I am glad you are reading this post! However, there is no quick tip or technique to have ideas. No one can teach you creativity. However, there is a three-step process that can assist you in becoming creative.

The following steps will surely help you to have concepts freely flowing in your mind consistently.

Step #1 Gathering Information

Research and gather as much material as possible about something that catches your eye. It might be a news article or a real-life incident. It can be something you read online. Spend some time to learn different research methods. Watch this space on a post on that!

Identify various sources of finding relevant information. Conduct a thorough investigation, research about the topic. Dive deep into it. You might have a thousand questions and a million thoughts. Try to find answers to all those questions. Your research might need travelling, talking to people, and taking notes. Do whatever it takes to go the extra mile to find answers and solve puzzles. That way, you have a direction in your research.

It requires time and patience to generate a great idea. My suggestion is not to jump straight into writing the screenplay about something that catches your attention. At this stage, keep noting everything. Remember, it is your preparation and not writing itself.

Don’t judge the information you are collecting at this stage though it sounds silly. Many times, we tend to push away our thoughts, believing that they are not perfect. Every piece of information can come in handy at the later stages of writing.

Step #2 Sorting the information

Try to make sense of the information by comparing and differentiating the material. Analyzing the data and learning the trends can help us understand life itself. This stage does not have anything to do with creativity. But as you reflect on the information gathered, it makes one gain life experience from the experiences of others.

A good filmmaker is someone who has rich life experiences. But you could be young and might not have lived enough. In that case, this stage will help you to study other places, times and people. It will empower you to recreate worlds unknown to you.

Now that you have sorted tons of information. The next step is to find a story, an idea, a concept from this information.

Step #3 Sleep on the information. 

Let all the material sink into you. Sleep on it and wait. There is no practical way of having a good idea. It has to happen organically.

You might have believed that great ideas are created by consciously thinking hard about them. You are wrong! All the great inventions in history happened in the dreams of the inventors. From Nikola Tesla to Albert Einstein, James Cameron to Christopher Nolan, all have created wonders first while in their sleep.

The truth is good ideas, feeble ideas, marvelous ideas – all come to us magically without consciously thinking about it.

You do not have to think about it. Just get into a relaxed state of mind so that you can sense it when the big idea sparkles up.

According to Arthur Koestler, a Hungarian British author and journalist, the Act of Creation takes place in semi-consciousness or absent-mindedness where the mind is free-associating.

Sustaining the Creative Energy

Keep on growing in terms of the quality and quantity of ideas that you generate.

Do not jump into writing just as you get hooked on some information gathered during your research. Let it get organised and curated so that you build a fantastic idea. Be patient and spend enough time in the above three steps, especially in Step #3.

As I mentioned in my earlier post on writer’s block, you need to put great effort to ensure the spark of creativity sustains for a certain period.

The only way to maintain high levels of creative energy is through practice. I suggest you stick to a daily routine of writing for an hour each day at a particular time.

Through practice, this technique of having ideas becomes automatic, and it becomes natural to you. The creative energy flows freely in you. If you do not practice, you will lose your creative energy. When this energy runs low, you will avoid challenges and accept cliche.

If you want further guidance to create high-quality original ideas consistently, you can enrol in our online workshop that will take you through a 16-step structured process of writing.

Please visit https://www.hariacademy.com to learn more and enrol in the workshop.

Thanks for reading!