project into utter garbage; instead, opt to modify it to the point where your work comes out as original. This is definitely something that I can strive to do with my own ideas. For example: with a little more research into what's currently popular, I can gain insight into what to use as a basis, and work in bits of my own creative flair until my piece presents a direct challenge--or opposition, if you will--to the existing market. People like to see something new, and if everyone is monopolizing off of what's already successful, it presents the best opportunity to make a radical change.
Each technique in the article gives a task to practice what was described. I'm going to respond to one of these, for method number three: "Tolerate Ambiguity."
The question asks, "What new idea of yours is bubbling on the brink of breakthrough? In what ways can you stay with it, even if something in you is impatient for a breakthrough?"
For me, at least, I've been working on putting together a story for a number of years now, and have tried multiple times to find the best way to tell it--where to start from, what kind of writing style to use, how best to offer descriptions of character and setting, etc.--to no avail. I've certainly been impatient for a breakthrough recently, and have been rather disappointed on the lack of success in my efforts. To curb my inherent frustration, I've been trying to express myself through other outlets, and have found that to be the best way of keeping my drive to complete the work. By utilizing other types of media, such as a Visual Novel type computer game, instead of basic written form, I've discovered that I can get the story across a little easier. Another thing could be to try to express it through the perspective of a different character, and see which comes across as better to me.
All in all, I found this to be a very enlightening article, and would assuredly like to try out the techniques given.
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