The Art of Creative Thinking - Book Review

In the introduction to The Art of Creative Thinking by Rod Judkins, he discusses how "at school, creativity was suppressed and crushed..." At art college he found the opposite.  "There was no emphasis on getting it 'right'.  All around me were people experimenting for the sheer hell of it, doing things that made  no sense - or rather doing things because they made no sense. "

The book is intended to be an overview of many useful creative-thinking techniques, and an examination of the thought processes and methods creative people use and which can be used to help everyone.

I found the many short yet insightful chapters to be a great boost, particularly when your creativity is running low or you feel the need for inspiration.  There are too many to mention - here are extracts from a few that stood out for me:

Be positive about negatives

If others respond strongly to something you've done, that's positive, even if the reaction is negative.  What should concern you more than anything is no reaction whatsoever.

Be mature enough to be childish

The future belongs to those who can reconnect with play.  It is the child in you that is creative, not the adult.  Whatever you're doing, do it as if for the first time.  To children, there is no last time.  Every time is the first time.

The book includes over 80 of these types of creative-thinking techniques, something for everyone regardless of whether or not you think you are creative.  The quotes at the end of each chapter add a quirky touch.

Ideas into Books - a Short Story

On 22nd June, I was invited to give a talk at Northants Writers' Ink, by Mike Richards, the group's Chair. Northants Writers' Ink is a creative writing group based in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, which meets every three weeks from 7-10pm.  I became a member in February this year.

For my talk Ideas into Books, I chose the format of the short story, which meant getting to the point immediately.  I talked about the three books I edited and published, and how I approached writing the Grants for the Arts funding application for the first anthology, Brown Eyes. I then went on to talk about the journey of those books: the launches, the poetry readings/performances and how the monthly Shangwe Poetry Nights at the Poetry Cafe, Covent Garden, London, evolved.

Back-story was drip-fed at appropriate times and covered my community development work and volunteer work experiences in the 1990s that contributed towards enabling me to get to grips with a tough Arts Council bid. The 60-minute talk soon became an interactive one, which was what I was hoping for and was well received by the six group members.  I thoroughly enjoyed sharing my writing journey and thought the short story format worked particularly well.

Still a Tree

I am back!   Over the past months, I have been beautifully 'distracted' by participating in a few wonderful online courses.  I am thoroughly immersed into the poetry zone of writing and enjoying every minute. There has been a mix of joy and surprise as the writing of a poem takes me on a fascinating journey with my mind and my pen!

First up was How Writers Write Poetry 2015, an International Writing Programme from the University of Iowa, which offered an interactive progression through the principles and practice of writing poetry.  This free online course presented a curated collection of short, intimate talks on craft by two dozen acclaimed poets. Craft topics included persona, note booking, the line, the turn, form, and the lyric. The talks were designed for beginning poets just starting to put words on a page as well as for advanced poets looking for new entry points,  engagement with process, or teaching tips.

This is also where I came across the pantoum poem. The pantoum poem is a poem of any length composed of four-line stanzas.  In each stanza, the second and fourth lines of each stanza serve as the first and third lines of the next stanza.  The last line of a pantoum is generally the same as the first line.  Believe it or not, there is a sense of freedom when writing in this form as it removes certain elements of choice for you as a poet.

Here is a link to my first pantoum poem, now published on Jackee Holder's wonderful tree blog:

Still a Tree

Currently, I am participating in House and Universe: the Poetry of Home and Domestic Objects, an online course run by the Poetry School.  The course involves studying contemporary poems set in kitchens, bathrooms, sitting rooms, bedrooms, gardens, and contemplating what this idea of home means. I will be exploring the drama in domesticity, the importance of objects and possessions, the pull of memory and nostalgia, and the ideas of privacy and space.  The aim is to create a 'house of poems' of my own.

Happy Writing!

Why I like The Paris Review

Image from The Paris Review

The Paris Review is a literary magazine founded in Paris by Harold L. Humes, Peter Mathiessen and George Plimpton in 1953. The magazine began with a simple editorial mission - to emphasise creative work - fiction and poetry - so long as they are good.

What I particularly like about The Paris Review is their Reviews Writers at Work interview series which offers authors a rare opportunity to discuss their life and art at length; 'they have responded with some of the most revealing self-portraits in literature.' Among the interviewees are William Faulkner, Vladimir Nabokov, Joan Didion, Seamus Huxley, Ian McEwan, and one of my favourites Toni Morrison.

How Writers Write Fiction: Constraints and Styles

Image from: jessicaschaubbooks.com

Even though I prefer writing non-fiction, I still read fiction as a way of learning more about how writers use fictional techniques. Be it plot, character, scene, or point of view, they are all relevant techniques when storytelling.

One of the best free (yes free) online writing courses I've come across this year is How Writers Write Fiction, from the University of Iowa's International Writing Programme, which comprises of 8 accompanying videos that each feature two established writers of fiction, plus written exercises.  

I found the class session 7 - Constraints and Styles, which featured Alan Cherchesor: Finding a Personal Style and Kevin Brockmeier: The Value of Constraints (particularly Kevin's talk), fascinating and inspiring. 

I have never thought of the value of constraints when writing, but I will be trying out some of the exercises, e.g. write a story in which every sentence has a numeral or write a story in which every sentence has the same number of words. One of the things that constraints can achieve is a different focus on the story at the level of the sentence - a spur to creativity, which ultimately can become the most satisfying pieces of narrative or linguistic work. Surprising the imagination into doing unexpected things can, bit by bit, transform the narrative into something it never would have become.

Why You Should Be Writing Short Fiction

Image from: thecommonty.blogspot.com

The short story is back! This is good news for writers, no matter where you are in your career.  After three or four decades of evaporating markets, the short story has found a new home in the ebook.

Ebooks of short story anthologies are springing up all over.  They don't pay, but if you can get a story into an anthology with some well-known authors in your genre, you'll be paid in publicity!  Something you can't put a number on.

Consider too that short fiction is much easier to adapt for the screen than novels. The following films started as short stories:

• The Birds
• Breakfast at Tiffany's
• Brokeback Mountain
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Double Indemnity

Then you have short story contests.  Here's one:

The Telegraph Short Story Book Club

Here's a short and sweet story:

The Green Suitcase by Jo Senior: Winner of the Telegraph Short Story Club Competition

Links:

5 Secret Tips to Writing Short Stories

10 Secrets to Write Better Stories

Advice and Inspiration for Writing Short Stories

Should You Self Publish?

Image from: www.grammarfactory.com

When I embarked upon creating three anthologies of poetry and personal essays, I started off with a vision of the first book and had no real sense of how I would get it published. Nevertheless, that didn't stop me from starting the ball rolling, which included advertising in the Voice Newspaper seeking submissions. Meanwhile, I wrote to two mainstream publishers - the Women's Press (no longer in existence) and Virago. After many months, I received their rejection letters, so I decided to take the self-publishing route, using the brand name of Shangwe*.  

We're in an age where self-published books have a better chance than ever of making it big. Print-On-Demand services and free eBook distribution are abound. One in three ebooks sold on Amazon are self-published.  You don't even need to be in a bookstore to be successful.  People don't care how a book is published, as long as the book is good.  If it's going to explode, it'll explode, whether or not it's traditionally published.

Image from: www.onbile.com

The advantages of self publishing, first and foremost, are that control is retained over the book at all stages of the production process - what text style to use, the cover design, the cover price, the book's size, the number of copies printed...this includes having the final say on everything.

In addition, by publishing your own work, you can retain the copyright to that work, which is important if you want to try and sell the book on to a commercial publisher at a future date, for instance.  Self publishing is also a more appropriate means of publication for the genre of poetry, memoir and autobiography.

Image from: www.manystuff.org

I learned so much working on the first anthology - Brown Eyes - the most significant development was becoming an editor.  With any new project, you will encounter challenges. The most vivid was the delay by my publishers, who were extremely late delivering the books; I received them at 12.30pm on the day of my book launch!!  I learned that publishers are like builders in that they can only really guesstimate when you will actually receive your books. Needless to say, I made sure not to organise any more book launches until I had received the books well in advance!

In terms of cost, two of my anthologies - Brown Eyes and Hair Power Skin Revolution - were funded by the Arts Council England's Grants for the Arts Award. (I financed the second one - Sexual Attraction Revealed). I would strongly recommend that if your book idea is poetry and/or fiction, you pursue a grant, as then you are not only supported financially, but working on your application will force you to consider all the requirements of producing your book before you start.  If you have a track record in the field of creative writing, then this will go some way to your application being taken seriously.  

Links:

Author Nick Spalding's top 10 self-publishing tips

How to Successfully Self-Publish a Kindle eBook

Is your book a self-published masterpiece?

Should You Self-Publish? 15 Questions

* Shangwe is an Eastern African female name; it means 'celebration.'