Think Beyond the Borders: How to Write Creatively About Ordinary Things

In my posts, I often use creativity for problem-solving, visualization or art.  My choice of creativity is very structured and productive. But there are many forms of creativity. In this post, Michelle Brooks uses creativity as a form of inspiration. She even uses her own word for it: extraordinification . I think you will love it and use some of its ideas to supplement your toolset.

Writing tends to have its ups and downs. The truth is that even the gurus in the field sometimes feel wordless about certain topics.

It is tough to write about something you do not know or feel no interest in. However, like any other professionals, writers not always get to choose what to write about. They simply do what needs to be done. Thus, the skill that defines a good writer is the ability to apply creativity and write interestingly even about ordinary things.

Creative people see the world differently because they seek for ideas all the time. They are also able to see beyond the borders, find unique casual links, and establish connections between absolutely different things.

Yet, creativity can be learned and developed. It is something that you can master by simply using it. Sometimes people with amazing analytical skills demonstrate outstanding creativity when it comes to writing or art. Thus, do not limit yourself even though you have thought that you are not creative for your entire life.

Creativity Training

To train yourself to think beyond the borders, you need to do an exercise called extraordinification. It will help you maximize the impact on readers by adding your personality and uniqueness to every article you are working on.

Eventually, it will lead you to become a better writer and an improved version of yourself. All you have to do is turn on imagination and fantasy. You can train yourself to be more creative and write unusually about ordinary things by following a simple creativity exercise:

1) Seek for creativity where it seems there is none

2) Employ your imagination

3) Be curious

4) Generate effective solutions to problems

This exercise takes minutes, and you can do it in your head. It helps you dream and makes your fantasies more vivid. However, if you want to develop creative writing skills, it may take some time; you will need to put all your thoughts in nice and readable sentences.

Let’s discuss each step one by one.

Think Extraordinary

If you need to dwell on a topic you find boring and daunting, try to split it up into pieces and find something that may be of interest to you. It may seem confusing, but you will need to focus on your constraints and push your mind to develop creative ideas about them.

You need to handle the most difficult tasks first. If you still have no idea what to write about, find out more about the topic. This will be the foundation for mind-wondering. After doing this, you will likely be able to add interesting descriptions and facts to any component of the topic.

Find Casual Links

This part of the exercise will help you merge creative thinking and analytical skills to present an extraordinary piece of work. It teaches you to build links between things that seem too different to combine. It forces your brain to think narrower and establish connections that could be further used to develop ideas.

You can do it in question-answer form, starting with the subject of your article and ending up who knows where. Do not limit yourself because you can later select only those ideas that are worth mentioning.

Search for Meaning

When you finish developing links and connections, analyze them. Some of these ideas are worth sharing with the readers. Filter and pick up only those that are relevant to your research or writing project, taking into account the interests of your audience. Derive meaning behind various things and phenomena you come across while employing imagination.

You need to understand that the success of your writing will rely on the ability to put the thoughts into correct and readable sentences. Also, it is important to find evidence for your ideas. Otherwise, they are nothing but words. You will need your curiosity here!

Come up with Innovative Solutions

If you are required to write about a problem or if you happen to stumble on an issue during your creative thinking process, do not be afraid to share your suggestions for possible solutions with people. This will definitely help you excel at your “creativity exam.”

People who get answers to the problem feel much more satisfied than those who are left half-way. Meanwhile, this will definitely assist you in setting a high bar in terms of creativity for the whole article.

Thinking Behind the Borders

To tell your readers more and be more creative, help yourself learn to see the world differently. People tend to see things exactly how they appear.

However, take an example from children. They can see a toy, but their mind has already started making up a fairy-tale that engages them into a game. A doll is just a doll, but for kids, it is already seen as a protagonist in any scenario. You need to gain these skills back to help your creativity thrive again.

Here is how it can be done:

Creative Vision

Catch the first thoughts that come to your mind when you read the topic. Write them down and try to develop a separate story for each. It may seem pretty confusing, but this exercise will definitely help you choose the best scenario for an article.

Some of your stories may reach a deadlock, while others will get a meaningful continuation. You should stick to these plots, trying to add more than you see at first.

Attention to Detail

You should not skip even the slightest detail. To write creatively, one needs to see more than other people do. You can learn this by following several different techniques. This skill also depends on the ability to communicate. Learning about other people and things and paying attention to their differences trains this soft skill.

Open-Mindedness

Being open-minded is a must for creative people. If you stay within self-built limits and constraints, they will not let creativity develop. You need to challenge yourself to get out of your comfort zone.

Try different things and gain new experiences to be able to employ them in your writing as well as other activities. Try to be open-minded, and you will definitely be able to go far beyond. However, it does not mean that you should become unrealistic in your writing.

Self-Encouragement

It may seem too easy to tell, but the best way to develop creativity is to encourage yourself. If you change your routine to become more energetic, you will eventually find out how much creativity you naturally have. If you learn to plan your work and reward yourself for every achievement, it will only bring a better result.

First of all, you need to learn to start early. Your mind is fresh in the morning. It means that the best ideas will quickly come if you get to work at 7 or 8 a.m. You need to push yourself to start with more complex assignments first rather than with those you find easier to do.

Believe it or not, if you are tired, you will not succeed in creative writing. At the same time, if one starts in the morning when a person is full of energy, the result will come earlier and be unexpectedly good.

Secondly, you need to encourage yourself after every small achievement. It can be an extra 10 min break or other things that would keep you satisfied with your writing process.

If you plan your writing and develop a motivation scheme, the work will get easier. As for creativity, careful planning and self-encouragement will improve your self-esteem. In turn, it will positively reflect on your work.

Thirdly, you can encourage yourself by finding the right source for inspiration. If you establish a habit of watching inspirational videos with talented and creative people, you will definitely adopt some of their thinking patterns and lifehacks. When the time comes, you will employ these suggestions in your writing.

As a result, you are likely to apply extraordinification mentioned above in your daily life. This way, your creative writing will definitely improve.

Final Words

People are wrong to assume that creativity is something that is an inherited talent. It can be developed like any other skill. It is also wrong to think that writers have universal knowledge about things. Authors usually don’t know what exactly to write about when they see the topic for the first time.

It takes time to develop skills like creativity, planning, and coherence. Writing also requires you to go behind the limits and see more than other people do. In fact, it is what actually makes ‘writers’ profession so difficult.

However, creative writing can be learned through dedication and practice. If you want to compose an engaging story that would interest your readers and help them see extraordinary in the ordinary, you need to use several techniques that would help you perfect this mastery.

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