Where Do You Come Up With This Stuff? – Guest Post
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Dec 3, 2011
Most of you know that Mitchell Allen of Morpho Designs and I are pretty good friends. We play email chess together and work on encouraging each other to do great things. He’s also one of the most creative writers I know. I’ll admit that I may not always understand it, but it challenges me, which doesn’t happen all that often. I asked him to write this guest post on his thinking process and, well, how he comes up with his stuff; this is his response.
 |
I often get asked this question when I post a piece of fiction. I love answering the question because, over the years, I can see how my answers evolve. I take more credit for the process than I used to. Yet, I’m quick to acknowledge that elusive spark when I’m at a loss to explain where that stuff came from.
ENGINEER OR ARTIST?
The first time I answered this question, I was the one who asked. I’m introspective like that. So I sat down, a man beside himself, and worked out this whole left-brain, right-brain dichotomy. A conversation sprang up between Elbe and Arby (get it?) Elbe was all analytical, while Arby simply tried to keep the words flowing gracefully. When the two had shut up, I was satisfied with the result. Elbe the Engineer and Arby the Artist had carved up my poor brain and staked their claims to the creation process.
If I am asked today, it’s likely to be from the writer folks at CreativeCopyChallenge.com. Twice a week, we write stuff, based on a list of ten word prompts. In this instance, the whole idea of a creative spark seems to be more relevant.
I have written entries on that site that leave me shaking my head. Other times, I have been in conscious creation mode, as when I wrote the chapters of Sisterhood of the Void, a science fiction story. When my writing buddies ask me the question, I usually tell them which word set off the chain-reaction.
MUSES
To be honest, I misappropriated the nine ladies of the arts. I didn’t know I was supposed to invoke them before setting my pen to paper. I just thought it was cool how writers personified the essence of their creative force. So, I name-dropped them collectively. I made up assignments for them, such as tending to the seeds of creative ideas. In general, I pawned off much of the credit for my ideas to these mythical mistresses.
Let’s be clear, I’m being metaphorical. There are a lot of crazy people in my head, but they’re all real! They talk to me every day and, none of them is named Thalia.
MAGIC
In truth, I don’t think most people really care where anyone gets their ideas. We’ve all seen enough mind-blowing brilliance from writers that we know the answer is simple. It is magic. And, just as the magician chooses not to reveal the secrets of the guild, we writers shouldn’t work too hard to analyze our mental sausage factories. Rather, we should invoke a few juicy images, roll them around in dirt and hold them up for a quick peek before putting the whole mess into our carryalls.
The next time someone asks me where I come up with my ideas, I’m going to assume the real statement is one of wonderment: “How did you do that?”
BEHIND THE CURTAIN
There are some people who really, really want to know. If that’s you, I’ll let Elbe and Arby take over. One or the other character is always spouting off on my blog.
You can read the result of the conversation between Elbe and Arby on my 2008 Father’s Day Introspective.
Elbe gets jiggy with it, expounding on the use of allegory to understand stuff.
Arby dreamily replies, telling Elbe that he should loosen up and just let things go.
And, when I can’t take their bickering any longer my head explodes.
A final thought: when Elbe dominates, I write poetry, because Elbe is obsessed with meter. When Arby is ascendant, I kick out some vignettes. When all three of us are humming, we work on science fiction stories.
Bio
“I had to choose between being the funny dad or the creative dad.
However, when I stepped into the plasma, I tripped over a roller skate.
The result was a mad scientist who cackles a lot.”
You’ll see this quirky bio all over the web. I like to have fun. If you like to have fun, too, check out my Virtual Dinner Party and other goodies.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Mitch Mitchell
ARRHH! How Can I Work With These Creative Graphic Designers? – Guest Post
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Mar 21, 2011
Some of you might recognize Wes’ name. He’s a regular commenter on this blog, and some of his articles are on topics that are pretty cool to comment on as well. I don’t take a lot of guest articles on this blog, but he’s earned his way here and thus I’m pleased to offer him some time here. I’m even allowing the Australian spelling of words instead of changing them to the American version. 
Please check out his blog as well.
 |
It is not easy to start or run a business. You may have a long list of suppliers and customers you need to build relationships with. Among the people you will inevitably need to work with when starting a business is graphic designers. How on earth can you work with these creative, arty-farty types.
Your experience with graphic designers does not need to be as harrowing as you may think. In fact, not all graphic designers are ‘arty-farty’. However, I do understand the perception out there and have a few suggestions to make it easier and more enjoyable to deal with graphic designers. These include:
Before approaching or hiring a graphic designer, it is best if you are clear in your own mind what your intended outcome is for any given project. It is a colossal waste of time to kick-off a graphic design project then change your mind when it’s almost complete. This can be quite costly as graphic designers will charge for modifications and authors corrections. I’m not suggesting you need to have a clear vision for the actual design or the look and feel but you need to be rock-solid in what your intended result is.
Knowing exactly what you want and being able to convey this to your graphic designer can be difficult. It will help to write the vision down so you can communicate the brief clearly. It’s great to talk through the brief so it can be discussed however this can cause problems for graphic designers if that’s all you give them. It can be difficult determining what is clear direction and what is a passing thought or idea if you don’t write it down.
To make sure there is no communication gap, give your graphic designer samples of designs you like and dislike. This is a sure-fire way of speeding up the design process and being clear about what you are wanting. It can be difficult to describe in words what you are looking for visually. For example, if a colour was important to you, provide colour swatches or samples so you can communicate precisely what you are looking for.
If there are certain logos, graphics or images you want to be included in your project, prepare them before meeting with your graphic designer. This will save you both time and make the briefing easier.
You should know your budget limitations before starting a graphic design project. You may need to have an initial discussion with your graphic designer to get an idea of costings before you define your budget. If your graphic designers understand your budget restraints, they may be able to make recommendations so you get the best bang for your buck. For example if you wanted to produce a flyer that included photography, your graphic designer could suggest stock photography. Stock photography could save you quite a bit of money so you could then afford to print more flyers with the same budget. If you are not transparent and upfront with your graphic designer, you may miss these kind of opportunities.
This boils down to being clear in the communication process even during the primary stages of your project. Be honest, if it’s needed in a weeks time, don’t say you only have three days to give yourself ‘breathing room’. Your graphic designer may not be able to invest the time and energy into your short time frame that he/she would have with a little more time. If the deadline is critical, be really clear about that and trust your graphic designer to meet the deadline.
With the pace of business these days, we always tend to want things yesterday. For this reason we want our projects to be worked on immediately however, if this is going to impact on the quality of work being produced maybe you should reconsider your time-frame.
Wes Towers invites you to learn more about marketing, branding, graphic design and web design and how they can help in your business. Check out www.omnificdesign.com.au for more resources and free ebooks.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Mitch Mitchell
Your Creativity Is There Inside You
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Feb 12, 2010
I’ve written enough times on how it seems I’ll visit a blog because a topic got my mind going, only to see that it’s something I’ve not only read before, but almost word for word at the same time. A question I addressed in my blog writing series was how to think about what to write about.
Here’s a great example of how I find things to write about. Someone I met on Twitter named Rachel Lavern writes a wonderful blog that used to be called “Fearfully ‘n Wonderfully Made, but is now called… actually, I’m not quite sure what it’s called. If you follow the link below, you’ll see what I mean. Anyway, it’s a great blog with lots of content made to make people feel good and to think about things, but it’s one of those Intense Debate blogs, kind of like Disqus, which you know I don’t like, so I won’t comment there. Instead, I will comment through this blog which she’ll see on a trackback.
Anyway, her post is entitled What Will You Create, and in this case she has a short video on creation, then 10 ways to stem creativity by a guy named Jeffrey Baumgartner, whom I thought I knew but I don’t. Anyway, his 10 ways to stem creativity aren’t bad, but no one says you have to do it his way. As a matter of fact, though I’m not going to go through the 10, as I want you to check out Rachel’s blog, I will counter one of them.
He recommends that you don’t watch TV. I’m not going to suggest that, but what I am going to suggest is that you think about what you’re watching and see if there’s any concepts in any of those shows that you think are something worth commenting on. I mean, could I have written a top 10 TV shows if I’d never watched TV? You know, the most mindless drivel is entertaining to someone, and maybe if that person wrote about it, others would see it in a different light; or not. lol
I once wrote that I thought creativity was obsolete, but I really don’t think that’s the case. What I believe is that there are some of us who don’t want to challenge ourselves to be different, to make a statement, to give something that no one else has given before. That’s the safe route; what fun is being safe all the time? Well, unless you’re thinking about doing something really stupid like this (this is going to take you to a video that’s kind of an adrenaline rush; no embed, otherwise I’d put it up here). Then again, watch that video and tell me this guy wasn’t creative.
Probably one of the most creative blogs out there is Marelisa’s Abundance Online. Man, talk about wonderful words to read each time I’m ready for it. She really puts a lot into each post, like her latest one called The Paint By Number Approach To Accomplishing Your Goals. She writes beautifully, gives a lot of information, often gives a lot of leads, and I’m telling you, if you ever needed to find ideas on what to write about, her blog will give them to you.
How will you show the creative side of yourself in your next few blog posts?
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Mitch Mitchell
I'm Just Sharing is where I share my thoughts on internet marketing, writing, blogging and many other things. You never know what I'll be posting on. So keep coming back, read, enjoy, and buy something! ;)
