Where Ideas Come From

Part of the creative problem is that no one knows exactly where ideas come from.

Well, we do know. And we don’t.

It is probably true that:

We better understand the process by which ideas are generated.

At the same time, it is nearly impossible for artists and writers to tell you from exactly where the ideas spring.

If I had to guess, I would say that it is a potpourri of reading, experience, individuality, and experimentation.

In that experimentation, it is being willing to have mountains of bad ideas.

Experience tells me that few are comfortable, with being uncomfortable, in this way.

And that is part of the problem in talking to a non-creative – they want to know how the work gets done – and it is not that easy to put your finger on the answer.

I mean, who wants to hear that creative success is working badly for 10-20 years until something sticks?

See the advice of James Altucher on finding new ideas too.

We like each other, and we like having a chance to talk sometimes about the real job, the day job people are always telling us not to quit. We are writers, and we never ask one another where we get our ideas; we know we don’t know.

-Stephen King, On Writing