Anything Goes : What brings out your creativity? by Artell Cowell

well...it takes many forms for me as a lyricist/composer. One time I was sitting in a restaurant and the lyrics just started flowing like a river, Another song that I had the last 2 lines to complete took over a year because I was just on empty....Sometimes I hear the rhythm of a clock or dripping water..OR the sound car alarms make......One time when I was working in New Jersey and had a bookkeeping journal on my lap, I use to jot down the staff and write notes as a starter. I also used to hear melodies under the old hair dryers , y'know looked like a suitcase with a hose, that had a bag over your head..yeah.....crazy..........Don't tell anybody........Acting???????oh...let me know when you have some time.......

Johanna, that's made my day. I thought I was crazy when it took me a few months to finish the last piece of dialogue for a character.lol

Kevin, there are no manuals for writing timetables, whether it be for a script or lead sheet.....No right or wrong.......It will come into your mind when it is meant to.....Just never stop that process.....Glad you found some solace..........Stay well & inspired.

Music. Whatever I'm working on, I find the perfect soundtrack and everything flows.

Hey Kevin - great topic. For me - (when screenwriting, anyhoo) it's EXACTLY the same as you: a reclining position, dim lights and some sort of instrumental music playing in the background. I get into this crazy state of flow. But - I reckon, I have a fair idea why... See here: http://storyality.wordpress.com/2012/12/06/storyality-9-how-to-be-more-c... Look forward to thoughts...? Cheers! JT Velikovsky High ROI FIlm/Story/Screenplay Guru http://storyality.wordpress.com/

JT, Thanks for sharing your thoughts and that excellent post. I think we are all creatively inspired in our own unique way. The more we challenge and explore our strengths, the more we find out about ourselves. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts.:)

i find a good half hour walk works wonders.

That definitely works Matt, especially if you get a block.

Lots of times when I am going into my first faze of sleep, ideas jump out in my brain and I need to get up and write them down so I don't forget. I have a small take cassette player (yes, and its not even antique lol) in my car. When an idea comes, I push record and talk, talk, and talk. That also has helped me out alot.

For me it's a good set of headphones and music of the sixties and seventies. BY music, I mean rock such as Led Zepplin and Moody Blues. The longer the piece the better, like Stairway to Heaven. I can get lost in the music and jam on with my fingers on the keyboard and head i whatever I'm writing with it unfolding in front of me like watching a movie. That's when I do my best work. Early in the morning or late at night are the best times for me. Not that I can't write in the afternoon, but I've written over 20 years as a journalist, police detective and State investigator so if I'm not careful it may come out like a news piece or a case report for a jury to read.

Martha, I can relate when you get lost in the music. I know the feeling.:)

Usually, with my screenwriting, I have to be sitting up straight, listening to music; but it has to be music that flows with at least the idea of whatever I'm writing. And there has to be consistent activity around me. But if it's poetry or songs, there can't be any music at all. Messes up my rhythm...

Cutting out pics in magazines is always inspiring for me, along with meditation before or during working on a creative project

Soundtracks. Never songs, never lyrics with me: always OST's. Movies, TV shows, and esp computer games based on the mood of the piece I'm writing., Discovered a lot of Brian Tyler, Steve Jablonsky, Hans Zimmer, Wyndham Hill: once wrote an entire section to Bear McCreary's BSG soundtracks. I blame Mark Isham: he got me into this! I grew up too young to go with older siblings to rock concerts so my parents took me to a) the cinema and b) philharmonic orchestra concerts, so I suppose progression to a love of soundtracks was a natural evolution for me. Also low lights, relaxed settings (I agree with the reclining position if writing something thematic, or taking inspiration from life; tube, bus, etc if writing something modern). I also agree with seeing life around you. Sometimes it can be a comment, a sound, a fragment of a conversation. Any artistic creation, whether music, writing, sculpture, you name it: has inspiration all around us: all we have to do is listen, and be open to it.

For me it usually comes under the radar, meaning that I will be busy with other things and then all of a sudden a thought creaps in regarding a line of a character that I'm playing and then I realise the actual meaning behind the line or why the character is saying it. The aha moment for understanding the character. The same also happens when I'm writing. There is nothing then all of a sudden lines will begin flowing. It is at that moment that I have to write or make sure I remember the lines because they don't come out the same if I leave it for later.

Definitely music. If I need to be sad I listen to certain music and it brings my mood to where I need it to be on set.

Ever hear of SYNESTHESIA??Dictionary: a dysesthesia in which a stimulus of one sense is perceived as sensation of a different sense, as when a sound produces a sensation of color. I was reluctant to mention it. It is NOT a disease but a way of being and It affects me in the way I compose or reach the depth of an emotion for acting....The only way I can describe it is coffee represents a shape that's round and tea is pointed....When writing music, I may experience a smell that represents a color which in turn represents a thought to an emotion. etc......I never understood what it was until I saw a book about it, and found out one acquaintance who is an artist has it......And then again, sometimes the words & music just happen in the middle of nothing....In case anyone else experiences this, I wanted to share it and let them know it's just a another way of being creative.........You don't need to hide...........We're all on the same ship!!!!!!

I have written numerous plays and screenplays over the last 30+ years and I find that writing for my actors makes the script flow from me like water. I am in a rare position in that I have hundreds of actors as part of a program I run. I only produce for them so I can write for them. I don't have to deal with the traditional headache of casting the actor after the fact. I don't think I would enjoy writing if I did not know who I was writing for.