Loss of creativity

[Mr. Clean]

The older I get, the harder it is for me to be creative when writing stories and such. I wrote a story probably 8 years ago(teens) that I'd like to recreate but I'm sitting here stuggling to come up with ideas to get started. Kinda annoyed by this...

[blind2d]

Unsure what to write about? Try armadillo sex! Or... exploding tarantula vomit... or... weird diseases that cause various limbs to change into insects. I dunno...

[ProfessorChaos]

you need to stop being so clean and start doing some hard hallucinogens....that'll get the ol' creative juices flowing.

[Terran]

Losing your creativity at 24 is a bad sign.

[kortick]

This may sound simplistic, but I find that the thing that most inspires me is hanging out with different people outside of my normal circle. I will go to some sleazy bar or party (cuz really degenerates are the most interesting, they dont let things like laws or morals influence thier behavior) and meet people and talk to them and be amazed how differently they look at a situation from the way I do. I have sat back on more than one occaison and said "God in a million years I never would have thought of that topic in that way". Now I am not saying YOU should go find degenerates, I happen to be the type of person who if at the end of John Waters Pink Flamingos when Divine said they were going to Boise, Idaho to live in gas station rest rooms, well I would have joined them. But for you, maybe find a group of writers, or horror fans, real live people not internet people, and get into conversations. You will find yourself responding to the stimulus of new ideas and people and it in turn will spark your own creativity again. Like recharging a battery so to speak. Good Luck.

[Mr. Clean]

Losing your creativity at 24 is a bad sign.

Just on writing projects? I'm thinking it's from not writing consistantly. Perhaps I do have a problem :dead:

If it's brain related I assume it's from all the aluminum I work around because there's nothing genetic in my family dealing with this kind of stuff.

[ProfessorChaos]

off topic, but kortick? what happened to you?
you used to post in a very unique fashion
now it seems you're just as lame as the rest of us

i know your reasons for posting in your old fashion
but what has caused a change in your posts?
surgery? or are you an imposter?

inquiring minds want to know

[kortick]

I put those damn glasses on that I hate wearing
and make me wanna poke my eyes out after wearing them
for more than 10 god damn minutes so I could type better.

Plus I am trying to be nice.
The whole thing with Brett and all the stuff behind the scenes
that u guys dont know about, and the shit that happened
with Mike (who I am glad he did return even if he thinks I
am an asshole who thrives on road rage) left me not
wanting to post cuz i dont want to fight with ppl or get
involved in other ppls fights. which is normally how I am.
There is no imposter, I doubt ud find a more rotten bastard
that me if u looked hi and low Jared.

Anyways hope everyone is doing good.

[JDFP]

Losing your creativity at 24 is a bad sign.

Not really. It comes and goes. Creativity isn't a bag of yummy Santitas tostata chips and when you finish the bag 'poof' it's all gone. Rather, creativity and the writing process is more like a gas tank. Sometimes the tank gets low, so you have to look for new ways to fill it up again and get the writing progressing again.

As a few of you know, I'm an amateur prose poet. I'm certainly no Bukowski, but I love the hell out of writing my poetry. But it comes and goes. I usually average around 2-3 poems in any given month. However, I sometimes get dry spells where I can't write a damn thing for up to a number of months. And then an idea suddenly comes to me and it is back into writing again as if I never had a dry spell.

The biggest piece of advice I could really offer is to not force it, Mr. Clean. When it comes let it flow like blood on a tampon. When it doesn't come, don't try making it come. At these moments in time when I can't write -- I listen to music, watch films, try to get myself out of my "comfort" zone and look for new experiences and eventually it all comes back again -- when it's supposed to come back.

j.p.

[Mr. Clean]

The biggest piece of advice I could really offer is to not force it, Mr. Clean. When it comes let it flow like blood on a tampon.

lol thanks

[Eyebiter]

Recall from an old creative writing class the following technique:

Find a well known work of fiction from an author that interests you. Works best if it's a book you haven't read.
Carefully copy the first paragraph of the book, then set it aside. Then finish the story in your own words detailing what you think the book is about.

[kortick]

Read a good magazine too,
that helps Mr.Clean.
http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/2627/cleanz.jpg (http://img802.imageshack.us/i/cleanz.jpg/)

[Terran]

Not really. It comes and goes. Creativity isn't a bag of yummy Santitas tostata chips and when you finish the bag 'poof' it's all gone. Rather, creativity and the writing process is more like a gas tank. Sometimes the tank gets low, so you have to look for new ways to fill it up again and get the writing progressing again.

As a few of you know, I'm an amateur prose poet. I'm certainly no Bukowski, but I love the hell out of writing my poetry. But it comes and goes. I usually average around 2-3 poems in any given month. However, I sometimes get dry spells where I can't write a damn thing for up to a number of months. And then an idea suddenly comes to me and it is back into writing again as if I never had a dry spell.

The biggest piece of advice I could really offer is to not force it, Mr. Clean. When it comes let it flow like blood on a tampon. When it doesn't come, don't try making it come. At these moments in time when I can't write -- I listen to music, watch films, try to get myself out of my "comfort" zone and look for new experiences and eventually it all comes back again -- when it's supposed to come back.

j.p.

All true....


I was just generalizing that for the most part artists make their best and most innovative work when they are younger....teens to mid-late twenties....

Sure theres bunches of exceptions...

but like if you had this imaginary scale and on side 1 of the scale you put all the artists that got better as they got older and on side 2 of the scale you put all the ones who got progressively worse as they got older....I bet like side two of the scale would weigh a whole lot more....



Im a glass half empty sort of person who imagines he'll be really thirsty in a little while.....

[JDFP]

All true....


I was just generalizing that for the most part artists make their best and most innovative work when they are younger....teens to mid-late twenties....

Sure theres bunches of exceptions...

but like if you had this imaginary scale and on side 1 of the scale you put all the artists that got better as they got older and on side 2 of the scale you put all the ones who got progressively worse as they got older....I bet like side two of the scale would weigh a whole lot more....



Im a glass half empty sort of person who imagines he'll be really thirsty in a little while.....

I definitely understand what you're saying. There are many artists who do reach their peak in youthfulness -- Mozart, Stephen King, etc. There are also artists who don't reach their best work until they've been around the block -- Vonnegut and Bradbury (in my opinion), Wagner, etc. Then there are "what if" scenerios -- Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Karen Carpenter. I wonder -- if these said artists were still with us today, would they be playing at state fairs between 80's bands or would they be doing their finest work?

Ultimately, I think it just depends on the specific individual and the art of the individual in question. At 30, I can tell a tremendous difference in the work I do now when I write as opposed to when I was 20. I'm physically the same person (although with less brain cells, more hair on my face, and a slightly larger waist), but mentally and spiritually I'm a much more different person now. If I'm still alive 20 years from now -- will my work be better or will the death of my youthfulness and ability to write as a I see the world now suffer from becoming older and more different than who I am now? It's a very interesting thing to contemplate, I think.

Apart from professional sports (which I don't really count as an 'art form'), I'd have to say you would have to weigh each artist for their earlier work and later work at least a generation from their death for some greater subjectivity. Bradbury is in his 90's now, but I do believe it's possible for him to still publish a new work that can prove to be greater work two or three generations from now as opposed to "The Martian Chronicles". Much of it has to do with perspective, me thinks, but I think the scale would have to be weighed against each specific artist on an individual basis.

Terran, you're always welcome to some beer here to alleviate your weariness in life.

j.p.

[kortick]

Half empty, half full....
I stopped seeing the entire glass long ago Ryan.

[ProfessorChaos]

well kor, it's good to see you back, man.

this place seems to be located on an internet fault zone at times or there's something in the water.....

[Chic Freak]

I lose my creativity (such as it is) when I'm tired and overworked. Are you able to take a week off to chill? Even if you can't afford to go away somewhere on holiday, you could stay home for a week and just go to galleries and museums, read books, go to the cinema, take candlelit baths or whatever and see if it starts coming back :)

[Tricky]

I'm the same with my guitar playing, sometimes I'll play it all the time, learning new chords & tricks, feeling like I'm getting somewhere, sit strumming for hours on a night! (ooh err :p) then I'll go a month without picking it up for what seems like no other reason than lack of creativity & motivation

[Terran]

well kor, it's good to see you back, man.

this place seems to be located on an internet fault zone at times or there's something in the water.....

An Xmass miracle?

[Trin]

I don't believe that creativity dimishes with age. However, I believe if you look across the creative population you might conclude that based on the fact that they create less as they get older and their creations show less inspiration. But I think that's more a function of opportunity than creativity. As people get older opportunities to be creative get pushed aside for things like earning money, raising a family, and assuring stability into old age. In addition, success in creativity can lead to diminished freedom of creativity, thus making their creations seem forced.

Put another way, it's easy to be a starving artist when you're 20, breaking all the rules and letting pure creativity rule. That gets harder when someone is willing to pay you to do your creating their way, and you have mouths to feed.

You could make a similar claim about video games. Obviously as people get older they enjoy video games less. I mean, look at people... as they get older they play them less, right? But is that really the right conclusion to draw? Maybe they just have less time for them?

[Tricky]

You could make a similar claim about video games. Obviously as people get older they enjoy video games less. I mean, look at people... as they get older they play them less, right? But is that really the right conclusion to draw? Maybe they just have less time for them?

I think as you get older, certain types of games become unrealistic & childish with regards dialogue & plot (resident evil series springs to mind), and you dont play them as much as they genuinely start to feel like something that was aimed at teenagers. Strangely though, games like Super Mario dont fall into that childish bracket, all ages seem to love them!

[LouCipherr]

I'm the same with my guitar playing, sometimes I'll play it all the time, learning new chords & tricks, feeling like I'm getting somewhere, sit strumming for hours on a night! (ooh err :p) then I'll go a month without picking it up for what seems like no other reason than lack of creativity & motivation

I can't even count the number of times this exact scenario has happened to me in my lifetime. I've had months where my playing stalls and just sits there. I feel like I've made no advancement whatsoever. Then there's those weeks where it feels like your conquering a mountain in 20% of the time it should actually take.

It's a weird push/pull when dealing with creativity. For some people, it just flows out of them like a river and never stops. Others, like me, sometimes have to really dig deep to find the inspiration at times. It's a strange thing, creativity. ;)