6 Prompts to Expand Your Mind & Jumpstart Your Creativity
These six creativity prompts can be used by writers, painters, sculptors, choreographers, or even business innovators. They’re designed to expand the way you think, so they can help when you’re struggling to solve any kind of problem, whether a technological one or an artistic one.
The prompts are designed to be playful because playfulness is the friend of creativity. So let yourself go and have fun as you experiment with these ideas.
Do You Hear What I See? This has been my favorite creativity exercise for many years.
Think of a sound that you love. If this sound were a scent, what would it smell like? If it were a taste, what would it taste like? If it were a texture, what would it feel like? What would it look like?
You can try this exercise in many different configurations to get your creative juices flowing. For example, my favorite taste is a combination of chocolate and hazelnut. To me, that taste sounds like lava flowing over rocks.
Try not to be literal. You’re describing the sound of the taste, not the sound of the object itself!
This exercise always jolts me out of my usual mode of thinking and forces me to conceive in new and illogical ways. It’s a difficult exercise at first for most people, but the more you do it, the more you’ll delve into your body for surprising answers. And nothing feeds creativity more than sending your usual way of thinking on a vacation.
Weather Forecast. Imagine that you’re a volcano, an earthquake, a tsunami, a tornado, or a hurricane. Choose whichever one you fancy most.
Close your eyes, and feel the energy churning inside you until it explodes. Allow yourself to feel it as strongly as you can, and move in whatever way you want. If you’re a tornado, the spinning may all be internal, but imagine it as intensely as possible. What does it feel like to have this destructive power?
Now, create!
Musical Dissonance. What is your favorite musical instrument? What is your least favorite musical instrument? Imagine that these two instruments are arguing with each other, and create from that.
Obviously, if you’re a musician, this could lead to a very interesting composition. If you aren’t a musician, however, you can still create from this prompt. What might a painting that expresses an argument between musical instruments look like? What would a verbal argument between these instruments be like in a story?
Then, what would a work of art be like when the instruments made up?
Inner Exploration. Close your eyes, and imagine that you can travel within your body. You can see the organs, the muscles, the bones, and the blood vessels. Don’t worry that you might not know the body’s anatomy accurately. Just allow your imagination to travel inside. Set a timer, and continue traveling within for at least ten minutes.
What do you see and hear? What do you feel?
When the timer goes off, create!
Stuck In the Middle Again. When you’re stuck in the middle of a project, try altering your emotion. You can do this by using your memory.
Close your eyes, and remember the best day of your life. See it, hear it, smell it, feel the air, taste the tastes, and remember the textures. Make it as real for yourself as you can, and try to bring on that best feeling again. If you find it difficult to bring the feeling back, take your time. Don’t rush it. Spend a half hour or more in this place. It feels good, so why not?
Once you’ve brought on that wonderful feeling to the best of your ability, begin working on your project again.
You can also bring on a not-so-nice feeling if the project you’re working on would benefit from that. This might not be so much fun, but bear in mind that actors do this every day. They bring back unpleasant feelings to use in their art. The more they do it, the better their facility for bringing on the feelings and then letting them go when the work is done, showing us that our emotions are just temporary visitors.
The Shadow Knows. You are a shadow. Think about what it’s like to be a shadow. You’re always attached to someone. You can’t veer off on your own. Your life is far from free, and your existence is dependent on the light.
Create from this shadow’s point of view.
(These prompts are an excerpt from Melanie Votaw’s ebook, 52 Ways to Romance Your Muse & Launch Any Creative Project.)
