Brain Space Creation: Idea Generation
Haunted by my lost idea
It was the best I had this year
But a quiet mind works every time
It bubbles up from the running river
Creativity requires space. A busy mind can accomplish many tasks, but it will struggle to generate new ideas. The best ones come from our subconscious and unconscious minds. And the only way to access this material is to quiet the conscious mind. Said differently, the key to creation is to not think. Set an intention, repeat that intention, then find some space, quite your mind, and let the ideas bubble up. They will come. Not in big bundles necessarily, but one, two, maybe more. Then you can get to work on them.
How you make space for yourself is, of course, up to you. I generate ideas sometimes when walking in the woods. I observe nature without thinking about it. Just observe. My conscious mind is working to take in information, but it’s not interpreting, judging, or analyzing. And usually something comes, a way to translate what is seen or heard or felt into an idea for a character, scene, or plot device. It could be the shape of a leaf, a pattern of bark, a bone.
Nature walks are one example. People watching is another. Meditation is a good one: no sound but your breath, nothing seen but whatever goes on behind your lids. My primary vehicle for idea generation over the years has been listening to music. It’s a similar process to walking in the woods. I have something on my mind, an inconsistency in my story that I need to work out, an issue in my life. I consciously acknowledge the existence of this inconsistency or issue, then I quiet my mind and hit play on one of my favorite albums. And for the next 40-60 minutes, I listen in the dark with my eyes closed and no distractions, not even the light of my computer screen. I deprive all senses but hearing. I absorb not only the inspiring highs but the lows and interludes and grooves and every subtle sound. Like nature, the best albums, in my opinion, have many layers, some of which I won’t hear if I’m typing or doing whatever. And each sound element, ethereal or loud and dramatic, has the potential to pluck a string inside me, to resonate, and I may get an idea for a solution to that problem, a cool one, a creative one.
Sometimes I write while listening to music, and that can be enjoyable, but the music in that case is necessarily in the background. The brain literally cannot consciously attend to two things simultaneously. It seems like it can, but what’s actually happening is the brain is bouncing back and forth at a very fast rate. And the more you get absorbed in the one thing, the more the other gets pushed to the background. The less-attended-to thing doesn’t necessarily become fully sub or unconscious, but it becomes less conscious. You know what I mean. You get absorbed in writing or work or cooking or working out, you pick your head up and two songs have gone by. Someone’s talking to you, and you hear them, but your attention is elsewhere, and you need them to repeat what they just said, or you have to dig it out of your subconscious. Getting the most out of anything requires the mind’s full attention. Pour in your heart and soul, and now you’re really getting somewhere.
My favorite musicians are sonic explorers. They experiment with sound. Their music has many layers and textures. Making music like this requires an understanding of space: between layers, between the beats of different instruments, syncopation (there are lessons for writing here). Hearing it all requires close listening, close feeling, absorption, all of which requires depriving the other senses and quieting the thinking, conscious mind. Then you are truly open to inspiration. And even if nothing meaningful comes, well shit, you just listened to one of your favorite albums.
If something does, that something has sprouted from a seed, and your work has just begun. Now feed it conscious thought. Take the idea in one direction, write down what you are thinking. It may branch off in a different direction. It may drop another seed. Feed that one too. Feel it grow! Now your brainstorming.
Anyway, that’s how I do. I hope you find your space in your own way. A quiet mind works every time.
Below is the list of albums I take the time to listen to in full out of the limited hours I have to write/edit/idea generate. One practical point: you won’t hear all the subtlety of a great album with the pair of headphones that came with your phone. This requires a bit of investment. To each their own, but for anyone looking for music recommendations (in chronological order for each band):
Pink Floyd: Atom Heart Mother, Meddle, Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall
Radiohead: The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesiac, Hail to the Thief, In Rainbows, The King of Limbs, A Moon Shaped Pool, a “mix tape” of B-sides I put together
Built to Spill: Perfect from Now On, Keep It Like a Secret, Ancient Melodies of the Future, You in Reverse, There Is No Enemy, Untethered Moon
Phish: Live Phish 8 – Disc 1, Live Phish 11 – Disc 1
Tame Impala: Lonerism, Currents, The Slow Rush
Grizzly Bear: Shields, Painted Ruins
Jonathan Wilson: Gentle Spirit, Fanfare, Rare Birds, Eat the Worm
Sleepy Sun: Fever, Private Tales
Alabama Shakes: Sound and Color
The War on Drugs: Lost in the Dream
Grateful Dead: So Many Roads, Disc 3
Happy Friday. Thanks for reading.